While all attention is being focused on Fiat's efforts to acquire Opel, it was confirmed yesterday that the Italian carmaker remains one of the bidders fighting to take over GM Europe's niche Swedish Saab brand. Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne has mentioned recently that he is interested in Saab, which is currently locked into a Swedish courts overseen restructuring programme, a bankruptcy process that is similar to the Chapter 11 that Chrysler is now undergoing.

Confirmation that Fiat was still talking to Saab came from the Swedish minister for enterprise, Maud Olofsson. She told the TT news agency yesterday: "I have stated that there are several interested parties which could be a good fit, of which Fiat is one." With its sales flopping, Saab was plunged into bankruptcy on February 23, and this period was renewed last month. The Swedish government claims that up to ten bidders are looking to take the carmaker over.

Saying that she hadn't reviewed all the plans yet, Olofsson said: "My primary focus is for jobs to remain in Sweden. They need to present the sort of business plan which shows that they can do so." The Swedish government has been very reticent about the state taking up responsibility for Saab, but it has been briefed that loans guarantees will be available to the successful buyer, "It’s only after we have a new owner for Saab that we have the ability to take a position on loan guarantees. As I’ve said before, taxpayers should not own car factories," added Olofsson. She also rejected criticism that Sweden wasn't taking its responsibility to Saab's workers seriously enough. "Many countries say they’ve done a lot, but if you scrape beneath the surface of what they’ve done, it’s not all that much," said Olofsson, noting that governments in Germany, Belgium, the UK, and the U.S. had placed strict conditions on carmakers seeking state loan aid.

It is unclear exactly how Saab fits into Marchionne's grand plans of a new giant carmaking group which will already have a surplus of brands, although there has been some talk that it's U.S. dealer network is of interest to Fiat; however with Fiat recently taking up a stake in Chrysler the need for a stateside dealer network to relaunch the Alfa Romeo brand in particular becomes less pressing. Saab has been one of the biggest losers in the current economic downturn and its sales have collapsed dramatically. Along with Hummer, it has been the brand that GM has been most desperate to unload and its American parent has cut off its funding. Last month Saab's European sales totalled just 2,482 cars which put it down a dramatic 60.2 percent year-on-year and gives it a 0.2 percent stake of all European sales. After the first four months of the year it has managed to sell only 11,808 cars across Europe, less than half the 25,491 cars it sold during the same period of last year.

Saab was originally a subsidiary of the Swedish Aeroplane Company (Svensk Aeroplan Aktiebolag) which built aircraft for the Swedish air force. With WWII coming to an end the company started casting around for new industrial opportunities and started developing its first car in 1944, dubbed project 92. Five years later the Saab 92 went into production and the Saab carmaking story got underway. In 1969 Saab developed a partnership with truck maker Scania before in 1989 GM purchased a 50 percent stake, completing the staged takeover by acquiring the remaining 50 percent in 2000. Soon after GM took up its stake in Saab economies of scale were on the agenda, with the 'new' 900 model launched in 1993 being based on the Opel Vectra platform. Four years ago GM announced that the next-generation 9-3 and 9-5 models' production would be switched from Saab's key factory at Trollhättan, Sweden to Opel's plant at Rüsselsheim, Germany, from 2009. In a further dilution the Trollhättan factory started producing European market destined GM Cadillac brand models.