Saab Restarts Production at its Trollhättan Factory

Saab is back in the business of making cars again -at least for now- almost two months after production came to a halt on April 6 when the company’s suppliers stopped deliveries of parts in protest over unpaid bills. The Swedish company was able to restart production after receiving €30 million (US$42.8 million) in advance on a deal it has signed with Chinese car distributor Pang Da Automobile.
The China company’s CEO, Mr. Pang Qinghua, visited the Trollhättan factory today together with CEO and Chairman of Saab Automobile, Victor Muller, and witnessed the first vehicle to roll off the assembly line. Saab said around 100 cars were built today but plans to “increase the daily production rate in the coming weeks in parallel with the full re-establishment of the supply chain”.
Commenting on the restart of manufacturing at the Swedish plant, Victor Muller said:
“This is a great day for our company and it is great to see the plant running again. We have gone through a rough patch in recent weeks, but Saab is back in action again. I would like to express my deep gratitude to our fantastic suppliers who have worked so hard with us to make this happen, and to our loyal employees who have constantly stood by our side.”
A Saab spokesperson said that the automaker has to fill around 8,100 orders including 1,300 cars ordered by Pang Da Automobile as part of the rescue deal. Under the agreement, the Chinese company paid €30 million for the purchase of the 1,300 cars and will buy a second batch of vehicles for €15 million within the next month. In addition, Pang Da Automobile will take a 24 percent stake in Saab’s parent company Spyker for €65 million and establish a joint-venture for distributing cars in China.

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Saab 9-4X Production Is Underway

Production of the all-new 2011 Saab 9-4X crossover has started on schedule, despite the company's crippling financial woes. While production of the rest of the Saab lineup at its Trollhattan, Sweden plant has ground to a cash-strapped halt, 9-4Xs are rolling off the assembly lines in Ramos Arizpe, Mexico.

The plant producing the latest Saab is under contract to the Swedes from GM, and with any luck will help jumpstart a recovery. Under its very Swedish skin, the Saab 9-4X packs the same underpinnings as the 2011 Cadillac SRX.

The base model, which comes with a 265-hp 2.8-liter V6, starts at $33,380, with the top-whack, turbocharged model ringing the register at $48,010. Ominously for Saab, the 300-hp mill is the same engine Cadillac just pulled from the SRX lineup to deal with reliability issues.

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Saab is in trouble

Saab is in trouble. With mounting debts and limited capital investment, the Swedish company is a prime candidate to go the way of the dinosaurs. The troubled automaker has not built a single vehicle since the 1st of April, and a much touted deal with China’s Hawtai Motor Group has fallen through. They did however sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with another Chinese company called Pang Da Automobile Trade Co. Ltd, earlier this week, but we will have to wait and see if the deal goes through.

In light of this, I’ve thought up four plausible (though unlikely) scenarios for Saab. These range from the hugely cynical all the way to the brazenly optimistic. After all, isn’t it better than Saab has some future rather than no future at all? Without further ado, here are your options:

· Saab Becomes Chinese: Saab rebadges a Chinese-built sedan (think of the Great Wall Tengyi C30) as the new 9-3. The world’s motoring press find it to be poorly built, unpowered and overpriced. It is a massive flop in its native Europe, and Saab is declared bankrupt once again.

· Saab Is Bought By Fiat: Sergio Marchionne of Fiat buys Saab and immediately begins rebadging Chrysler 300s as the Saab 9-9. The brand’s 200 becomes the new 9-3 and an entry-level 9-1 model based on the Fiat Punto appears at the 2012 New York Auto Show. Saab’s future looks bright...but only as a cynical tool concocted by a soul-sucking, Italian businessman.

· Saab Is Bought By Tata: Ratan Tata of the Tata Group buys them and somehow manages to turn the brand’s fortunes around. Ian Callum reworks the 9-3 into a stylish, A5 Sportback-imitating sedan, which receives high praise but continues to be a poor seller for the Swedish brand. Despite this, Saab’s renewed focus on customer service and top-notch engineering is winning a lot of fans.

· Saab Saves Itself: Against all odds, Saab manages to reorganise itself by cutting its losses, hiring a new executive management team and producing a truly world-class vehicle in the form of the new 9-3. Though it continues to lag behind its Germanic competitors, sales are returning to 2003 levels and the brand is regaining respect in both Europe and the United States.

· Saab Becomes The New Audi: With backing from a group of concerned businessmen a laPremier Automotive Group, Saab builds a Nouveau 900 that wins the hearts and minds of journalists and automotive enthusiasts everywhere in a valiant return to its glory days. The Nouveau 900 Turbo is voted Best Performance Car and goes on to outsell Volkswagen’s Golf GTI.

So there are your choices. Admittedly these are very fanciful, but I think they’re better than the (what I consider very likely) future of, “Saab bumbles along for a few more desperate years before shutting up shop for good”. Don’t take my word for it, though. Cast your vote and leave your piece in the comments section below!

