Fleet management and leasing company
Masterlease has said it has stopped writing new fleet business at
its Saab Contract Hire division. The decision to pull the plug on
leasing Saab vehicles follows the news last month that the
manufacturer, formerly part of General Motors, has filed for
reorganisation – the equivalent of going into administration – in
its home country of Sweden.

A spokesman for Masterlease said: “With
immediate effect, Masterlease will no longer provide contract hire
and leasing quotations on Saab vehicles through its own brand or
through its Saab contract hire operation.”

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Saab’s UK arm, however, is still owned by
General Motors.

A fleet industry observer criticised
Masterlease’s move, and said that it would undermine confidence in
the car brand – particularly since roughly two-thirds of Saab’s UK
registrations in 2008 were to business users.

He noted in addition that the problems
besetting Masterlease’s parent company GMAC made the rationale for
the lessor to continue as a multi-brand fleet operator “more and
more difficult to support”.

GMAC has received a $6 billion (€4.5 billion)
emergency loan from the US Treasury Department, the fleet expert
pointed out, and the US government has shown itself to be very
unhappy with companies that have taken US public money and used it
to finance overseas operations.

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