SaabsUnited.com

Like a cheesy AOR radio station, the hits just keep on coming……
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If the Swedish government need a lesson in backwash, here’s a few examples. Saab are a great company with a philosophy that other companies are now starting to mimic. Saab have a loyal clientele and great models in the pipeline.
But Saab’s credibility in the customers’ eyes is going to be eaten away very quickly if they don’t get some signs of support soon.
Here’s a few examples of the negative perceptions surrounding Saab right now, which are slowly eating away at people’s faith in the brand. Something’s got to be done to help Saab, and politicians hanging out to give GM a good spanking is not going to help Saab one little bit.
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Two key financial bodies have recently withdrawn support for prospective Saab customers.
I heard about one in the US a few weeks ago via email:

Just got out of a meeting. We no longer finance any Saab vehicles. Based on the recent news coverage, the bank feels that values are very hard to predict and as such present a larger than acceptable risk to the bank. Stay tuned. If Cerberus pulls any more stunts, their products may join the list.

That was from a bank executive, who wrote it to a friend, who passed it on to me.
I hadn’t thought more about this until today, when Saaboy pointed out to me that it was now part of the Bank of America’s policy as written up on their website.

Are there any vehicles that Bank of America does not finance?
We do not finance the following vehicles:

• Commercial vehicles and/or vehicles for business use
• Conversion or delivery, gray market, lemon law, salvaged, rebuilt or branded title vehicles
• No motorcycles
• No Isuzu or Saab vehicles.
• No independent dealer purchases

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Just a few hours ago, I learned that GM’s own financing arm* – GMAC – had pulled out of financing Saab leases in the UK.

Saab Contract Hire, the brand’s in-house leasing firm, has closed its doors to new business.
The company is owned by Masterlease, the UK’s sixth largest leasing firm, which in turn is part of General Motor’s finance arm GMAC. Masterlease has also stopped quoting on Saabs.
In an official statement Masterlease said: “With immediate effect, Masterlease will no longer provide contract hire and leasing quotations on Saab vehicles through its own brand or through its Saab Contract Hire operation.
“This is due to the recent announcement by Saab AB (Sweden) to file for reorganisation, which is an alternative to an outright bankruptcy filing.
“All orders which had been confirmed by close of business on 20 February 2009 will be honoured and these vehicles will be processed and delivered as normal.”

* GMAC was formerly a wholly owned subsidiary of General Motors, but is now owned 51% by Cerberus Capital Management and 49% by GM.
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I’m sorry to be the bearer of more bad news on the Saab front, but whilst this sort of story is out there it’s this site’s job to bring it to the readership.
Here’s to better times ahead….
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Thanks to the various contributors

There’s a number of news stories coming out of Sweden that I’ve missed in the last 24 hours.
Here are the summaries:
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Trollhattan’s mayor (I assume that’s the translation) is hoping the situation resolves itself soon. The recent announcement of layoffs there is putting a lot of stress on the locals. He’s calling for the government to provide the loan guarantees.
Over half of Saab’s workforce lives in his area. A third or so live in neighboring Vanersborg.
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He’s not the only one calling for the government to do more. Opposition leader Mona Sahlin was back in Trollhattan recently and stopped in to say Hi.
She once again called for the government to provide loan guarantees, adding a call for the old-vehicle-scrapping incentive to be added as well.
She’s a staunch supporter of Saab and believer in their business plan – “If Saab is lost, it costs taxpayers a lot more than to give Saab a chance. “
That’s all well and good for us, but she’s not winning many fans. Prime Minister Reinfeldt is well ahead in the polls.
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Perhaps the biggest news in the last day or so is that Saab are cutting production down to just two days per week at the moment.
This is in response to lower demand. And whilst they’re working less days, they’re also producing fewer cars per day – down from around 500 to 100 per day.
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Reconstruction work continues, however, and Saab’s court-approved administrator says that they have adequate funding to carry through to July, by which time he expects the process to be completed.
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Some good news:
Saab received some EU funding for staff training.
During the two years, 112 engineers from the Saab and GM Powertrain will be trained in the Unigraphic computer aided design program at University West. 135 employees who work with production maintenance are to be trained in electronics, thermodynamics.
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Original articales at:
Auto Motor and Sport
TTELA