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2011 Saab 9-3 SRT10

Saab may be on the short stick – again - as far as their future is concerned, but some of their models still find a way to make the news and try to move the spotlight away from their tumultuous future into something a little more optimistic.

In this case, the question has to be posed: who knew that you could take a Saab 9-3, strip it down to its bare essentials, build the whole puzzle back together, and fit in an 8.4-liter V10 engine that comes courtesy of a Dodge Viper SRT10?

You read that whole paragraph right, folks. The word’s ‘Saab’ and ‘SRT’ are coming together for a very revealing customer project. The final model, which is being called the ‘9-3 SRT10 MegaPower’, came from the mind of one Zaccho Pelle, who wanted nothing more than to turn his Saab 9-3 Estate from an otherwise mundane wagon into a Viper SRT10-powered, 600-horsepower piece of automotive madness.

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Swedes Turn a Dodge Viper into the Saab 9-3 SRT10

Proving once again that there is no limit to what one can build when you let your imagination take over, a team of Swedes transformed a Dodge Viper into the menacing Saab 9-3 SRT10 MegaPower you see in these pictures.
It all started when a man bought a wrecked Dodge Viper SRT-10 with the intention of rebuilding it. However, it soon became obvious that task was far more difficult than he originally thought due to the extent of the damages and the lack of parts. It didn’t take long to come up with a fresh idea: strip the Viper’s body clean and use the mechanical hardware and parts of the chassis on a Saab 9-3 Sport Combi.

A team of tuners were involved in the build, which understandably, wasn’t a walk in the park as the Viper’s 8.4-liter V10 engine proved too big for the Saab’s engine bay and had to be pushed towards the cabin to fit. But the result is definitely impressive. For a more comprehensive look at the build with plenty of photos, check out the Zatsy forum.

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Saab Eyes Another Chinese Savior

For the second time this month, and shortly after the break up in talks with the Hawtai Motor Group, Saab’s parent company Spyker Cars N.V. today announced that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with a new Chinese company to provide fresh funds for the deeply troubled Swedish automaker. This time Spyker signed a tentative finance and import deal with Pang Da Automobile Trade Co., Ltd (Pang Da), said to be China’s largest publicly traded automobile distributor with over 1100 dealerships in the country.
The complex deal includes a strategic alliance consisting of a 50/50 distribution joint venture and a manufacturing joint venture (MJV) for Saab branded vehicles as well as for an MJV-owned brand in China, in which Saab will have a 50 percent stake and Pang Da along with a to-be-selected manufacturing partner holding the remaining shares.
If the deal goes ahead, Pang Da would pay €30 million or about US$43 million for the purchase of an unspecified number of Saab vehicles and another €15 million or US$21.5 million for another batch of cars “within 30 days subject to certain circumstances”. The Chinese distributor would also buy a 24 percent stake in Saab’s parent company Spyker for a total amount of €65 million or US$93 million at .€419 per share and would have right to nominate a member of the Supervisory Board of Spyker and /or the Board of Saab Automobile.
The cash injection would help Saab kick off production at its Trollhattan factory in Sweden which has been idle since the beginning of April.
"Both parties are confident that this partnership allows Saab Automobile and Pang Da to create a strong business, initially in the distribution and subsequently in the manufacturing of Saab vehicles in China,” said Victor Muller, CEO of Spyker and Saab Automobile.
Mr. Pang Qinghua, CEO of Pang Da, said that his company is looking forward to the collaboration with Saab. “This partnership allows us not only to distribute Saab, the iconic European premium brand, in China but also to set up a manufacturing joint venture which will further enhance the competitive position of the Saab brand in China,” said Qinghua.

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Saab Boss Victor Muller: Says Buyers Won’t Care about Safety

The ink on the deal / partnership between Saab and China’s Hawtai Motor Group has barely dried, but the Swedish automaker's chairman and Spyker CEO, Victor Muller is already making headlines again by hinting at the distribution of cheap Chinese cars in the United States, Europe and elsewhere through Saab’s established global network.

"We laughed when the Japanese came. We laughed when the Koreans came. But we will not be laughing when the Chinese come. The Chinese are like a steamroller,” said Victor Muller, during a press event in Washington, D.C.

Muller said that if an agreement is reached with Hawtai, the Chinese maker could make use of Saab’s distribution network to sell its cars globally.

"It took 67 years to build up our dealer network. It is the biggest asset not on our asset sheet, and these guys buy into it for free. If they make the proper cars, can you image how much simpler it will be to push product through the distribution network that is already there? It is like a railway network that is already there," said Muller.

The Saab chairman added that the Swedish company could help distribute a low-cost Chinese vehicle priced for around $10,000 (about €7,000 at today’s exchange rates). When asked if this vehicle would be produced by Hawtai, Muller said: "There are 120 companies in China. Saab would be interested in the one with a strategy".

And given that all previous attempts from China to conquer Europe have failed miserably for a great number of reasons, one of the most important being the lack of safety, Muller commented on the matter, and his answer will certainly raise a few eyebrows.

