Saab: EU Can Spike The Spyker Deal
So you thought the Saab deal is done? A deal is never done until the check clears. Speaking of clearing, Laurence Stassen, a member of the European Parliament, and a member of the Dutch Partij voor de...
View ArticleNetherlands Scuttle Spy Box Plans
Last November, Dutch lawmakers approved the first “pay-as-you-drive” tax system in Europe. A GPS gizmo, promptly dubbed “Spionagekastje” (“spy box,”) by the Dutch, was supposed to record where and...
View ArticleResuscitated Saab Makes Cars Again
Saab is in full re-start mode. A few days ago, we reported that Saab is re-starting incentives. Now, they are re-starting production. Germany’s Automobilwoche [sub] reports that “after a one and a...
View ArticleNasty Securities Laws Make Spyker’s Muller Use The Cyprus Connection
Ah, the tangled web of automotive high finance. Victor Muller, CEO and largest shareholder of Dutch automaker Spyker Cars said “oops” (or Dutch words to that effect) and reduced his voting interest is...
View ArticleSpyker And Saab In Deep Trouble
When Spyker bought Saab from GM, they bit off too much than they can chew. Spyker is upside down, under water, or whatever you call it when you have negative equity. They just announced that their...
View ArticleSaab Needs Help (Again) (Updated)
Remember the 4 “dead brands” walking? Pontiac, Saturn, Hummer and Saab? Seems like a long time ago. Who’d have thought Saab would be the last brand standing? Arguably, the one of the weakest brands of...
View ArticleSaab In Trouble Over Unpaid Bills
While other manufacturers have problems getting parts, Saab has problems getting parts. But for different reasons. “Production at Saab stopped for a second day on Wednesday as the money-losing...
View Article“They Cannot Pay Their Bills.” Saab Stops Production Yet Again
Yesterday, Spyker CEO Muller said everything is peachy. Saab “is not on the verge of collapse,” Muller said to a rapt audience of reporters, while, as Reuters snidely remarked, “Saab was presenting...
View ArticleSaab To China
As expected, troubled Saab has been thrown a lifeline by China’s Hawtai. Spyker announced today that its Swedish unit Saab has secured €150 million ($222.5 million) in funding from Hawtai. The Chinese...
View ArticleReturn Of The Zombies: Spyker, Youngman, Phoenix
Victor Muller managed to sell out to China after all. Today it was announced (full press release here) that Muller’s Spyker and former Saab suitor Youngman will form two companies. Spyker calls them...
View ArticleCar Carrier Sinks In The North Sea
1,400 new cars, most of them Mitsubishis on their way from Japan and Thailand to Finland went to the bottom of an icy North Sea when the 485 foot car carrier Baltic Ace sunk off the coast of the...
View ArticleMarchionne’s Choice of Fiat-Chrysler HQ Weighs Political Realities Against...
Now that Sergio Marchionne has succeeded in joining Fiat and Chrysler together, for his next act he’s planning on moving Fiat’s headquarters out of Italy. While such a move has tax advantages, it...
View ArticleStudy: Virtual Drivers Possible Key Toward Autonomous Vehicle Acceptance
Virtual drivers may be the key to developing trust in autonomous vehicles, so long as those drivers are quicker on the draw than Johnny Cab in an emergency. A study published in the Human Factors...
View Article‘Green Cars Only’ Laws: Coming to a Debate Near You
When you’re in conversation with a self-described urbanist, it’s usually impossible to avoid numerous references to Amsterdam, that progressive utopia of bikes, tulips, marijuana-smoking tourists, and...
View ArticleMarching to the Beat of a Different Hum: ‘Singing’ Highway Turns Into...
We’ve all been annoyed by an “earworm” in our lives — a catchy song that, even if you don’t like it, refuses to vacate your mind. Starship’s egregious, overplayed sell-out hit “We Built This City”...
View ArticleRare Rides: A 1972 DAF 66 Two-Door Wagon, Small and Not Quite a Volvo
Today’s Rare Ride is from an automaker headquartered in the Netherlands which faded away long ago. It’s a little DAF 66, from 1972. DAF started out in the 1920s as a truck manufacturer, and produced...
View ArticleDastardly Diesels: Suzuki and Jeep Busted Breaking EU Emissions Rules
While Volkswagen remains the industrial face of diesel-related scandals, it’s just one of many automakers fingered for emissions cheating. VW was simply the first to be dragged through the coals, and...
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