China's BAIC to reassess Saab bid

China's Beijing Automotive Industry Holding (BAIC) has confirmed it is to "reassess" the options to buy the General Motors (GM)'s Swedish unit Saab after its partner Koenigsegg backed out of the bid Wednesday, hinting at the looming "death knell," Swedish media said.

"It has always been an important strategic focus of BAIC to go international and achieve leap-forward development," BAIC said in a statement e-mailed to the Global Times, in which the company also expressed regret at the exit of its Swedish partner and its gratitude for the support it has received from all relevant parties.

Swedish luxury carmaker Koenigsegg said Tuesday it was abandoning plans to join forces with BAIC to buy Saab from its US parent General Motors due to costly delays, plunging Saab's future into doubt.

"Given the pullout of Koenigsegg, we will reassess this project in a prudent manner and make proper arrangements," the statement said, without disclosing further plans.

A prudent review also has to be made by GM, which had been aiming to close a deal by the end of next month to sell Saab to the Koenigsegg-BAIC partnership and was disappointed Tuesday at the sudden withdrawal of the former.

"We're obviously very disappointed with the decision to pull out of the Saab purchase," GM President and CEO Fritz Henderson said in a statement. "Given the sudden change in direction, we will take the next several days to assess the situation and will advise on the next steps next week."

But for Swedish media, the situation still marks a death knell for the troubled local carmaker.

"The Death Knell," financial daily Dagens Industri announced in a front-page headline, while the country's biggest-selling newspaper Dagens Nyheter ran with "It's Over Now."

In an analysis piece, conservative daily Svenska Dagbladet said "everything was pointing to the closure of Saab," adding it was "unlikely" a new buyer would turn up.