End of the road for Saab

The Saab car brand is to disappear after owner General Motors announced today it had failed to find a buyer.

It will wind down Saab after talks to sell it to Dutch carmaker Spyker Cars collapsed.

GM said issues arose during the sale talks that could not be resolved.

“Despite the best efforts of all involved, it has become very clear that the due diligence required to complete this complex transaction could not be executed in a reasonable time,” GM Europe President Nick Reilly said.

“In order to maintain operations, Saab needed a quick resolution.”

GM first sought a buyer for Saab in January as part of its restructuring, which included plans to downsize its brands to four from eight.

It was previously in talks to sell Saab to a consortium led by the Swedish sports car maker Koenigsegg, but it turned to Spyker after Koenigsegg withdrew from the talks in November.

Speculation has since been rampant on the future of Saab.

Earlier this week, GM Chairman Ed Whitacre told reporters he had “a sense it’s possible” that the sale to Spyker would go through, but conceded the brand would close by the end of the year if the talks fell apart.