2001 Saab 9-3 Viggen Hatchback 4-door 2.3l on 2040-cars

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Spyker's $3B lawsuit against GM for blocking Saab sale thrown out

US District Judge Gershwin Drain has dismissed a $3-billion lawsuit Spyker filed against General Motors. In the suit, Spyker accused GM of attempting to bankrupt Saab after the US automaker had already sold the company to Spyker. GM in effect blocked the sale of Saab to China's Zhejiang Youngman Lotus Automobile Company by prohibiting the transfer of some of its intellectual property. But the court found that GM had a "contractual right" to approve or disapprove any change of ownership. Furthermore, Reuters reports Judge Drain said the contract between GM and Spyker "is clear, unambiguous and absolute" on the matter.
GM, meanwhile, says it is pleased with the ruling. Spyker CEO Victor Muller has not said whether or not his company will appeal the ruling. The Dutch automaker is expected to make a final decision once the court issues its written order on the case.
You can read the official Spyker press release about the court ruling below for more information.

Last 900 Saabs heading to auction

If you've been wanting to get your hands on one last new Saab but missed out on the great Saab sell-off when Saab Cars North America declared bankruptcy, well, your ship has now come in.
Actually, it came in last year - but hundreds of new Saabs got waylaid at ports in California and New Jersey because of the bankruptcy, according to SaabWorld.net. Those cars are now slated for auction, some 900 of them, which will be available for dealers, exporters and rental car companies to bid on beginning next week. Eventually, 300 of these cars should make their way to Saab dealers, where they're expected to be sold off at 30- to 50-percent discounts. The other 600 will either be exported or used as rentals, according to the report, so "the price of Saabs will not be severely depressed."
Besides the new cars, some 67 company cars, including some interesting stuff like a 1960 Saab Quantum IV and a 1970 Sonnett III, will also be auctioned off, according to the report. Of the new cars, just over half are 9-5 models, some 400 are 9-3 sedans, another 60 are 9-3 wagons, and about a dozen are convertibles. According to the report, 28 are actually 9-4X crossovers, which is more than 10 percent of Saab's total 2011 sales for that model.

New owners still struggling to secure rights to use Saab name

Not to state the obvious, but if you're going to buy an automaker, it's probably advisable to secure rights to use the name.
That's what the new owners of Saab are trying to work out after buying the iconic Swedish automaker earlier this month, Automotive News reports.
National Electric Vehicle Sweden (NEVS), the Chinese-Japanese conglomerate, acquired the company's physical assets, including its factory in Trollhättan, but didn't get rights to use the Saab name and logo. Truckmaker Scania and defense company Saab AB maintain the name and logo rights, and will need to sign off on NEVS using it, according to the publication. The parties are in discussions.