Today, Spyker‘s CEO Victor Muller said that Saab (his firm’s new addition) would struggle to sell 100,000 cars this year. This despite his insistence that he was ”looking forward to a bright and exciting future” on the announcement of the deal.

News came on Tuesday, that Saab has been saved from oblivion by Dutch sports car manufacturer Spyker. General Motors, the world’s second-largest car seller had begun to wind up the Saab’s operations. The last-minute deal inked with Spyker will yield Saab $74 million in case and $326 million in preferred shares in Saab. The deal is expected to be completed by the end of next month and both Saab and Spyker will be managed by a new parent company Saab Spkyer Automobiles.

Part ownership by General Motors paired with an investment of $600 million came in 1989. Saab’s DNA was shared with GM’s Opel Vectra. By 2008, GM sales were hurting and it put the Saab marque under review. Saab sales in 2008 numbered 95,000. Sales dropped to 40,000 the following year.

Saab has been in sale ping-pong for many months now. Spyker had jumped into the breach after Koenigsegg (another sports car maker) pulled out citing successive delays in closing the deal as its reason. Spyker’s deal beat a competing offer by investment firm Genii Capital and F1 honcho Bernie Ecclestone.

While Saab has been on the ropes, it has been hard at work in reinventing itselfin order to find its customers that have moved to other manufacturers. Just last September, Saab showed off its rebooted 9-5 at the Frankfurt Auto show.

Video via WorldCarFans.com

Built on GM’s Epsilion saloon, the new 9-5 appears to be a completely different animal. Gone is the paneling that creased the sides. Detailing around the cab is much more subtle. The new 9-5 is sleek and built to The gently sloping canopy sinks into the boot, a swift nod to the classic 9-5 profile. Engine sizes differ too, moving down a fwe notches. The range starts at a 1.6l turbocharged up to a max 2.8l V6. On launch, Saab will ship the 2.0l four cylinder turbodiesel with 160 brake horsepower.

Production of the new 9-5 has already begun in Saab’s facilty at Trollhättan and the new model is due on forecourts before the Autumn. Could it help win back Saab fans? Time will only tell.

Forfás released it’s Annual Business Survey of Economic Impact for 2008 today. The survey takes a statistical snapshot of economic activity of sectors, Irish firms and foreign firms over several years and it makes for very interesting reading. The data is based on firms that deal with Enterprise Ireland, the IDA, Shannon Development and Údarás na Gaeltachta.

The overall numbers nabbed from the report, starkly show the bite of the recession on Irish firms from 2007 to 2008:

And foreign firms:

Foreign-owned firm fared a little better in manufacturing sales, exports and value-added activity, yet direct expenditure to the Irish economy dropped. Those that operated in the services sector was badly hit too. This is possibly a nod at the meltdown of international banking and financial services melting down world-wide.

Some interesting findings:

• Irish manufacturing and services companies made sales of just over €31B in the year 2008. A tiny bump of 0.7% year-over-year contributing an annual average of 3.9% from 2000-2008. Easy to see the massive drop here.
• Modern manufacturing, energy and information & communications systems were positive sectors for sales by Irish firms in 2008. While sales in legacy sectors like food & drink or traditional manufacturing shrank by 0.4% and 4.2% respectively.
• Looking at food & drink sales by foreign firms in Ireland, their sales grew by 22%. Alarm bells!
• In terms of payroll costs, the average salary of a worker in the survey in an Irish firm was €45,200. This constituted an increase of 6.1% over the surveyed period of 2000-2008

How is it that foreign firms can grow so healthily in the food & drink sector, yet Irish firms struggle?

Photos: forfas.ie

There’s such a plethora of news applications in Apple’s App Store, that’s it’s rare I come across a gem I have to share. The BBC World News Live application is one such find. While it’s not new, it’s one that’s dead handy to have in your pocket.

The BBC World News Live application developed by Livestation streams the World News service channel through your iPhone. If you are on wifi, it streams high-quality video and if you’re on 3G, then you are served lower-quality but still watchable video.

This morning between avoiding getting up to pack for home, I watched Alan Cummings host a documentary on cabaret clubs from Weimar through the Second World War. Sumptuousness.

Screen capture from the BBC World News Live iPhone application