Annnnnnd, the saga continues.
Swedish business paper Dagens Industri is reporting that China's Zhejiang Youngman Lotus Automobile has given Saab $5 million to cover immediate tax expenses and will follow up with $26.4 million on Wednesday to cover unpaid salaries. Saab spokesman Eric Geers confirmed part of this, "I can confirm a first payment from Youngman. Funding has come into Saab accounts. Now, we are trying to work hard to pay salaries and to secure funding for salaries and keep the company in reorganization." Geers did not confirm the follow-up payments.
The courts are set to decide on Friday if they should keep Saab in bankruptcy protection or if they're beyond hope at this point. If the courts reject Saab's plan, creditors will file for Saab's bankruptcy and that will be all she wrote.
Getting cash is key right now for Saab, but how will Saab convince the courts that GM will agree to any cash-for-control scenario if the Chinese are involved?
stovt001 says:
12:07 PM, 12/13/11
This really doesn't get old. I'm still awed by Saab's absolute refusal to die.
billt9 says:
02:27 PM, 12/13/11
...But they don't even have a competitive product to sell.
How will they make money outside of this Ponzi scheme?
iari says:
12:15 PM, 12/14/11
The way they make money is by essentially becoming a Chinese automaker with a token worldwide distribution. They'll probably do a home distribution agreement with Pang Da (who was originally involved in this deal and is China's largest automotive distributor) to sell the next gen 9-3 and current 9-5 there, and Youngman will build a plant to build Saabs locally as well as is needed. Saab will also help Youngman develop a new low-cost sub-brand for China exclusively. The current Swedish plant will sell Saabs to the rest of the world (which won't buy Chinese made cars... Yet).
This actually makes tons of sense for Youngman (China's #1 truck maker). The cost of buying Saab's automotive expertise, plant, and worldwide existing distribution network is a fraction of the amount it would take for Youngman to develop this all on their own. And, since the Chinese government has indicated they'll only tolerate a certain number of home auto makers in the near future, the Chinese auto industry's game of musical chairs has just started and if Youngman wants a place to sit, they need Saab NOW. I bet they'll do and pay anything to make this deal happen.
So this isn't because Youngman wants to sell existing 9-3's in Texas or Tazmania, it's because they want to become a major automaker at home and abroad in 5-15 years, and Saab is their instant Trojan horse to do so.
PS: I own a '08 9-3 Turbo-X wagon with 6 spd manual, AWD, and near 300 HP, and it's competitive with what was on the market then, and I'd put it up against a lot of models now... Have you driven the 9-5? It's fully (in 4 cyl form 36K form, not 6 cyl Aero 50K form) competitive as well. The new 9-4X is great. An improved upon SRX.