After 19 years in American hands, Saab is once again in Nordic ownership.

[Saab Sonett, manufactured between 1966 and 1974]

Related news: • Confirmed: Koenigsegg wins Saab bid

Tuesday’s announcement that General Motors, which has been operating under bankruptcy protection since the beginning of June, has decided to sell its maker of luxury Saab to super car manufacturer Koenigsegg brings the brand back in Nordic control.

The Detroit auto giant bought Saab in two stages from the Swedish Wallenberg family’s Investor AB holding company. In 1990 GM acquired half of Saab -- not to be confused with a Swedish defense company also called Saab -- and snapped up the rest of the company a decade later.

The Swedish automaker, which employs 3,400 people, posted a 2008 net loss of 3.0 billion kronor (241 million euros, 341 million dollars at the time). During the five years until 2008, Saab racked up an operating loss of 16.5 billion kronor. It last made a profit in 2001, the only year it was in the black in almost two decades of GM ownership.

Saab owes 9.7 billion kronor (1.3 billion dollars, 924 million euros) to GM -- its largest individual creditor -- as well as 347 million kronor to the Swedish government. Other creditors are owed 647 million kronor.

Saab was originally created in 1937 as a division of the Swedish Aeroplane Company for the express purpose of building aircraft for the Swedish Air Force. With World War II nearing its end, the company began looking for new markets in which to expand. The company built its first prototype cars in 1947 with the first production version rolling off the assembly line two years later.

Saab's glory years came in the 1980s when a weak Swedish krona helped boost sales in its export markets, the US and Britain, where it gained a reputation for its turbocharging technology.

However, an ageing product line and a collapse in demand owing to the tightening of available credit hurt Saab's sales in recent years.

In 2008, Saab made up 1.1 percent of GM's global sales, selling 93,295 cars worldwide, compared to 133,000 two years earlier.

The automaker last brought out a new model eight years ago, the 9-3 in 2001, while its other flagship car, the 9-5, was last replaced in 1997.

In the highly competitive auto industry, the average life cycle of a new car is five to six years.

The US auto giant wanted a premium marque to add to its wide range of brands, while Saab would gain better economies of scale by being part of a larger company.

However, Saab employees told AFP earlier this month that their US parent did not invest enough money into new products during its tenure as owner, which impacted on sales.

GM, now languishing in bankruptcy protection, needed to sell Saab to shore up its own badly damaged balance sheet.

Saab’s new owner Koenigsegg’s largest owner is by Norwegian entrepreneur Bård Eker’s holding company Eker Group AS with 49 percent of the stock shares. Second largest owner is founder and president Christian von Koenigsegg.

The acquisitions puts an end to 19 years of foreign control and so brings Saab back into Nordic hands.