The sale of Saab UK to Dutch car firm, Spyker Cars was agreed today by GM UK. The company, which distributes Saabs in the UK, now becomes part of the Spyker Cars organisation, which purchased Saab at the beginning of the year. In this case, Spyker is ready to expand into Saab dealerships to double its [Spyker] showrooms by the end of the year.
In an interview, Saab and Spyker boss Victor Muller said Spyker’s dealer network would expand from 35 to 60 this year and should reach 90 by the end of 2011.
“We are signing up Spyker dealerships left, right and centre,” said Muller. Spyker’s latest model, the C8 Aileron, will be one of the first Spykers to be sold through Saab dealerships.
Saab UK will continue to operate within General Motors, while the 'carve out' process takes place. This will culminate in a move to new premises, which is expected to take place in August.
Jonathan Nash, managing director of Saab GB, said: 'This is great news for employees of Saab GB and its franchised dealers. We are now looking forward to a period of exciting new product launches over the next 24 months, starting with the UK launch of the all new 9-5 in our dealers on 8th July.'
Victor Muller, CEO of Spyker Cars said: 'We are pleased that we have managed to finalise the acquisition of Saab GB. 'Historically, Great Britain has ranked in the top three markets for Saab and we have high expectations for the future.'
The all-new Saab 9-5 is available to order now with prices starting from £26,495 for the Vector SE 2.0 TiD manual with 158bhp, rising to £37,995 for the Aero 2.8T AWD automatic with 296bhp.
