Saab Story Heads for Crash Ending

It can be very disquieting to watch a brand's demise. Especially when it's so important to an entire nation like Saab is to Sweden. But it looks like the end is very near for the once-esteemed Saab marque, and the unwinding is getting pretty ugly.

Like vultures poking at potential prey to see if it really is lifeless, Saab's creditors, employees, regulators and would-be partners are all taking turns probing to see if the venerable brand really has anything left. The latest news is that cash-strapped Saab plans to appeal by Monday against a court rejection for protection against its creditors.

Saab CEO Victor Muller said today on Swedish radio, according to Automotive News Europe, that he was hoping the filing would give Saab time to secure the investments it has lined up from Chinese partners and hold off Saab unions that now are pushing to put the company out of its misery so that workers can begin collecting generous Swedish unemployment benefits.

Saab has been relatively adrift since General Motors shed the brand two years ago as part of its U.S. reorganization. The brand and vehicles have continued to exist in a sort of near-luxury netherland that Saab always has occupied to one extent or another. But because of all the recent uncertainty surrounding the brand, its products, dealers and further servicing, American consumers have been abanding the quirky brand in droves. Saab now sells only a few hundreds cars a month in the United States.

Even if Swedish courts, its workers, suppliers and Chinese partners should coalesce somehow around continuing to keep Saab existential, the backdrop for the company still is fearsome. There's the loss of momentum in the U.S. auto market, fierce competition for near-luxury buyers, and the still-spreading European economic contagion that it would have to contend with.

So, Saab's story continues its denouement. It might be time to just close the book.