Save the Saab car factory

The last week we had a lot of rumor about Saab, but as far as I can see still nothing has happened with the factory. Victor Muller has joined the Brightwell camp, but (again) as far as I know they still did not make a bid yet. Mahindra & Mahindra did, Youngman too. Baic (an other Chinese company like Youngman) and Panasonic are also looking for Saab, they want to make electric Saabs, but I`ll make a separate post about that because I do (at the moment) not understand why.

Maybe the administrators just are waiting now for Brightwell to bid (because the others did already). The administrators just need to know which company gives them the best price, right? I really hope the soap comes to a good end soon, it`s time to get back to work for the trolls.

Some posts ago I`ve written something about the Saab Safari. Not the plane, but the car (yes there is a Saab Safari plane too, and I do not mean the Saab Safir). This time I just want to share the picture of an other rare breed in the Saab museum, the Solstad 9000.

The Solstad 9000 is a Saab 9000CS converted by Solstad to a cartransporter. The one in the museum has a 150hp engine and a small collision damage. But you already knew of course because that written in the pdf with the cars in the museum (page 122).

Mahindra & Mahindra has placed a bid for Saab too

Also the Indian carmaker Mahindra & Mahindra has placed their bid for Saab too! Let`s hope the soap ends soon now and that the Saab factory can restart soon.

There was also a press-conference this morning held by the bankruptcy administrators by telephone. According to them their intention is to sell Saab as a whole. Saab `ll just go to the one with the highest bid.

BLS to be traded for a Saab 95 Van?

It`s Wednesday now and as far as I know there is still no official bid for the Saab factory placed. It seems Rachel takes her time, so no post about the Saab factory today.

This time something about a car not shown in Trollhättan yet. In my opinion the Cadillac BLS currently in the museum is a good candidate to be traded in for the Saab 95 Van. Ok, I`m joking but this really is a nice Saab don`t you think?

The 95 Van (I have never seen one in the wild) is made special for Norway and Denmark. This Saab was delivered without rear seat and lacks the rear windows. I do not have much more information about this car unfortunately. But I sure like this Saab!

For me it is a good idea to trade in the BLS for the 95 Van, but everyone can understand this is a costly business for the new owners of the museum. We all want a 95 Van, but I can't imagine someone wants to have a BLS :).

Besides the above mentioned BLS there are also Saabs in the Museum in Trollhättan :), they`re all together on this pdf.

Click on the image of the Ursaab above this post to go to the latest post on this blog.

Nice client today with a Saab 92.

The Saab Museum in Trollhättan is saved, but the good news is not over yet! We`re waiting for the saving of Saab next week (see my post of yesterday).

Sold a Snaidero kitchen today to a client here in the Netherlands. They told me that they `re thinking about driving the Mille Miglia this year in the same week as I have to deliver their new kitchen. Soon the conversation changed from Snaidero kitchens to cars.

One of the cars in the collection of this client is a two stroke Saab 92 (not a 9-2)! They offered me that I can drive this one if I have an occassion for it (eg. Saab meetings). Of course I have Saabs enough to choose from but a 92 is very special. At least more special then my "Spykersaab convertible" (I`m happy with this Saab too off course).

Youngman bid for Saab delayed to next week

My Swedish is not very good :), but as far as I understand it the Youngman bid for Saab `ll come early next week instead of this week. The Youngman bid was expected to come this week, but Rachel Pang had other plans unfortunately.

The entire Young's leadership is coming to Stockholm on Monday to meet with Saab's bankruptcy trustee (according to TTELA)

If it really is about the five billion as previously mentioned, however, is a question - it may relate to a lower bid.

With the delegation is the manager of the Automotive Division Rachel Pang and probably Youngman-founder Pang Qingnian, suggesting that it comes at a crucial stage of Youngman as stakeholders.

Read here the Swedish article.

There was also another Swedish article today about Steven Wade. But feel free to click here if you want to.

I love Saab & the Saab Museum

Hip hip hurray! The Saab museum really survives and stay`s in Trollhättan. What a good news we`ve got yesterday! I`m really very happy that the museum stay`s alive (the dutchies are talking about a meet in Trollhättan so extra boats are needed to transport them to Sweden). Let us all hope that the Saab factory `ll be saved soon too!

