Saab is bankrupt

[Thanas]

BBC

Saab says it cannot pay employee wages

Owner Swedish Automobile said it was in discussions with lenders to try and obtain short-term funding.

Earlier this month, the company said it had reached a deal with two Chinese firms to invest a total of 245m euros ($350m; £218m) in the company.

Production at Saab's main plant in Sweden is currently on hold after it was unable to pay suppliers.

"Swedish Automobile and Saab Automobile are in discussions with various parties to obtain short-term funding, including via the sale and lease-back of the real estate of Saab that was announced previously, and with their financiers in connection with current financing arrangements," the company said in a statement.

However, it gave no assurances that it would be able to obtain the funding needed to pay wages.

Swedish Automobile, formerly known as Spyker Cars, bought Saab last year from General Motors following major restructuring at the US car giant.

The company is still struggling, however, selling only about 30,000 cars last year.

Saab is hoping that the provisional deal struck with the two Chinese investors will help solve its longer-term financial difficulties.

Under the non-binding deal, Zhejian Youngman Lotus Automobile would invest 136m euros for a 29.9% stake, while Pang Da Automobile would increase its investment to 109m euros, retaining its previously-agreed 24% stake.

However, the deal needs approval from Chinese and European regulators and the European Investment Bank.

If the agreement does go through, both Swedish carmakers would have Chinese ownership.

Volvo was bought by Zhejiang Geely Holding Group in August 2010.

I doubt the chinese will pay up. Far cheaper for them to bankrupt the company and then purchase it on the cheap.

[Starglider]

They must have lost a lot of skilled staff at this point. The motivated and talented ones able to get jobs at other companies easily will have left in droves.

[Thanas]

that depends on other job offers and I doubt it looks that rosy at the moment.

[cosmicalstorm]

I live two miles from the factory and frequently meet the workers as patients to our clinic, today there were several people who could not pay their dental bills for various rootcanals and periodontal treatments because they didn't get paid. One guy was actually there with his imported wife from Thailand outside in the waiting room, she had the face of a gorgon when it became apparent he was broke and could not even pay for her new filling. It's really sad seeing it go down like this. Now they are truly gone, such a shame they had to spend two years torturing all the employees with roller-coaster shenanigans. Should have called it in two years ago when GM left.

They must have lost a lot of skilled staff at this point. The motivated and talented ones able to get jobs at other companies easily will have left in droves.

Volvo Cars factories in Gothenburg recently announced they would need 1000 engineers so a lot of those have indeed been solicited from SAAB, they have been complaining about that in the local papers.

[Shroom Man 777]

Does this have any bearing on Saab's aerospace division, the one that makes the Grippen?

[Sea Skimmer]

The two have not been the same company since 1990. The logos are different. GM bought out a controlling stake in the auto maker division in 1990 and now owns the whole thing; however they are no longer willing to pump extra money into it and have been trying to sell it for years.

[cosmicalstorm]

The two have not been the same company since 1990. The logos are different. GM bought out a controlling stake in the auto maker division in 1990 and now owns the whole thing; however they are no longer willing to pump extra money into it and have been trying to sell it for years.

GM sold it (or most of it) to Spyker a year ago, since then the ownership question has been very puzzling. The people who work in other parts of the SAAB organization really hate the stink being raised due to the car manufacturer.

[Julhelm]

They should just have let it die or sold it off to Koenigsegg who has a much better track record than this Muller guy who noone had heard of before.

[Bounty]

Yeah, Spyker got in way over their heads. They should have stuck with making cool sportscars rather than try to break into the mainstream market.

And this is a damn shame for Saab, both as a company and for its employees. A manufacturer with such a great history and back catalog shouldn't rot away like this. I just hope someone picks up the name and the rights to their next generation of cars - the Phoenix concept looked great.

[Sephirius]

The new 9-5 was gorgeous too. I wouldn't count them as down and out though.

http://www.automobilesreview.com/img/20 ... 9-5-06.jpg

[Tolya]

The new 9-5 was gorgeous too. I wouldn't count them as down and out though.

http://www.automobilesreview.com/img/20 ... 9-5-06.jpg

It is irrelevant if its gorgeous or not. It is relevant whether it is sellable in quantities that would guarantee profitability for the company. I say no-fucking-way-in-hell-even-if-it-freezes-over. What SAAB tried to do was basing its entire product line on an expensive D-segment (upper middle class) passenger vehicle. It would be like Toyota tried making money solely on the Avensis/Camry.

