Following submission of GM’s restructuring plan to Congress, which referenced selling or restructuring its Saab division, the Swedish company has filed for bankruptcy protection. The GM plan stated that it planned to sell or reorganize Saab unless the Swedish government stepped in with financial aid of its own. Yesterday, the Swedish parliament rejected any aid for Saab, and the country’s smaller of two automakers filed for bankruptcy. (Its larger carmaker, Volvo, is owned by Ford, which is also looking to sell its Swedish subsidiary.)

What does this mean to you? First off, we do recommend the 9-3 and the 9-5. They have good power from their turbocharged engines and crash test results are strong. But there are many other upscale cars that outscore these dated designs in our tests. In fact, the 9-3 and 9-5 both are at the bottom of the Ratings for cars we recommend.

If you’re considering a Saab, you might go into a dealership and see big discounts. Don’t think this is necessarily a fire sale due to the bankruptcy. Saabs traditionally have always had large discounts. Despite those deals, Saabs clearly found too few buyers anyway.

Bankruptcy doesn’t mean Saab is necessarily leaving the U.S. market. GM states that Saab will restructure within 90 days. They may find a buyer; if they do, we could still see 9-3s and 9-5s for sale for years to come. To this end, GM is willing to help underwrite continued vehicle development – spy shots of the next-generation 9-5 have been seen recently.

But if they don’t find a buyer, there is a potential for them to leave this market, which would have a big effect on resale value. It seems that 90 days isn’t too long to wait if you’re considering spending tens of thousands of dollars on a Saab.

If you own a Saab, parts availability shouldn’t be a problem. There is a large number of these cars here and GM globally continues to build similar products. The Saab Web site notes that GM will back the warranties of these cars.

Also read "Saturn may leave General Motors’ orbit."

—Eric Evarts and Tom Mutchler