As opposed to the ignorant
As opposed to the ignorant perspective of the author, GM bought Saab because they needed more capacity to build Opels, at the time. Saab reached new heights in quality and sales under GM. In spite of that, Saab never managed to make a profit and was far too small to survive as an independent carmaker. Obama's auto task force declared Pontiac too small to maintain despite US sales three times the global sales of Saab.
Regarding EV1, the facts of the matter are that GM made a full faith effort to comply with California's Zero Emission Vehicle mandate with the innovative car while the illustrious Japanese successfully lobbied to kill the mandate, erasing EV1's reason for existence, cutting the legs out from under the car.
It is a shame to see such sloppy journalism.