Sweden Won't Give Money to Saab

Saab's situation is getting more complicated every hour after Koenigsegg announced its decision to walk away from the deal and leave General Motors to decide the Swedish company's future. However, GM won't make a decision on Saab sooner than next week but the Swedish government has already ruled out the possibility to provide financial support to the local company and try to keep it alive.

"You can't, by state aid, keep a company ongoing, if you don't have any chance for a competitive company," Joran Hagglund, state secretary at Sweden's Industry Ministry, was quoted as saying by Reuters. "That can only be assured by a private owner who really is familiar with the market conditions."

Furthermore, Sweden is not willing to purchase a stake in Saab but is willing to discuss with any interested party a potential takeover of the local carmaker.

"But we can facilitate with loan guarantees and we also have this tool of a rescue loan with very hard conditions," he said. "We are willing to discuss that with any potential buyer for Saab."

General Motors announced today that Koenigsegg decided to cancel the deal to purchase Saab and a final decision on the brand's future is to be made next week.

"We're obviously very disappointed with the decision to pull out of the Saab purchase," said GM President and CEO, Fritz Henderson. "Many have worked tirelessly over the past several months to create a sustainable plan for the future of Saab by selling the brand and its manufacturing interests to Koenigsegg Group AB. Given the sudden change in direction, we will take the next several days to assess the situation and will advise on the next steps next week."