Get ready to rally with your Saab

Please read below the post of today from Anne Springer on her new blog about Saab.

Is everyone getting ready for this week’s rallies? The excitement is building everywhere in the world! I think we’re going to have even greater turnout for the rallies than we did in ’10. Why? Because people don’t believe Saab is dead. As my Dutch friend says, you put the key in the ignition, and she fires right up! And Saab will too again, with the right key (investors).

Unfortunately the news has been a little slow recently. That is because the administrators are working hard on figuring out what each Saab element is worth, to be able to give prospective investors a better idea what they’re looking at. The biggest three investors want to keep the Trollhattan factory. Those investors include Brightwell Holdings of Turkey, Mahindra of India, and Youngman of China. Realistically, time is of essence to rehire key employees, and the other problem is the cost to restart production. Its not impossible, but to make the right bid, they need to know all the facts and figures.

Lucky for us, at least one of the administrators has owned a lot of Saab. They have faith Saab can continue, and we need to as well. Don’t let the news get you down, its just coming from an outsider’s prospective. What is key, is for the investors to see the heart of Saab, and see the wonderful people that will keep supporting Saab.

Griffin up! Let’s keep it going!

We hope to spread a pdf file to the organisation of the rallies of this weekend. We`ll ask them to spread it because we need to get some attention for the urgent situation the Saab Museum is in now.

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!

Int Saab 2012 in Belgium (Spa)

From the 3rd untill the 5th of August 2012 all Saab enthusiasts are invited in Belgium to celebrate together 3 great birthdays: 25 years of Saab Club Belgium, 30 years of International Saab Club Meetings, and last but not least: 65 years of Saab automobiles!

Place to be is Spa, in the middle of the Belgian Ardennes, and that is no coincidence: Spa is known for its strong bond with cars and rich history of rally / racing.

Saab legends as Erik Carlsson and Stig Blomqvist found their way to it, and with success!

The track of Spa-Francorchamps is considered as the most beautiful racetrack in the world. Spa became also a worldwide player with his water and thermes.

And now it is waiting for you to make a new highlight in his fascinating history! The website of this event can be visited here.

See you all in August 2012!

Please register yourself here!

Anne Springer joins Saabsunited

Please read the first post below of Anne Springer on Saabsunited! Anne is also active on this blog and our Facebook page about the Saab Museum.

Hi! My name is Anne, and I am a Saaboholic (meaning addicted to Saab). You will find me on Facebook constantly sharing news updates and giving a good Rah! Rah! to keep people positive about Saab.

Why do I do this? I love Saab. I simply love it. I have fallen in love with the aerodynamic body design, the grinning grille assembly, and the quirkiness of the car once you get in the driver’s seat. Quirks, you have to love them! I find myself patting the dash at times, either words of encouragement, endearment, or straight out, “Settle down, kiddo!”. I’m no stranger to hugging my car either, I’ll openly admit that. But its all in the game of owning a Saab. They’re not perfect machines, but then again, there is no such thing. They will frustrate you, irritate you, puzzle you, but then at the end of the day when you find yourself looking down upon it, you remind yourself how good it feels to turn the ignition on and take off!

And I think Saab has a great future ahead of them. I feel it. Saab has a lot of great people behind the company, and I know with the right investor, they can be restarted. Its going to take a lot of time and money, yes. But when you consider their current and future line up, if the cards are played right, the future can be prosperous. I want to see Saab get into the right hands, of someone who both has a lot of automotive business knowledge, and financing to be able to work through the tough times. This can happen. And I believe us fans can help steer Saab into those hands. They are watching us, and the more we encourage and show what kind of people we are, the more people will listen and want. Sure, there have been a lot of negative reports. But we need not focus on that, negativity never solved any problems.

I believe we have to accept the mistakes that have been made; and the could of, would have, should haves, and move on. We need to start focusing what is in front of us, and what the future holds. That is very exciting, don’t you think? I do! We need Saab around. We need their innovation, safety and reliability. We need a reasonably-priced car that does it all, without having to chop bits of random cars together to make something that’s both comfortable, looks great, and performs well. There are things that Saab does that other automakers cannot do. How many times have you heard someone carrying a refrigerator in their Camry? But I’ve heard it done with a Saab hatchback!

Thank you very much for the warm welcome into the Saabs United family, this is truly an honour and a dream come true for me. I had no idea where this love could take me, and now I am starting to see it. I’m glad I am able to lend support in these troubled times. Go Saab, GO!

The Saab above is not the Saab 9-5 Anne drives but the Saab 9-5 in the showroom of the Saab dealer in Goes (The Netherlands). I`ve made this picture today.

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.