GM Pulls Plug on 9-4X Crossover Production as Saab Moves Toward Chinese Ownership

Saab’s second SUV, the 9-4X, has turned out to be even more of a collector’s item than the company’s first.

With Chinese firms Pang Da Automobile Trade Co. and Zhejiang Youngman Lotus Automobile most likely taking total control of Saab, General Motors has announced that it will no longer sell the 9-4X crossover to the new entity—at least, until a new agreement can be reached.

General Motors designed the 9-4X when it still owned Saab, and builds the crossover alongside the closely related Cadillac SRX at a factory in Mexico. The current deal saw Saab then buying the finished 9-4Xs from GM. Through the end of October, Saab had sold just 194 9-4Xs in the U.S.

“Although General Motors is open to the continued supply of powertrains and other components to Saab under appropriate terms and conditions,” the company said in a statement released today, “GM will not agree to the continuation of the existing technology licenses or the continued supply of 9-4X vehicles to Saab following the proposed change in ownership as it would not be in the best interests of GM shareholders.”

In part, the decision is moot: Saab has no cash with which to pay for the 9-4X cars it buys from GM in fully assembled form. But the deeper issue here is that GM is still one of the largest automotive companies in China, and needs to be sure it won’t be giving away a complete product to a competitor there. GM also has concerns, we suspect, about making one of its modern platforms and engines available to a company from which it has no guarantees of secrecy.

A spokesperson at GM didn’t close off the possibility of the company selling the 9-4X to Saab’s future owners, but said a new deal would have to be worked out.

What this means for car fans, however, is entirely different. If it’s killed, the 9-4X won’t have survived for an entire model year, making it yet another extremely rare model in a bizarre history that includes the Saablazer (the Chevy Trailblazer-cum-9-7X) and the Saabaru (the Subaru Impreza-cum-9-2X).

Posted in: Chinese,Crossover,Moves,Ownership,Production,Pulls,Toward