Swedish site The Local claims that Saab produced $531 million in black ink in 2009. Not possible, right? General Motors was, after all, all too ready to walk away and let the Born from Jets automaker die a pauper's death. Well, it seems as though all automaker profits come chock-full of asterisks, and the half a billion dollar profit is certainly no different. Saab was reportedly able to make with the dough by brokering deals with creditors to write off 75 percent of its debt and by selling technology, tooling, and manufacturing rights to Chinese automaker BAIC for $164 million.

Without Saab's extraordinary efforts to remain in business, the company would have lost $752 million in 2009. The Swedish automaker sold a mere 38,756 vehicles during the tumultuous year, generating revenue of just $820 million. We're thinking that there is little chance Saab will be able to pull big-time kroner out of its collective hat in 2010, so the automaker will probably have to rely on its new-for-2010 9-5 and newly leaner organization to book profits in the future.

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