Link:
http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dl...0316008/111601
Jason Stein | Automotive News / March 19, 2007
GENEVA --
With the addition of a third model in its lineup, General Motors’ Saab brand will be profitable “toward the end of the decade,” GM Europe President Carl-Peter Forster said.
Forster said GM has recently lowered Saab’s break-even level substantially by cutting costs. GM’s task is to now start growing the brand with new product, he said. Forster is chairman of Saab.
“We have taken the break-even point down massively,” Forster told Automotive News Europe at the Geneva motor show. “It’s not too far from where we are now.”
GM does not break out financial figures for its brands, but analysts estimate Saab has lost about €750 million since it was acquired by GM in 1990.
In Geneva, Forster said Saab will unveil a face-lifted version of the 9-3 and a new 9-5 within the next 18 months and “we will work on an expansion of the product lineup into the SUV range in the not-too-distant future.” With a third vehicle –- a “tailor-made” Saab SUV –- Forster said Saab will “definitely be profitable.”
GM has folded the Swedish brand into its global production and product development system, cutting jobs and reducing costs. In the US, GM tried to boost Saab by giving it the 9-7X, a medium SUV based on the Chevrolet TrailBlazer, and the 9-2X, which is based on the Subaru Impreza mid-sized car.
Those models have not sold well. But Forster said a new SUV-type vehicle designed as a Saab will help make the brand profitable.
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