• May 9, 2011

Saab Cars North America, based in Royal Oak, Mich. has hired a new president and CEO. Timothy Colbeck will oversee the Swedish automaker's North American operations, reporting directly to Saab Automobile AB VP and head of global sales & aftersales, Matthias Seidl as well as the Saab Cars North America Board of Directors.

Colbeck joins SCNA after 25 years with Subaru of America. Most recently, he was the SVP of sales.  

Subaru and Saab have a history both would probably like to forget. Under the aegis of General Motors, during a period when Detroit automakers were attempting to dig themselves out of a hole by acquiring brands, Subaru and Saab, not to mention Saab and Chevrolet, were compelled to share vehicle parts and platforms to the detriment of Saab, which wound up getting a suspiciously Subaru-like vehicle that critics called a "Saabaru" and vehicles like the 9-7x SUV that looked like a GMC Envoy took a wrong turn into a Saab factory, which is exactly what happened.

Subaru has done very well since unshackling itself from GM, and Saab ... not so well. Colbeck has his work cut out for him.