As we are all painfully aware, the Saab experiment didn’t go well for the small Dutch supercar maker that bought it. Spyker, a loss-making small company with about 50 employees, took over Saab in 2010. Pairing a small company losing money with few employees and a large one with a lot of employees isn’t the formula for success.
Cash to burn and expertise from the top down at running such a big enterprise clearly were lacking in the deal. Given this, Spyker suffered. While it was supposed to be entering a new era of growth, the drain of Saab took all of Chief Executive Officer Victor Muller’s focus. Now that the debacle is slowly winding itself to a close, The Detroit Bureau reports that Muller is turning his focus back to Spyker.
In the midst of the Saab crisis, it was reported that Spyker was being sold to either North Street Capital, an investment firm, or Russian investor Vladamir Antanov. Muller reports that those plans have been scrapped, and that he is retaining ownership of the company.
It’s clear Muller put 100% into Saab, and he really should be given credit for that. That effort consisted of 20-hour days, seven days a week, an exhausting investment he says he is “extremely happy” to be free of. No kidding. Ever the optimist, Muller has hope Saab will survive with and thrive under the ownership of one of the companies currently bidding for its name and assets.
Muller reports that “cash is now coming back into Spyker.” Sales of the brand’s Audi V-8-powered super cars have hovered around the 35-50 unit mark yearly for most of its history. With Muller giving it all of his attention, maybe Spyker will begin to see some success. It’s true the brand name has a lot of recognition it didn’t have before. If this means the C8 Aileron lives, we’re all for it – that car is amazing.
