Saab fans vent displeasure on GM's Facebook page
The news of Saab's demise was met with fury among fans of the Swedish manufacturer.
Scores of Saab owners and fans took to General Motors' Facebook page to vent their anger, posting images of their beloved 9-3s and 9-5s on the page and cricising GM for its decision to block the sale of Saab to Chinese manufacturers Pang Da and Youngman.
GM was worried that intellectual property could turn up in Chinese cars - in the same market sector as models it sells with partner Shanghai Automotive (SAIC). SAIC pays licensing fees to GM to use its platforms and technology on the cars it sells in China.
Youngman and Pang Da could have had that technology for a song by buying Saab - and would not have been troubled by licensing fees. That would have made for a very unhappy SAIC and potentially left GM without a valaubale partner in the lucrative Chinese it is increasingly reliant on to turn a profit.
As far as GM is concerned, that meant that it had to block any deal that involved Saab falling into the hands of rival manufacturers; particularly rival manufacturers that upset a major global partner in the new gold-rush market that is the Far East.
Critics point to Ford's deal to sell Volvo to Geely, another deal that saw a Swedish manufacturer successfully sold to a Chinese manufacturer.
Under that deal Volvo is able to access any Ford technology deemed crucial to its survival, including safety and environmental tech. But that technology is safe behind a virtual firewall that prevents Geely from having access - or any claims of ownership - over it.
Saab fans say that GM could have struck a similar deal to keep the Swedish marque alive; but it seems likely that the Saab firesale that the Youngman/Pang Da deal constituted would have made protecting that technology much harder than in the Volvo/Geely deal.
GM will argue that it had no choice. Saab fans are not likely to be convinced. Given that Saab's community is one of the more vocal and passionate in the motoring world, GM may not shrug off the hangover from its unsuccessful dalliance with Saab for some time yet.
