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Sat, May 26 2012
Bulgarian SAAB fans to hold protest motor rally against GM, US government
Hundreds of workers at SAAB's plant in Trollhattan in south-western Sweden gathered on January 12 2010 for a 15-minute protest aimed at SAAB's owner GM. GM executives have said that none of the bids received so far for ailing SAAB had met the financial requirement for a deal and signalled they were moving ahead with plans to wind SAAB down.
The Bulgarian fan club of Swedish car maker SAAB will hold a motor rally in Sofia on January 16 2010 to protest against the reaction, or lack of it, of General Motors and the US government on the sale of SAAB, the club said in a January 15 2010 media statement.
The protest is scheduled to start at 10.30am on Saturday January 16 2010 in front of SAAB's old show room in Sofia on Nikola Vaptsarov Boulevard.
At 11am, the protest will head to the US embassy building, where protesters plant to make a few round with their SAAB vehicles and after that go to GM office in Sofia, outside the Interpred building in Iztok borough.
A visit to the Swedish embassy could also be included on the rally's route, organisers said.
The motor rally will be the first of its kind in Bulgaria, organisers said, adding that it was part of similar protest events that have already been staged by SAAB fan clubs in other countries as part of the Saab Support Convoys campaign.
"With our actions we want to peacefully support the efforts of SAAB's millions of fans around the world in saving their much loved brand," the media statement said.
On January 8 2010, GM said it had started the process to "wind down" Saab, but would also continue efforts to find a buyer for the Swedish car maker, the BBC said.
GM said it had selected restructuring group AlixPartners to supervise an "orderly" winding down at Saab, which it expected to take several months. The US car maker also confirmed that it had received several proposals for Saab, which it was continuing to evaluate.
One bid has come from a group that included Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone.
Swedish union IF Metall, which has a representative on Saab's board, criticised GM's decision to start the liquidation process while still continuing to explore a sale.
"It is irresponsible of GM as an owner to go in two directions, both pursuing the sale [of Saab] and the winding-up," the BBC quoted Stefan Loefven, the union's leader as saying.
The protest is scheduled to start at 10.30am on Saturday January 16 2010 in front of SAAB's old show room in Sofia on Nikola Vaptsarov Boulevard.
At 11am, the protest will head to the US embassy building, where protesters plant to make a few round with their SAAB vehicles and after that go to GM office in Sofia, outside the Interpred building in Iztok borough.
A visit to the Swedish embassy could also be included on the rally's route, organisers said.
The motor rally will be the first of its kind in Bulgaria, organisers said, adding that it was part of similar protest events that have already been staged by SAAB fan clubs in other countries as part of the Saab Support Convoys campaign.
"With our actions we want to peacefully support the efforts of SAAB's millions of fans around the world in saving their much loved brand," the media statement said.
On January 8 2010, GM said it had started the process to "wind down" Saab, but would also continue efforts to find a buyer for the Swedish car maker, the BBC said.
GM said it had selected restructuring group AlixPartners to supervise an "orderly" winding down at Saab, which it expected to take several months. The US car maker also confirmed that it had received several proposals for Saab, which it was continuing to evaluate.
One bid has come from a group that included Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone.
Swedish union IF Metall, which has a representative on Saab's board, criticised GM's decision to start the liquidation process while still continuing to explore a sale.
"It is irresponsible of GM as an owner to go in two directions, both pursuing the sale [of Saab] and the winding-up," the BBC quoted Stefan Loefven, the union's leader as saying.
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Petrol cars will soon be old hat,shut the place down and lets get electric,or buy a horse.
@BG: You demonstrate little knowledge of the situation. Saab has a long history of innovations in safety and efficiency. Saab has been working on a biofuel hybrid plug-in, which was reportedly axed by GM as to not compete with the Volt. Saab will be pilot testing electric vehicles in 2010 along with a variety of partners (see ZE Saab 9-3). Your comment suggest business-as-usual, which certainly won't get us out of this automotive crisis.
Pavel form Saab Club Bulgaria:
THIS ARTICLE IS WRONG!!! WE DID NOT GATHER TO PROTEST BUT TO SHOW OUR LOVE THE BRAND!!! THERE WERE ABOUT 50 CARS AND EVERYTHING WAS DONE LEGALLY!!!
GM is a real piece of work for a company that ran to the goverment for a bailout now has the balls to dictate the selling price of Saab.They did nothing for Saab in regards to advertising instead they took a car with innovations in style and safety and buried it into the ground.Don't forget they had a few other losers now scraped Hummer and Saturn . You needed a bullhorn to talk to a passenger in the Saturn what a noise box.My Saabs run just fine thank you.
Never buying another GM product again if they shut down Saab.
no one is really asking anyone to pay for anything, apart from maybe asking the the european powers to pitch in a little to save some european jobs. People just want a choice and there are groups that want to buy. GM vice president has said that the bids so far have been equal to the cost of shutting SAAB down. That doesn't make any sense when you consider that their are people who make part of their living because of SAAB and there are people who love the brand. Selling it then with this in mind makes better sense. [...]
Read the full comment thats all anyone is asking. some people may not want a SAAB because they prefer something else but their are those that do. why does anyone want to kill that. whats wrong with some people? I am a american tax payer who has had to pay a little to save GM but now it refuses to allow anyone or group to save this brand. just sell it. nuff said. thanks
It is pathetic to belong to a car fan club anyway.
No one is turning their back on a 60 years of heritage, just that continuing this "art project" is quire expensive. Whoever belongs to the "fan club", instead of staging rallies, should figure out how to pay the bills.
Wind them down and just let them service their 60 years of heritage to next generations.
SAAB makes great cars, I currently own my second one. If GM does not sale, I will never buy an American car. SAAB had constantly ranked in the top of safety ratings by insurance companies. The inovations SAAB has contributed to cars never gets mentioned..
This comment has been removed by the moderator because it contained Обиди, дискриминация, срещу журналисти
Amazing the amount of ignorant people there are in the world. What really suprises me how some sweeds can turn their back on on 60 years of heritage. GM bought SAAB not because it was losing money. But since its been owned by GM it has been neglected and used as a scapegoat. @Mikeal or whatever
At last it can be an end to Saab. SAAB has just shown a profit one years sometime in the -80 century when Sweden devalued its crown and the SSSB got cheaper in export markets. SAAB has cost the Swedish taxpayers billions over the years in terms of support stick, conversion packages, educational packages, infra-structure package, etc.