There are so many turns and twists in Saab’s road to salvation or closure on an everyday basis, that it’s very easy to lose track of what’s actually going on with the Swedish automaker.
On Monday Guy Lofalk, the court-appointed administrator who proposed the termination of the carmaker’s restructuring process, quit. Two days later Saab announced the appointment of another administrator, Lars-Henrik Andersson.
On Thursday, after Andersson turned down the job, Saab said that Lofalk would eventually be replaced by Lars Soderqvist.
Now we learn via Autonews that on Friday, the Vanersborg court, which will decide on Monday if the process will continue or be terminated, effectively closing down Saab, announced that Lofalk couldn’t quit his post just days before the hearing, despite his and Saab’s requests.
“With regard also to the short time remaining until the matter will be tested … the district court assesses that there are insufficient grounds to immediately dismiss Lofalk”, read the court’s statement.
Meanwhile, General Motors said that it could not support the latest investment and loan proposals to save Saab.
“Saab’s various new alternative proposals are not meaningfully different from what was originally proposed to General Motors and rejected”, said GM spokesman Jim Cain.
“Each proposal results either directly or indirectly in the transfer of control and/or ownership of the company in a manner that would be detrimental to GM and its shareholders. As such, GM cannot support any of these proposed alternatives”, he added.
Either way, Monday’s court hearing may put an end to the whole saga for better or for worse. But we wouldn’t hold our breath – just yet…
