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Showing posts with label SAAB. Show all posts

Thursday, 14 June 2012

Saab Auto's New Owner to Launch an EV based on the 9-3 by Early 2014, will Initially Focus in China

Saab, the Swedish car brand that just refuses to die, will have a new pure-electric model based on the underpinnings of the 9-3 on the market by the end of 2013 or early 2014, according to the company's new owner, National Electric Vehicle Sweden AB (NEVS).

NEVS was specifically established by a consortium formed by Japanese, Swedish and Chinese stakeholders to acquire Saab assets including Saab Property AB, which owns the company's production facility in Trollhattan and Saab Powertrain AB.

It also owns some rights to the 9-3 and the company's incomplete Phoenix platform architecture but not the 9-5 sedan/station wagon and the 9-4x crossover that remain the intellectual property of General Motors.

Saab Automobile Parts AB and its Global Subsidiaries to Operate Independently

On Wednesday, it was announced that the administrators of Saab Automobile AB had signed an agreement with National Electric Vehicle Sweden AB (NEVS), a newly formed Chinese-Sweden investment group with Japanese backing, for the sale of Saab Automobile AB.

Today we learn from the Swedish National Debt Office that the State will take over the ownership of Saab Automobile Parts AB and its global subsidiaries including the UK and North American market, with the company to operate independently from Saab Automobile AB.

Wednesday, 13 June 2012

Saab Bought by Chinese-Japanese Consortium to Build Electric Cars

Never say it's over with Saab as the Swedish automaker seems to have more lives than the proverbial cat…

Bloomberg News reported today a consortium named National Electric Vehicle Sweden AB, which is led by Japanese investment firm Sun Investment and Hong Kong-based renewable-energy power-plant builder National Modern Energy Holdings Ltd., has agreed to buy Saab and turn the company into an electric carmaker.

The National Electric Vehicle Sweden AB consortium was recently formed with the sole purpose of acquiring Saab.

Thursday, 10 May 2012

Saab UK Puts up for Sale the Last Remaining RHD 2012 9-3 Convertibles

Last May, amidst a mountain of problems, Saab celebrated the silver jubilee of its Convertible series that debuted as the 900 Cabrio in 1986 before the Swedes renamed the entire model lineup to 9-3 in 1998.

A year later, Saab is bankrupt and the company's Trollhättan plant idled, but if you live in the UK and are still interested in buying a brand new 9-3 Convertible, we have some good news for you.

Saab Parts UK announced today that it has successfully secured the sale of the last remaining 26 right-hand drive MY12 9-3 Convertibles, which will be available to buy through the company's national network of 87 Authorised Repairers.

Wednesday, 11 April 2012

Saab Offers Evaluated by Administrators, All Bidders Want to Restart Production

Reports of Saab’s death may or may not have been greatly exaggerated. The saga has been dragging on for over a year and whilst the Swedish carmaker filed for bankruptcy last December, it’s far from over.

According to Automotive News, the deadline set by the administrators who handle Saab’s bankruptcy expired on Monday, April 9. Hans Bergqvist, one of the administrators who evaluated the offers, reportedly told the Swedish press that all bidders want to restart production – though, like the rest of his colleagues, he wouldn’t disclose their identity.

Friday, 23 March 2012

Watch the New Saab 9-3 TTA Racer at its First Shakedown Test in France

Saab was born from jets but this new 9-3 TTA racecar was born from the love and the passion that the people behind Flash Engineering and Team Tidö feel for the bankrupt Swedish brand.

The first of four racing examples of the Saab 9-3 sedan that will participate at the 2012 TTA Racing Elite League in Sweden completed its first shakedown tests at the Alés track in France.

Wednesday, 14 March 2012

Saab Lives on the Racing Field as New 9-3 Sedans will Compete in Swedish Touring Car Championship

The brand may have gone bankrupt but Saab will continue to be represented on the racetracks as four-newly developed 9-3 sedans will participate in Sweden's TTA – Racing Elite League in the 2012 season.

Flash Engineering and Team Tidö will run the cars while the Saab Dealer Organisation will support their efforts. In addition, certain divisions of Saab that remain alive including Saab Parts, will also be involved in the racing program.

Saturday, 24 December 2011

SAAB filed for bankruptcy last week... brought low by GM's bankruptcy and pathetic management, who've blocked its sale to Chinese companies in fear that Chinese would get GM technology and processes. Like that hasn't happened already

Saab CEO Victor Muller said "the last nail in the coffin" was previous owner General Motors Co.'s rejection of a Chinese company's attempts to gain control of the ailing Swedish brand.
Volvo Cars, Sweden's other car maker, is presently ramping up production after China's Geely Holding Group bought it from Ford Motor Co. last year.

Muller, a Dutch entrepreneur, used his luxury sports car maker Spyker Cars to buy Saab from GM in 2010 for $74 million in cash plus $326 million worth of preferred shares. He vowed to gradually increase production while restoring Saab's Swedish identity — which critics said was diluted under GM ownership. But the company ran out of money just a year later.

As production stopped and salary payments were delayed, Muller fended off bankruptcy by selling Saab's real estate and lining up financing deals with investors in Russia and China. He bought time by placing the company in a reconstruction process under bankruptcy protection.

But the deals fell through, blocked by regulators or by GM, which was concerned that its technology would end up in the hands of Chinese competitors.

GM spokesman Jim Cain told The Associated Press Saturday that each new proposal "results either directly or indirectly in the transfer of control and, or ownership of the company in a manner that would be detrimental to GM and its shareholders."http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/45720823/ns/today-today_news/t/saab-declares-bankruptcy-gm-blocks-chinese-deal/

this is what happens when a company loses control of it's ownership and the whims of takeover corporations dictate its fate. Stay independant my friends, either be your own master, or work for someone else, but don't let them own you.