Robert Nordqvist made the above picture and Fredrik Nordqvist made it a bit funnier.

Trolhättan bid for museum not high enough

According to Ttela the bid of the city of Trollhättan for the complete car collection of the Saab Car Museum is not high enough. This because higher bids are placed.

Also the national museum in Stockholm has showed interest in the museum but lacks the financial funds to bid for the whole collection.

About the Innovatum plan we did not find news yet. Does this mean this bid was also too low?

From SU (no offence) there is no follow up visible about the e-mails we`ve sent. Am worried about the museum, not the cars. They`ll find their way to Saab lovers through the whole world soon.

Maybe it is possible to join forces (Innovatum/Trollhättan/Saab fans). If the Ursaab sleeps 2 month`s a year in the National Museum in Stockholm they might also participate in saving the Saab Museum.

Youngman back in the race for Saab

Update: A source close to SU says that Youngman is back in the race. The receivers are now back in touch with Youngman.

Several stakeholders are critical of the way the bankruptcy gets handled. TTela reports: “What are the receivers doing? That is the question posed by several stakeholders concerning Saab’s bankruptcy – Youngman’s advances are rejected, the Swedish stakeholders receives no feedback while Semcon could be getting their hands on some of the estate.”.

Fredrik Sidahl, CEO of FKG (An interest group for suppliers in Scandinavia), points out that the receivers were invited to visit Youngman’s facilities in China, but will not be represented today. “Every proposal for a complete solution should be carefully examined”. He notes that the receivers have not been in touch with neither himself nor any of his member companies.

Instead, among others, IF Metall (one of the unions) will meet with Youngman.

Lars Holmqvist, CEO of CLEPA, is also critical: “One can voice different opinion of Youngman, but they are the only ones truly familiar with the case after having spent half a year negotiating with the company. For other interested parties it would take months before a complete solution could be presented. There is no available time for that.”

“Youngman has a plan involving the next generation 9-3, producing a new Lotus in the Saab factory and access the Phoenix technology. They should be considered.”

On the contrary, the bankruptcy estate is running out of cash. “They are forced to divest assets in order to operate properly”.

Divesting assets makes it harder to reach a complete solution. Semcon seems to be getting closer to acquiring certain assets. Saab AB has also been mentioned having similar interests.

“There are assets that are interesting to many, but if these are divested what remains could be worth nill. And that could cause problems finding a solution that covers everything” says Darko Davidovic, General Counsel for IF Metall.

Saab AB’s spoke person Erik Magni says “We are interested in Saab’s engineers, through Combitech, which is something we have announced. That is all I know.”

CLEPA’s Lars Holmqvist thinks it starts smoldering [I have no idea how to translate "pyra" in this sentence -- going with Google for now] with his member companies. “They have debts of 1.5 billion SEK. If Saab gets split up they will not be able to recover debts. They want the production to restart. I do not want to make threats, but many big suppliers are staffed with lawyers who they can assign to look into this matter.”

TTela has not been able to reach Semcon and the receivers about this – and other matters. The receiver yesterday called for a press conference on Saturday.

Besides that, according to SaabsUnited the Turkish company Brightwell is also still in the race for Saab. According to that article the receivers are focused on the Turks. “I work closely with Victor Muller, the receivers and others from Saab’s management group” says Brightwell’s Zamier Ahmed – which is even confirmed by Victor Muller.

The lawyers of the bankruptcy work have invited selected media to attend a pressconference in Göteborg this Saturday. Maybe that is a good sign?

It all makes clear it is not over yet for Saab. That is the good news for today. Let us hope no one places a bid for (parts of) the museum too. Thus giving Innovatum a fair chance to take over the museum.

I`ve made the above picture last monday at Zeeland Airport by the way, a good day to drive with my Troll. I hope to be present at IntSaab this year with my Troll and one of my 9-3`s.

Saab`s steel sold to the Netherlands

The Dutch company Hebels Staal Service (from Oosterhout in Noord Brabant) has obtained 1,040 (metric) tons of steel and aluminium from the Saab factory in Sweden.It has paid between 800000 and 900000 Euro (normal market value is about 1,1 million Euro). Hebels is a small company with a turnover of 30 million Euro`s per year.

Fortunately from the museum nothing is sold yet. We hope the bid from Innovatum `ll be accepted and no one else places a bid.