When GM had SAAB it was easy. Second generation 900 and all 9-3 models were based on a common GM platform, so you could order 100.000 parts for main Opel production (which included Vectras and Calibras) line and then give 5% of it for making SAABs. Since you bought parts in bulk, you could have a bigger discount and the "mainstream" sales helped SAAB stay afloat. When GM left, such possibility disappeared and SAAB found itself producing a car that cannot support itself by itself.

Let's face it: SAAB was NEVER a make that could "make it" on its own. In the very beginning it was just a division of SAAB which focused on airplanes. Then they cooperated with Scania, Fiat and later General Motors. They really hit it big with SAAB 900 (sold about 1 milllon units from 1978 till 1994) but its successor, the 900 NG was based on Opel Vectra platform and had zero chance for being sustainable on its own. SAAB was reinvented as a premium brand for GM cars, based on GM parts and I don't know how anyone could have expected it would survive on its own.

Besides, the new 9-5 may be lovely, but it is NOWHERE close to executive premium cars like Mercedes, BMW or Audi in terms of brand prestige.

Also, in the modern world, a big part of car sales are fleets. The Ford Mondeo is a fleet car, Peugeot released its 508 model meant to compete on the fleet market and even the bloody Nissan wants to take a piece of that pie (with Qashqai and Juke of all things... )

This just isn't a world for lone-riders anymore. Which is a shame because a well maintained 900 coupe on the road is a sight to behold.

[Bounty]

Since there seems to be money in premium superminis, I was thinking it could be very cool if someone bought the Saab brand, licenses the Panda platform and the TwinAir, then brings back a two-door, two-cylinder, FWD Saab sedan à la the 92.

Too bad it won't happen now.

[Venator]

I was reading last months' (delayed release over here) Top Gear magazine, and it was talking about their bold plans and pressure to make changes, and the looming financial issues. It was, knowing what we know now, hugely depressing.

Also, to the talk of the good looks of the 9-5 - this was apparently going to be, almost verbatim, the face of the next 9-3.

[Spoonist]

Does this have any bearing on Saab's aerospace division, the one that makes the Grippen?

Nothing at all except tangentially. It would even be better for them without people thinking of cars when you mention the brand name.

[Tolya]

Since there seems to be money in premium superminis, I was thinking it could be very cool if someone bought the Saab brand, licenses the Panda platform and the TwinAir, then brings back a two-door, two-cylinder, FWD Saab sedan à la the 92.

Too bad it won't happen now.

Perhaps not. Perhaps not now. But when the company goes under, the factories are sold, people are sacked and the only thing that will remain will be the logo, then maybe someone will buy it for old times sake. And then after a few years when we are on the economic way up, some company will bring it back.

Wouldn't hold my breath though.

[Spoonist]

SAAB got some new cash.
Some from loans, some from selling buildings, some from cars etc.
This will last them until mid-fall.

http://newsroom.saab.com/

http://www.carsuk.net/saab-gets-china-c ... 6-and-9-7/

[Tolya]

I don't know what are they counting on. Their only chance is to find a company like GM. Or produce a car that will literally sell like fresh cookies.

[Bounty]

I don't know what are they counting on. Their only chance is to find a company like GM. Or produce a car that will literally sell like fresh cookies.

They just have a GM-based SUV out, one that didn't get hit by the production shutdown since it's made in Mexico, so they may be counting on that to provide a boost. And any sort of survival would right now seem better than certain bankruptcy.

[Tolya]

They just have a GM-based SUV out, one that didn't get hit by the production shutdown since it's made in Mexico, so they may be counting on that to provide a boost. And any sort of survival would right now seem better than certain bankruptcy.

SUVs are no longer the selling point of any company. I am also curious how did they solve the deal with component purchase, since SAAB is no longer in the GM group they probably had to pay much more for the GM Theta platform.