[link|http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/06/business/06place.html|General Motors Plans to Sell Its Stake in Subaru's Parent].

The Fuji sale will complicate plans for Saab. One of Saab's five models, the Saab 9-2x, is essentially a Subaru made over to look like a Saab, though it is not a big seller. G.M. had planned to develop a Saab version of Subaru's B9 Tribeca, a seven-passenger vehicle known as a crossover because it combines elements of an S.U.V. and a car. The vehicle had been anticipated by Saab dealers.

"We at Saab are looking for a seven-passenger vehicle, and that was a seven-passenger vehicle," said Steve Coleman, the owner of Saab of Santa Ana in California and a member of Saab's national council of dealers. Mr. Coleman said he found out about the sale in a conference call that G.M. had with the council.

Tom Beaman, a spokesman for Saab, said the company would still find a way to develop a seven-passenger crossover vehicle.

"Saab is extremely important to G.M. because it is our only premium European brand," he said, adding that it brought customers "into G.M. who we otherwise wouldn't have."

A Toyota executive said his company would develop and produce vehicles with Subaru, which could provide some measure of help to Toyota in reaching its American sales goals. At a news conference in Japan, Mitsuo Kinoshita, a Toyota executive vice president, said his company would also use Fuji's "various advanced technologies."


Cheers,
Scott.