Administrators are hitting the brakes...

Unfortunately the administrators are hitting the brakes to save Saab (& Saab Museum). Read the post of SU below:

From Dagens Industri: Chinese Youngman are pushing to speed up negotiations for a purchase of all of Saab Automobile. But the bankruptcy administrators are hitting the brakes. At the same time Hemfosa (how owns a large part of saabs buildings) have stopped Semcon’s attempts to buy technology and equipment.

“If there is a party interested and willing to act and place a bid for the whole of Saab, including factory, the administrators needs to sit down ad talk with them”, say Fredrik Sidahl, CEO for FKG.

He strongly criticizes the administrators actions, which includes declining an invitation to travel to China to discuss a bid from Youngman and to hear them out about their plans.

Lars Holmqvist, CEO for the supplier organization CLEPA is very upset that the administrators are not considering the suppliers.
- The bankruptcy owes the suppliers 1,4 billion SEK (€170 million).

He further emphasizes that it is Youngman, who are the only company able to place a bid within the next couple of weeks. For the others the process will take months. At the same time Saab’s accounts need to get further funds very soon in order for the process to continue.

The technology company Semcon has shown interest to buy assets that the company uses for development within Saab. One condition is that Semcon are being allowed to rent the space in which the equipment is located. But the real-estate company Hemfosa who owns a larger part of the factory have refused. Since they want to be able to utilized the whole factory freely.

Video WAMWAS in the Netherlands with VM

The video below gives an impression of the WAMWAS in the Netherlands yesterday at Valkenburg Airport. Also a piece of the speech of VM is included.





A lot of people came to Valkenburg Airport, it shows Saab is NOT dead (I dislike it very much when people call Saab dead). VM makes that clear too. Let us hope the uncertainty comes to an end now and the trolls can proceed with making their fantastic Saabs. Let us save the Saab Museum now! Click here for the Swedish version...

Up to 100 Saabs about to be crushed

In the news today:

Autocar reports that up to 100 Saab vehicles will be crushed over the next 48 hours as part of the receivership process. All the cars that had been completed before Saab folded will be cubed, say the sources, including pre-production examples of the Saab 9-5 estate and the Mexican-built 9-4x SUV.

In addition, U.S. auto and mortgage lender Ally Financial Inc wants court approval to take control of 151 Saab vehicles stored at the Port of Hueneme by Saab Cars North America. The financial institution claims the cars are collateral for $61 million in financing on which Saab defaulted.

Ally, which is 74% owned by the U.S. government after taking bailout funds through the U.S. Treasury’s Troubled Asset Relief Program during the financial crisis, provides financing that allows dealers to purchase inventory and consumers to buy vehicles.

Its biggest clients are GM and Chrysler Group LLC, though it has been trying to diversify through deals with Saab, Fiat and other manufacturers.

Saab was declared bankrupt by a court last month, ending a nine-month battle by its Dutch owner Swedish Automobile NV to stay afloat. It has not made any vehicles since April and several rescues have failed.

by DUDU - Friday, January 13th, 2012

PDF to reach Saab drivers without internet

We have made a pdf file about the Saab Museum yesterday. Feel free to e-mail it to other Saab drivers or to print it out and to spread it this weekend during the rallies. Just click here to download the pdf.

Saab Museum closed

It has been written before here and on SaabsUnited; the Saab Car Museum is closed. This Saturday (during the We are many, we are Saab meeting) Trollhättan is going to be flooded like a never before seen tsunami of cars and supporters.

SaabsUnited has called the lawyer that has the Museum issues on his table and politely asked him to arrange for an opening on Saturday. The answer was “NO it will not be opened”. SaabsUnited asked him to specify why this was the answer. The answer was that Saab is under bankruptcy, and that he has no staff avaliable to open the museum.

SaabsUnited said they have both Saab club and SU people that could be of help. From selling tickets to clean the floors after. Also that an opening could easily bring in 20000 Dollars or more. Take 100 SEK/ person X thousands of people. The math is easy. Split the revenue between the receivers and the Saab clubs.

* Let us hope that the lawyers change their mind soon. It makes no sense having the Museum closed on a day like this. A day for rejoice and happiness. A valuable day not only for the Saab supporters and Trollhättan citizens but also for the prospective buyer/buyers of Saab, and of course indirectly also the receivers /lawyers at Delphi and Wistrand in Göteborg.

