Pretoria - The 5 000-odd owners of Saab cars in South Africa have been placed in a fresh pickle.
This follows a decision by Absolut Motor Importers (AMI), the previous distributor of the premium luxury Swedish marque, not to honour maintenance agreements it signed with clients, except for work done through Sandton Saab.
AMI said this step was the inevitable consequence of the failure by General Motors South Africa (GMSA) "to take effective ownership of their responsibility as distributor for Saab", as well as the collapse of the local Saab infrastructure.
Sandton Saab has been the only official dealership and service centre in the country since the end of last year.
GMSA announced in June it had been awarded the local Saab distribution rights. But AMI said GMSA, and its predecessor Delta Motor Corporation, had actually been responsible for the distribution of the products since October last year.
Saab owners, particularly those outside Johannesburg, have experienced problems with servicing and obtaining parts since AMI closed its Saab business last October.
The frustration of owners with being left in limbo led to some disgruntled owners establishing an internet website, www.saabdisaster.com, to highlight their problems.
John Cuming, GMSA's director of planning, said at the weekend the firm did not have any comment to make about AMI's statements "at this stage".
Cuming said he was also not in a position to comment about GMSA's plans with regard to the expansion of the Saab dealer network.
AMI emphasised that GMSA had highlighted the global strength of General Motors when it announced it had taken over the Saab distributorship and had promised a substantially enhanced presence in South Africa.
"A further two months have now passed and still GMSA has done nothing to rebuild the Saab brand in South Africa. The proud dealer network that AMI built up over five years has disintegrated.
"Sandton Saab, valiantly fighting on without any meaningful help from GMSA or Saab Automobile, is now the only Saab dealership left in South Africa," it said.
AMI had been operating a maintenance plan for many Saab customers, the Saab Vehicle Plan, and it continued to honour these contracts despite the collapse of its distribution business. However, it was now no longer possible to honour the contracts.
"With the exception of Sandton Saab ... there is no effective infrastructure left. With immediate effect, therefore, AMI will not accept maintenance work done other than by Sandton Saab.
AMI said the evidence of the past 10 months was that GMSA had failed to use its superior resources and infrastructure to serve Saab clients.
Klaus Linning, the Saab vehicle plan administrator for AMI, said it was now "incumbent on GMSA to find a solution for clients affected by this development", as promised in June this year.
"Queries regarding the future of Saab in South Africa should be directed to GMSA, which have not made their plans known to us," he said.