Today GM announced that they will cover any remaining warranty on Saab vehicles sold while the Swedish company was a member of the GM Family. That means pre-2009 models here in the U.S. and some 2010s in Canada.
But this is not a case of GM being altruistic and stepping in to help a struggling carmaker, GM has to honor the warranties they gave out during that time as part of the companies bankruptcy proceedings.
Part of GM's bankruptcy proceedings mandate that New GM purchase the "continuing operation assets" of Old GM. That included employee salary, warranty obligations subject to express conditions and limitations in said warranties and more.
So to recap: GM will continue to honor the warranty of cars they are legally obligated to warranty and will ignore the cars sold after they dumped Saab.
Now the big question is: Who's going to step in and save the post-GM Cars or the 2,400 left on dealer lots without airbag or emissions warranties?
zoomzoom22 says:
10:36 AM, 12/21/11
That picture makes me angry.
stress83 says:
11:52 AM, 12/21/11
"So to recap: GM will continue to honor the warranty of cars they are legally obligated to warranty and will ignore the cars sold after they dumped Saab. "
Just as Edmunds ignores any repairs that might arise after they sell their long-term cars, correct? Or how about the 911 and NSX -- should the previous owners be paying for the repairs that have happened since the vehicles transferred ownership?
Why isn't it possible for things to be put into perspective? The big bad corporate giant who stole our money... meh.
brn says:
03:41 PM, 12/21/11
"Because They Have to"
Unlike the current owners of Saab who also have to honor the warranties, but choose to dodge that responsibility through a bankruptcy declaration.
gregnv says:
04:05 PM, 12/21/11
"Now the big question is: Who's going to step in and save the post-GM Cars or the 2,400 left on dealer lots without airbag or emissions warranties?"
Seems like a great opportunity for the warranty companies that call me at any time of the evening (despite being on the do not call list) offering to cover cars I no longer own.
firstwagon says:
05:50 PM, 12/21/11
stress83
Are you under the impression Edmunds built the cars they test? GM is just being held responsible for the cars they built, sold and warrantied.
When Edmunds sells a test car I seriously doubt they tell the buyer he is getting an Edmunds warranty with it.
stress83 says:
07:05 AM, 12/22/11
firstwagon:
You're reading too far into the comment (however, I see what you're inferring).
My point is GM is doing what they planned on doing -- honoring warranties to vehicles that they promised they would warranty (the announcement being a reminder to owners of GM-sold vehicles). After the sale to Spyker, they had no responsibility to honor anything another company promised.
Edmunds' bought and sold used vehicles "as-is" (as far as we know; other than manufacturer warranties still in effect). They bought the NSX and 911 from an owner not affiliated with Honda or Porsche. People bought Saab's post-2010 from Spyker and not GM.
firstwagon says:
04:34 PM, 12/22/11
stress83
Sorry, I misunderstood your point.
ccappa says:
02:43 PM, 12/26/11
"Unlike the current owners of Saab who also have to honor the warranties, but choose to dodge that responsibility through a bankruptcy declaration."
What are they supposed to do? They have no money, and in fact are hundreds of millions of Euros in debt.
You should remember-GM scotched ANY chance for SAAB to secure additional funding, with the rationale that current SAAB vehicles contain too much GM tech for the manufacturer to be sold to another owner. GM basically argued that the Swan/Spyker built SAABs are de-facto GM vehicles.
In effect, since GM argued that the SWAN/Spyker cars are basically, de-facto GM cars they ought to offer to pick up those owners warranties as well on those same de-facto GM cars, especially since GM made it impossible for anyone else to do so.
Combined with the fact that GM was still a large (majority?) owner of SWAN stock (preferred shares, no less)-if the owners of the SWAN/Spyker built SAABs were smart they would file a Class Action suit to get GM to do pick up their warranties. I wouldn't be surprised if they do so.
Typical GM-they wanted to hold the purse strings, but not have any responsibility for liabilities. We'll see what happens, there.
stress83 says:
05:43 PM, 12/27/11
@ ccappa:
GM blocking the sale has more to do with China than anything else. I think we'd find things to be different had a Scandinavian company stepped up to purchase the company (or any entity aside from a continental Asian government).
Furthermore, to use your shareholder argument, can you think of any other majority shareholder of any inc that would "step up" to pump money into a losing proposition?