Please open the museum for just this day, please!

Turkish company (Brightwell) shows optimism

Unfortunately not much news about Saab yet, but according to Saabsunited
Zamier Ahmed, board member of the Turkish company Brightwell Holdings spoke to ttela.se. He sounds pretty optimistic when it comes to the acquisition of Saab.

He even claims that GM is positive to their attempt. After all this is just one party among others who are interested in Saab. Still, it is ecouraging to read that there are still parties showing real interest in Saab.

In six months, Zamier Ahmed followed Saab’s development on the Turkish investment company’s behalf. Brightwell Holding, which operates globally with an expressed interest in the environment, wants to buy Saab for two main reasons, according to Ahmed: for the well-known and quality brand Saab, and for the most advanced technology available in the company.

We definitely want to keep production in Trollhättan, but need to look at exactly how much. But all is not inconceivable, says Ahmed.

During the past six months, he has been in contact with Victor Muller, with the hope of a share or a purchase of Saab as a whole. But, as Ahmed says, Muller chose to stick to the Chinese investors.

Because Ahmed is not the only one interested in the Saab factory. Again according to Saabsunited, the Indians (Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd)are still in the game. According to chinese media (who have been wrong several times) the Chinese company Dongfeng has announced interest in buying all of Saab. The brand wants to develop its own car-brand and the remains of Saab would be of great help. The purchase request includes all of Saab including the production facilities in Trollhättan according to Beijing Times.

It seems the Trolls can start again with making Saabs again in 2012, that is good news for us as Saab drivers and of course also for the museum.

E-mail of Saab in the Netherlands

Today I`ve got an e-mail of Kees van den Berg from Saab in the Netherlands. He writes (in short) that Saab parts `ll be available for the future but that the delivery of new cars is uncertain for the moment.

Beste Saab-rijder en Saab-liefhebber,

U heeft ongetwijfeld gelezen over het faillissement van Saab, dat op 19 december jl. is uitgesproken. In dit faillissement zijn drie belangrijke divisies van Saab betrokken, Saab Automobile, Saab Tools en Saab Powertrain.

De vierde divisie, Saab Parts, is buiten het faillissement gebleven en zal dus doorgaan met het leveren van Saab-onderdelen voor onderhoud en reparatie. U kunt als Saab-rijder uw auto dus zoals u gewend bent, laten onderhouden en repareren bij het officiële netwerk van de 38 Nederlandse Saab-dealers en Erkende Reparateurs.

In Nederland werd Saab tot op heden ingevoerd door Beherman Nederland, een privéonderneming, die evenmin is betrokken bij het faillissement van Saab Automobile. Beherman zal uiteraard niet meer in staat zijn de levering te garanderen van nieuwe Saab-personenauto’s, maar gaat wel verder met het leveren van onderdelen.

In dit stadium zijn nog niet alle gevolgen van het faillissement bekend. Beherman is daardoor op dit ogenblik niet in staat antwoord te geven op alle vragen die u mogelijk heeft. Wij zullen u zo veel mogelijk via uw dealer of erkend reparateur informeren, tevens zullen wij social media (Facebook en @Saab_Nederland op Twitter) en de website Saab.NL inzetten om u op de hoogte te houden van de ontwikkelingen rond Saab.

Wij betreuren uiteraard het mogelijke ongemak, dat de ontstane situatie met zich meebrengt, maar wij zullen er alles aan doen om de After Sales zo efficiënt mogelijk voort te zetten.

Met vriendelijke groeten,

Saab Nederland


Kees van den Berg
Managing Director

Above a picture of my own "Saab museum" at home. My 95 is from 1975 and still keeps on going. If parts for a Saab of this age are still available no one has to worry (in my opinion) for more recent Saabs.

Finally, has everyone signed in now as a member of the "Saab Museum club?"

The last Saab is not yet built!

According to Saabs United it was announced today that some employees will return to the Saab factory to build the cars still standing un-finished on the production line. About 100 cars will be built and sold off.

Above a picture of my 9-3 convertible (a Vector TX edition with Hirsch stage 1). More pictures of this car and my other Saabs are on this page.