“In China, you can get a $10,000 SUV with air conditioning and electric windows, everything that was ever invented for a car. Do you really worry about a five-star (crash rating)? They look good," said Muller.

Muller’s comment on the safety issue comes to as a surprise, especially since he heads a company that has a top reputation for safety. One would expect Muller to say that Saab would offer its expertise to its Chinese partner so it can improve the safety of their cars, and not rely solely on rock-bottom prices to achieve sales.

Also, let’s not forget that Chinese automakers' low cost strategy has failed miserably in the past in Europe for a very simple reason; there’s no incentive whatsoever in buying a cheap Chinese car with technology from the time legwarmers worn over jeans and three-quarter sleeves were considered cool, when you can buy a far more advanced and possibly reliable used vehicle from an established automaker for the same or even less money.

That’s even more the case in the U.S. were used (and new) car prices are much lower than across the pond. Now, if Chinese makers were to improve their vehicles without pushing prices too high, that's another story entirely.

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Swedish Office and GM Allow Antonov to Invest in Saab

It appears that Saab's hopes of survival continue to depend after all that happened on Vladimir Antonov, the Russian banker who was forced by GM to sell his initial shares in Spyker for the Saab sale to occur. Spyker today confirmed that the Swedish National Debt Office (NDO) allowed Antonov to become a major shareholder in Spyker Cars, Saab's parent company.

"This is a great day for our company and for me personally. We worked relentlessly for 11 months to achieve the desired result: restore the reputation of Vladimir Antonov, who made so many valuable contributions to Spyker since 2007 as financier and shareholder,” said Victor Muller, CEO of Spyker and chairman of Saab Automobile.

“We are convinced he will be able to make such contributions again in the near future and look forward to the decisions of the Swedish Government, General Motors and the European Investment Bank (EIB), following the recommendation of the NDO which was the result of intense scrutinising,” Muller added.

General Motors, which has redeemable preference shares in Saab, also gave the green light to Antonov.

“GM continues to be in active discussions with both Saab and the European Investment Bank and has reached a tentative agreement with Saab on a construct which could allow for Vladimir Antonov's acquisition of a shareholder interest in Saab,” the Detroit automaker said in a press statement.

The American company stressed, however, that the agreement requires “certain specific actions to be taken by Saab which have not yet been completed, as well as certain formal consents, approvals and waivers which Saab has not yet obtained.”

Antonov still needs the green light from the Swedish government and the European Investment Bank (EIB) to return as a Spyker shareholder. Saab halted production three weeks ago because it had no money to pay suppliers and announced it will sell production facilities to Antonov and lease them back in order to get cash to restart production.

However, the deal must receive the approval of the EIB, to which Saab owes €400 million.

“Spyker and Saab Automobile are negotiating equity and debt financing and/or technology licensing with various strategic partners, including various Chinese car manufacturers. No commitments have been received to date,” Saab said in a statement.

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Saab PhoeniX Sports Coupe Concept

The highlight of Saab's booth at the Geneva show is undoubtedly the PhoeniX concept car that previews design features and technologies that will be used by future Saab models. Based on the platform that will underpin the next-generation Saab 9-3, the PhoeniX was penned under the supervision of the firm's new design boss, Jason Castriota. According to Saab, it introduces an "aeromotional” design, which the company describes as the "the visual evocation of the aerodynamic design principles".

The sports coupe features dramatic details such as the rear-lateral winglets reminding of Saab's aeronautical roots and the jet canopy-inspired glasshouse. The front includes a new interpretation of the brand's signature three-port grille which is likely to be seen on future models, as well as the muscular hood.
The teardrop shape of the rear window echoes the design of the very first Saab, the 92001 or Ursaab, while the “sawed-off” tail is a tribute to Saab's first coupe, the Sonett.
The shape of the concept and its aerodynamic treatment enable a drag co-efficient of just 0.25. The doors open upwards, like on the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG, and offer access to the interior, which has a 2+2 layout. The PhoeniX features Saab's all-new IQon infotainment and communications system and a new expression of the driver-focused layout. The IQon uses Google's Android operating system and manages audio and entertainment streaming, online navigation, on-board music storage and downloading of applications.
The concept is powered by an innovative driveline, with an electrically-driven rear axle combined with a 200HP 1.6-liter gasoline turbo engine (most likely sourced from the BMW Group) that motivates the front wheels. The electric motor/generator develops 34 hp and is powered by a small battery pack, which uses regenerative braking to sustain the charge.
The eXWD hybrid all-wheel drive setup and the start-stop system allow for an average fuel consumption of only 5 liters/100 km (47 mpg) and a CO2 emissions level of 119 g/km. The eco-friendliness doesn't mean the PhoeniX is “soft”: it does 0 to 100 km/h (62mph) in 5.9 seconds and has a top speed of 250 km/h (155 mph).
The driver can choose between three eXWD operating modes: Eco, Sport and Traction. The first is set by default and delivers optimal fuel and CO2 efficiency, the second includes maximum power assistance with torque vectoring across the rear-axle and the third enables optimal grip in slippery conditions and at take-off.


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