US car manufacturer General Motors will wind down operations at its loss-making Swedish unit Saab after an attempt to sell it to small Dutch luxury carmaker Spyker Cars failed.
GM said in a statement the move was not a bankruptcy or forced liquidation process, and it expected Saab to satisfy debts, including supplier payments. GM would start an orderly wind-down of Saab operations.
GM Europe president Nick Reilly said it had become clear that "the due diligence required to complete this complex transaction could not be executed in a reasonable time."
Saab would have needed a quick resolution in order to maintain operations, he added.
GM had been in talks to sell Saab to niche luxury carmaker Koenigsegg, with the backing of China's BAIC.
But the deal fell through in November, and GM said it would consider other offers until the end of the year, and then decide whether to close the unit.
BAIC said earlier this week it had agreed to buy some assets from Saab, including the intellectual properaty for the 9-5 and 9-3 sedans, as part of a push to develop its own-brand cars.
Saab has around 3,000 staff, and about the same number are employed in ancillary industries.
Saab has been distributed in Ireland by the OHM Group since 1976. The firm is the Irish agent for several other car brands including Jaguar, Land Rover, Dodge, Daihatsu and Jeep, along with truck firm Daf. In November VW Group took back control of its Seat brand from OHM.
Saab has a network of 14 dealers across the State, but recorded sales of only 99 cars this year to the end of November, down from 899 sales during the same period last year.
A spokesman for Saab Ireland said they were shocked by the news. He said it was too early to say how many jobs might be lost here because of the move. "Six staff work directly for the brand at OHM but other operations such as accounts, parts, etc are shared with the other brands," he said. The group has already cut staff numbers from 250 to 180 employees in recent months.
Additional reporting Reuters