June 2009 Archives

There's a couple of stories floating around the web that I'll tie together here rather than dedicate to individual posts.

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DI.se on Mark Bishop's trail

There was a big article in Sweden's Dagens Industri newspaper in the last couple of days. They were trying to track down The Koenigsegg Group's mysterious shareholder, Mark Bishop, but seemingly without success.

They even went to the trouble of sending some reporters to California, but they were met with closed doors.

If there was anything worthwhile in the report that we didn't already know, perhaps one of you Swedes could share some dot points with us? The report is not online as yet.

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Leases back in town for UK market.

Some good news for British Saabers and dealers alike.

Lease providers in the UK, who had previously suspended writing up Saab leases due to uncertainty surrounding the company, have started doing business with Saab again.

Now an agreement has been reached between General Motors and the Swedish sports car maker, Koenigsegg, which should see Koenigsegg take control Saab within weeks.

As a result, lease companies here are revising their Saab policies again.

"We are writing business on Saab," confirmed Mark Sinclair managing director of multi-marque provider, Alphabet.

"We have reconsidered our stance recently and have improved our rates accordingly."

It's nice to see a little bit of confidence, eh?

Not all lease providers have jumped on the bandwagon, with some still waiting to see what happens. Here's hoping for some [K]-egg on their faces soon :-)

Thanks to Karen, in comments!

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Twitter-tipology

One of the reasons I'm getting back into Twitter, is to catch all the things that don't make the headlines on various websites. I'll be using it the same way.

Like tonight, where the Saab Newsroom posted a link to a new-old Saab 95 video from 1961 they've uploaded to Youtube.

Cool.

Other Saabers you can follow include Joe Oliver from Saab's PR division and Peter Backstrom from the Saab Museum.

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Opel no diamond

News continues to circulate about the Opel deal being far from over.

General Motors has stepped up negotiations with rival suitors to offload a stake in Opel/Vauxhall, its European carmaking business, and could sign at least one memorandum of understanding this week as talks with Magna International, preferred bidder, have hit obstacles.

Fiat's offer is still on the table and both RHJ and BAIC are said to be considering raised offers very soon.

It's worth bearing in mind that whilst we're all very hopeful, the deal with Koenigsegg isn't done yet, either.

They're in the midst of their due diligence inspections right now, but that's not open ended and one would guess there'll have to be some hardcore negotiations and signatures sooner rather than later.

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Money for pleasure

Via Jalopnik, a rare example of the undisputed #1 sex-on-wheels exclusomobile is for sale on Craigslist.

There's no nudity in that ad but it could still be considered NSFW just because of the car.

Just in via email......

Well done!!!!

Thanks Daryl!

UPDATE below

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This is related to the earlier story of Saab's desire for operational finance to carry it through until it's ownership situation is settled and it's EIB loan application can be seen.

TTELA are now covering the story, too, and their translation seems to be much more readable. I'm no longer occupied with site admin stuff, so I can also give some more thought to things.

The situation seems to be as follows:

• Saab had several buyers lined up, all three of the primary ones were credible buyers of varying financial strength. Conclusion - Saab will be sold and the government is probably 90% assured of not being left holding the baby.
• Saab have sufficient orders to increase production and possibly thereby increase employment, but this will incur immediate costs, which they don't think they've got the funds to cover (revenue from that activity won't be seen for a while).
• It seems Saab can't apply for their EIB loan until September 22, unless they can grease the wheels somehow.
• Their only option at the moment is to seek a loan from the Swedish government, who have allocated funds to help car companies, who haven't paid a single ore (pls forgive my lack of dots) from this allocation but who also say they won't lend it because the emergency car company funding isn't actually for car company emergencies. Or something like that.
• The government, instead of stepping in and helping whilst Saab is in this short transition limbo period, they want Saab's new owners to step in, despite the fact that THEY DON'T EVEN OWN THEM YET!!!!!!!

It may be that I'm making Saab mad once again by taking a stance on this, but from the outside looking in, it seems the only good thing the Swedish government has done for Saab thus far is refrain from killing the company completely.

It seems every time Saab goes to shake the metaphorical hand of the government, they're wearing one of those electric shock gags in the palm of their hands.

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Swedes, I know you're going to give me a belting for this one for not knowing the internal comings and goings of the government and industry there, so fire away.

But it just seems like the government are doing every small thing that the law requires them to do, and absolutely nothing else.

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UPDATE:

A report from Reuters seems to clarify the issue a fair bit.

The funding that Saab is seeking in the form of a bridge loan is something they need purely to increase production to meet demand.

They still have enough money to get through reconstruction, albeit at a low rate of production. If they got the bridging finance from the state, they could increase production, meet anticipated higher demand, and re-employ some of their workforce that was previously laid off.

