Bloomberg News

The bankruptcy of Saab Automobile has left the carmaker’s 900 dealers around the world scrambling to reinvent themselves, sometimes in creative ways.

In Utah, the state’s only remaining dealership is one operated by the Ken Garff Automotive Group in downtown Salt Lake City. It has only five Saab models left, with their prices discounted as much as 40 percent.

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"We’ve basically been left high and dry," said John Garff, the CEO of the automotive group founded by his grandfather. "We have no choice but to stop selling them once our inventory is gone, which is too bad because they have been a great car and a good niche product for a long time."

He said the Ken Garff group will continue to honor the warranties on its customers’ Saabs and will be providing parts and service as needed. "We’ll do everything we need to do to take care of our customers."

In the past two years, about 200 Saab dealers globally have thrown in the towel and the rest are seeking new partners to survive. The flight of the dealers to competitors means that any company with an interest in buying the Trollhaettan, Sweden-based automaker may struggle to resurrect the brand.

Garff said the Ken Garff group doesn’t expect to have any problem finding a use for its Saab dealership location, at 560 S. 200 East. "We have 65 franchises in six states, so we’ll be able to use that building for other purposes."

Tom Backes, general manager at Guilford Saab in Connecticut, is considering trading in his sensible Saab wagons and sedans for the racier world of Maserati, the luxury brand owned by Fiat SpA, which is expanding its U.S. dealer network. He has also approached Mitsubishi.

"I’ve reached out to quite a few brands," Backes said. "Some have said, ‘We’re not expanding,’ and others have said, ‘We’ll take a look at it.’ It’s a slow process."

"Often these dealerships have a loyal clientele who might switch brands," said Garel Rhys, president of the University of Cardiff’s automotive industry research center. "They’re often in very good locations and well-established. So I’m quite optimistic about the prospects of Saab dealerships"

Saab’s uncertain future has allowed the likes of Volkswagen AG’s Seat and Mitsubishi Motors Corp. the opportunity to swoop in and nab experienced dealers with a loyal clientele.

"We’re absolutely interested in talking to Saab dealers," said Ake Lundberg, head of Seat in Sweden. Seat, VW’s Spanish unit, aims to expand to 50 sales outlets in Sweden from today’s 28, Lundberg said.

In the U.S., "every one" of the country’s 188 Saab dealers have thought about taking on another brand, said Kurt Schirm, head of the Saab National Dealer Council.

Schirm, president of International Motors Saab, an exclusive Saab store in Falls Church, Virginia, has considered other brands for the past couple of years, he said. It’s been tough, not the least because Virginia, like many U.S. states, has a law preventing more than one dealer of the same brand within a certain distance of each other.

Saab dealers have been struggling financially since at least December 2009, when then-ailing General Motors Co. announced it might kill the Swedish brand as it did with Saturn, Hummer and Pontiac. GM eventually sold it to Dutch sports-car maker Spyker Cars NV, today called Swedish Automobile NV. With sales once reaching 133,000 in 2006, Saab sold just 31,700 vehicles in 2010.

No sales figures have been released for 2011. Eric Geers, Saab’s former spokesman who lost his job with the bankruptcy, puts the number at 10,000 to 15,000.

Dealers with new Saabs left in stock are trying to get rid of them with big discounts. It’s not always easy because new Saabs in the U.S. lack a factory warranty. Although customers can buy a separate warranty, that costs about $2,000 and generates an uncomfortable feeling, said Roland Gartner, who owns two Saab stores in Illinois.

Of course, there’s still a chance that Saab will survive as a brand. A half-dozen parties are considering buying the business and restarting assembly, according to the court- appointed Swedish attorneys handling the bankruptcy. China’s Zhejiang Youngman Lotus Automobile and Brightwell Holdings BV, a Turkish private-equity firm, have both publicly expressed interest.