Topic: F1 Comings, Goings, etc.

[faksta]

That was so professionally hidden that I didn't even get why should I be offended 

About the tyres, Avon supplies Formula 2 now, why not to move them up a bit?

[MG]

Here's a little piece about Formula One and passing. I think some will find it interesting.

[Allan L]

Interesting to read MS's views - I think he had a different attitude to passing when he was racing, which seemed to be that he could not be passed and he could not be stopped from passing . . .

[Otto Puzzell]

Interesting to read MS's views - I think he had a different attitude to passing when he was racing, which seemed to be that he could not be passed and he could not be stopped from passing . . .

[MG]

I fear there may be some confusion here, Allan. The "Michael" quoted is Sam Michael, chief engineer at Williams, not Michael Schumacher, the only man on earth with a larger ego than Bernie Ecclestone!   

But what you said about the great MSchumacher is no less valid in any case!   

[Allan L]

I fear there may be some confusion here, Allan. The "Michael" quoted is Sam Michael, chief engineer at Williams, not Michael Schumacher, the only man on earth with a larger ego than Bernie Ecclestone!   

But what you said about the great MSchumacher is no less valid in any case!   

Ah, yes, poor speedreading!
I'm so used to modern writing where we are all on first name terms with the stars that I overlooked the fact that Sam Michael has no surname in the conventional sense.

[Otto Puzzell]

c'est la vie

[MG]

Allan, I think we should petition the FIA to force Sam Michael to change his name to McGillicuddy or Lipschitz!  There will only ever be one "Michael" associated with the sport in the minds of most fans!   

Nonetheless, I have gone back and modified the article to say Sam Michael rather than just Michael to avoid any possibility of confusion.

Btw, it sure is fun to have a forum to give old Bernie a poke in the eye!      Lord knows he deserves it. 

[Otto Puzzell]

Or, John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt

[MG]

Hey, that's my name too!   

[Otto Puzzell]

Time to merge this with the "SAAB is dead" thread?

F1’s Ecclestone Joins Genii Capital in Bid for Saab (Update1)

Jan. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Formula One tycoon Bernie Ecclestone and partner Genii Capital emerged as a rival to Dutch super-car maker Spyker Cars NV in making last-ditch efforts to buy General Motors Co.’s Saab unit.

Genii Capital, the Luxembourg-based private-equity firm that agreed to acquire a majority stake in Renault SA’s F1 team last month, is offering cash for Saab, said Lars Carlstroem, the Swedish investor who is working with Genii. Spyker put in a revised offer before a 5 p.m. deadline in New York yesterday, Chief Executive Officer Victor Muller said.

Forbes’ 2009 list estimates Ecclestone and his family’s net worth at $3.7 billion. After two attempts to sell the 72- year-old Saab brand failed in the past two months, GM CEO Ed Whitacre said Jan. 6 that the Detroit carmaker was proceeding with a decision to close Saab and that no qualified buyer had emerged.

“It’s a good brand that has probably been neglected by the current owners,” Ecclestone, 79, said in a phone interview. “We don’t own it yet, so let’s see what happens.”

Ecclestone declined to disclose any financing details.

Genii Capital “has decided that given an adequate and short timeframe for finalizing its offer, it will aggressively work towards a successful closing of the transaction with all the relevant stakeholders of the company,” the private-equity firm said in a statement. Genii said it will bid for a majority stake in Saab together with Ecclestone.

No Qualified Buyer

“It’s real easy -- show up with the money and you can have it,” Whitacre told a roundtable of reporters Jan. 6, when asked whether GM had made a good-faith effort to sell Saab. GM doesn’t foresee a sale, he said.

Also planning a bid is a third group of investors, headed by former MAN SE CEO Hakan Samuelsson and former Swedish minister Jan Nygren, Dagens Industri reported, without saying where it got the information.

Trollhaettan, Sweden-based Saab is scheduled to hold a board meeting today where it will examine if it can restart production Jan. 11 after a four-week break, board member Haakan Danielsson said. Board members may also discuss new bids for Saab, he said.

Saab’s board could be dissolved as early as today as the wind-down process begins, a person familiar with the matter said. Even so, GM could still decide to accept a bid, he said.

‘Wait and See’

Negotiations to sell Saab to Spyker collapsed Dec. 18 and Spyker submitted a second offer Dec. 20, which it further revised yesterday.

“Now there’s nothing more we can do, we just have to wait and see,” Muller said in an interview. “Whoever is the shepherd of Saab, the main thing is that it survives.”

Genii plans to use former bidder Koenigsegg Group AB’s Saab business plan and make the automaker profitable by 2012 with production of 105,000 vehicles a year, Carlstroem said.

“It is a true opportunity and we’re surprised that more investors haven’t identified this opportunity,” he said. Genii Capital “loves brands and Saab is a strong brand on the same level as Porsche and BMW.”

Saab is among four brands, along with Pontiac, Saturn and Hummer, being unloaded as GM focuses on Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac in the U.S. after its July 10 bankruptcy exit.

Swedish sports-car maker Koenigsegg, which had backing from Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Co., walked away from a deal to buy Saab in November. Beijing Auto paid $200 million to buy some car technologies from Saab to use in its own vehicles.

‘Build the Cars’

“We have customers who have ordered cars, especially the 9-3” model, Saab board member Danielsson, who is also head of Saab’s engineering union, said in a telephone interview. “We have the materials and we’ll just go out and build the cars unless we hear differently.”

A Swedish government delegation will travel to Detroit at the start of next week to meet with GM’s management, Svenska Dagbladet reported yesterday, citing Joeran Haegglund, state secretary at the Industry Ministry.

“As we have understood the situation, GM has not yet closed the door for a sale even if a wind-down is the official track,” Haegglund told the newspaper. “Now, we want to make absolutely sure that they have all the necessary information and that there are no misunderstandings” on issues such as a loan for Saab from the European Investment Bank, the European Union’s lending arm, he said.

Wind Down

“We made the decision last month to wind down Saab, but in that process we have said that we will review any bids that come in sincerely,” said Stefan Weinmann, a GM Europe spokesman.

Saab sales in the U.S. slumped 59 percent to 8,680 vehicles last year. European deliveries through November also fell 59 percent to 25,093 cars.

About 50 Saab enthusiasts in around 35 vehicles gathered outside GM’s headquarters on Jan. 5 to appeal to the carmaker to sell its Swedish brand to Spyker or one of the other potential bidders, according to Ryan Emge, who organized the meeting.

“What we need now is for GM to sell Saab so that they can get back to selling cars again,” said Emge, who operates the Saab History Web Site from Portland, Maine. No enthusiasts had rallied for the other car brands GM is shedding, he said.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aByRt2Zw6xWQ&pos=4#

[MG]

Time to merge this with the "SAAB is dead" thread?

Naah.  The only connection is Bernie. The Saab story will find its own ending. And hopefully, BCE won't kill F1 in the meantime.