General Motors announced this week that the preliminary deal to sell Saab has fallen apart.

Swedish super-car maker Koenigsegg withdrew its offer to buy Saab from GM, leaving the 62-year-old brand’s future very much in doubt.

2009 Saab 9-3 Aero sport sedan.

“We’re obviously very disappointed with the decision to pull out of the Saab purchase,” said GM President and CEO, Fritz Henderson.  “Many have worked tirelessly over the past several months to create a sustainable plan for the future of Saab by selling the brand and its manufacturing interests to Koenigsegg Group AB. Given the sudden change in direction, we will take the next several days to assess the situation and will advise on the next steps next week.”

GM wanted to finalize a sale of its Swedish-based Saab unit by the end of the year. While a financing hurdle had been overcome, Reuters reports that Koenigsegg said it withdrew because timing issues in closing the deal had made it too risky.

With no other offers on the table, there is a strong likelihood the brand will follow Saturn into the history books.

Saturn’s hopes for survival were dashed in September when Penske Automotive could not secure a deal with Renault-Nissan to supply vehicles and withdrew its bid.

Saab’s history as an automaker began in 1947 when the Swedish airplane manufacturer made its first car. From the start, the marque was known for quirky, innovative vehicles with front-wheel drive and either three-cylinder, two-stroke engines or four-stroke V-4s. Introduced in 1979, the 900 featured a more traditional engine—four cylinders in line—but could be had with a turbocharger. The performance boost gave it an edge at a time when cars were either efficient and slow or gas-guzzling and fast.

GM bought 51 percent of Saab in 1989. While the cars retained some of the quirkiness—ignition key on the center console for instance—purists howled when GM based the Saab 900 on the Opel Vectra starting in 1994. It only got worse after GM acquired the rest of the company in 2000, with production of the 9-5 moving from Saab’s Trollhatten factory to a German Opel plant in 2004.

For the most part the 9-3 and 9-5 models retained some of their Saabness whether they were made in Sweden or Germany, but the division struggled to consistently make a profit.

GM tried to round out the model lineup with SUV and crossover models—the 9-7x and 9-2x—but these proved unsuccessful. The 9-7x, sold from 2005 through 2009, was essentially a restyled and lowered Oldsmobile Bravada.

The 9-2x all-wheel-drive wagon was underpinned by the Subaru Impreza. Aimed at a limited market, big sales numbers were never expected, but about 400 sold in the first two months. When GM’s relationship with Subaru ended in 2005, the model was discontinued with production ending in 2006.