Confession #44: If the faithful won't buy a Saab EV, who will?

2010 Saab 9-3X (Saab Automobile photo)

I've expressed my love and skepticism for Saab several times. But I never wrote an obit.

I very nearly counted them out as the production halt in April 2011 turned into a potential sale, which turned into reorganization and then full-on bankruptcy around Christmas. They were down, but not dead and buried. Yet.

Today's news the broken remains of Saab Automobile – the plant, various tooling pieces and probably a lot of stationary and swanky Swedish furniture – were sold to a consortium called National Electric Vehicle Sweden (NEVS). NEVS is based in Sweden, led by a Chinese-born executive and has Japanese and Chinese money. Sounds like an interesting party, to say the least.

Confession #37: The bicker and banter begins just after halftime

If there's one thing the new Chrysler (after an Obama Administration-orchestrated rescue package and Fiat's savior Sergio Marchionne took the wheel) has been able to do, it's start a conversation after a lavish and polished Super Bowl commercial. If there's one bright spot in this absolutely heartbreaking Super Bowl (look to your right to see where I live), it's that some of the car ads this year were genuinely good. That doesn't always happen.

But while Chrysler seemed to steer the talk towards their cars last year after Eminem pulled up in front of the Fox Theater in a Chrysler 200, the discussion is all about Clint Eastwood this year. More specifically, what the veteran actor and director meant when he said in the "Halftime in America" two-minute spot before the Giants squashed the Patriots' lead.

Confession #29: Admit to a big problem

'Save Saab' rally in Taiwan, Jan. 2010

Somehow it seems fitting that news of Saab’s intent to reorganize under Swedish law comes on a very cloudy, drizzly day in Boston. This is the land of many colleges and therefore many Saabs, if you believe the stereotype that all professors drive Saabs.

The company has filed for protection from creditors before. I remember the day in February 2009 when it was more likely that Saab’s former parent, General Motors, would go under than its Swedish division. And sure enough, Saab found a buyer in Spyker Cars – after a lengthy sale period.

Confession #22: Bloggers are going mainstream

Having a morbid-enough curiosity, I listen to a lot of panel discussions on so-called new media. They're largely the same, telling people – mostly journalists and media-savvy individuals – that everything's going online, print is dying (if not dead already) and those of us fortunate enough to be pursuing our degrees now should really be sensible and pick something else.

Not one to listen to those who refer to any form of media that isn't online as "fossil media," I resisted entering the blogosphere until two years ago, by which time it was already entering the mainstream. Even then, I hardly call myself a committed blogger.

Unlike Steven Wade, who spent the better part of six years putting his passion for Saabs on digital ink with SaabsUnited.com, and its predecessor, TrollhattanSaab.net. The Hobart resident (that's in Tasmania, which is part of Australia) took his interest to the Internet and caught a wave of enthusiasm for the former General Motors subsidiary and manufacturer of idiosyncratic cars for thinking types and Bostonians.

Wade's efforts, for which he was unpaid for, were rewarded March 14 when Saab Automobile announced he would be hired to join the company's marketing and social media efforts. He, in turn, also announced that he had sold SaabsUnited to new leadership and it would continue to be an enthusiast's site.