You are hereKoenigsegg
Koenigsegg
CNBC: Koenigsegg deal to buy Saab crumbles
UPDATE
Apparently GM still has hopes of finding a buyer for Saab.
"I talked to GM last night and my impression is that they have not given up hope," Joran Hagglund, state secretary at Sweden's Industry Ministry.
On Tuesday, the Swedish government ruled out offering any bailout cash to Saab. Time will tell but referring to my tweet yesterday, I think we may be seeing the end of Saab.
BREAKING NEWS
CNBC is reporting this morning that the deal that has been in the works since June for Koenigsegg to buy Saab has failed.
Koenigsegg decided to pull out of the deal which, of course, brings into question Saab's viability. Saab vehicle sales have dropped 61.5 percent this year with only 7,400 cars sold in the United States.
When this deal was announced, I thought this was an unlikely pair. Why would a small, boutique manufacturer like Koenigsegg take over a much larger company like Saab? Other than they are both Swedish-based, it didn't make any sense. I think most enthusiasts would agree that Koenigsegg should stick with what they know best and that's making high-performance exotics. Maybe Koenigsegg's management thought the same.
Do you think this is the end for Saab? It doesn't seem likely that GM will do anything to keep the make afloat. They have enough problems of their own to worry about.
Ethanol and the Koenigsegg CCXR
Not to be left out of the auto makers going green, Koenigsegg has announced that buyers of the limited edition CCX and CCXR will have the option of burning ethanol.
Here's the stats from Koenigsegg:
Acceleration: 0-100 km/h (0-62 mph) 2.9 seconds,
0-200 km/h 8.9 sec, 0-200-0 km/h 13.7 sec
Top speed: 417+ km/h (250+ mph).
Braking distance: 32m (100–0 km/h)
Lateral G-force: 1.4 G
Weight to Power ratio: CCXR: 1.26 kg/hp
Weight distribution: 45% front, 55% rear
Fuel consumption: Highway travel: 18 l/100 km (E85)
Combined: 22 l/100 km (E85)
Just to get the facts straight, the car can burn E85 which, for those that don't know, is a fuel mixture. E85 is 85% ethanol, with the remaining 15% made up of standard pump gasoline.
Obviously the tech specs on this car are amazing when you take a moment and digest the facts. The Veyron's claim to being the fastest car is in jeopardy.
But something we don't understand is the apparent desire of exclusive auto makers like Koenigsegg to appear green. With so few of their cars on the road, models such as the CCX and CCXR have no impact on the environment. Sorry global alarmists, but super cars don't cause climate change.
And I've found the facts surrounding ethanol to be a bit shady. Does it cost more to produce? Doesn't it take a gallon of crude oil to produce a gallon of ethanol? And because burning ethanol produces less energy than gasoline, your vehicle's gas mileage suffers. Thus you land up buying more fuel, which certainly doesn't help you save money.
How about you experts out there. Anyone want to explain this whole ethanol thing to us?