So I guess those former employees who are needlessly unemployed at the moment can send a thankyou card to Stockholm.

I covered an article at GP.se earlier this month, where they reported that Saab might run into money problems if they have to wait until September to secure their EIB loans.

There were several other reports to contradict this, but the story still lingers.

Today, GP.se are covering it again, though now with quotes from Saab's head honcho, Jan-Ake Jonsson:

Saab needs new money in the summer to go up in production. It says CEO Jan-Åke Jonsson to GP from Almedalen.

Under the heading "What is the future for the Swedish car industry", the Saab's CEO Jan-Åke Jonsson and Industry Minister Maud Olofsson State Jöran Hägglund to discuss on a plank of Almedalen today.

But really, they have much more drastic - and [important?] question - discussions to bring in a concrete plan.

It is about Saab's very near future.

- We would have to go up in output relative to the orders we have," says Jan-Åke Jonsson when GP meet him in Almedalen.

But there is no money to do it.

Therefore Saab is trying, by all means, to accelerate the loan process for loans from the European Investment Bank, EIB.

But Saab is also negotiating so-called överbryggnadslån, or emergency loans, directly with the Swedish state.

- We have discussed it, but not received a hearing so far, says Jan-Åke Jonsson.

Saab, together with the new owners, for discussions with Riksgälden and EIB to try to speed up the process to obtain clearance from the EIB loan earlier than September 22. It is the date mentioned as the earliest EIB's board could decide on the loan.

- The EIB has a board meeting in July We are working with the EIB to see if we can not move the decision until July," said Jonsson. We have not excluded it.

- ....it allows us to adapt our operations so that the money is enough.

Now, we should bear in mind that earlier reports told us that JAJ and Saab's administrator, Guy Lofalk, both stated that Saab had enough money to get them through to new ownership.

It may be that increased orders mean increased costs without revenue flowing through in time to cover those increased costs. A basic cashflow problem.

It should also be remembered that Saab can't use EIB money to cover production costs. This money is earmarked for investment in new technology.

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Thanks to Per and Magnus!

The quest to house any remaining Turbo X's continues and today I've received an email from another new Turbo X owner.

His name is BrianL and he writes as follows:

I thought I'd drop you a line before these pop up on your Flickr feed. I finally got some decent photos of my new toy. A barely broken in Turbo X SC! I've added about 2000 miles to it and it has been awesome. I was a bit hesitant about buying the same car again, but this car is a totally different car than my 04 SS.

I was encouraged by your post on left over Turbo Xs and saw this one needing a new home. It's fully loaded except auto and nav.

IMHO, all you're missing is the nav, Brian. But that's just me.

I've passed along my congratulations privately but wanted to do so publicly as well. These are awesome cars going for rediculous prices, and they deserve good homes.

The best car I've ever owned is the Saab 9-3 Viggen and the Turbo X is this generation of vehicle's Viggen - and then some. It'll be one of those cars that every enthusiast will wish they'd owned at one stage.

If you can find one, snap one up.

Joel Manby was one of the 8 guys who kicked off Saturn back in the 1980s, with a finely honed focus on the customer being more important than everything else - even the cars they were selling.

In the mid-late 1990s, he was slotted in as the head of SaabUSA, staying there for four years. He's now working as the CEO of a company dealing with entertainment parks called Herschend Family Entertainment.

Manby did an interview recently with Georgia Public Broadcasting. The interview was mainly concerned with his current role at Herschend, but in discussing the corporate culture there, he also touched on his past experiences at GM in general, and Saturn and Saab in particular.

The full interview is available in PDF form here or you can watch it on video here.

I've reproduced the Saab and GM bits below:

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"...what I saw at General Motors which was not very good. It was chaos. It wasn't very well led. And at General Motors it was only about the bottom line. It was only about money and, you know, at the end of the day, I don't think great people are really attracted to that..."

"...when I was in the GM culture, a lot of the discussion was about cutting costs and labor issues, union issues, and not enough about what's going on with that customer."

"...with Saab, we had a fantastic car, but we had no marketing strategy and no dealer network."

"On Saab, the biggest thing I learned is how difficult it is to change a culture that is not customer focused and in Saab's case, it was an engineering driven company. When you'd be in the meetings, it'd be all about having the absolute, best car, which actually, you can go too far, because you can put things into the car that customers aren't willing to pay for. The engineers want it, but you're not willing to pay for it as a customer,and that's what I walked away with [from] Saab. You've got to only put in things that the customer is willing to reward you for..."

"At Saturn and Saab I saw a lot of mistakes there where, frankly, it became poor leadership. It really comes down to strong leadership and at Herschend, the owners just permeate the values."

This guy is incredibly customer-focused and running a car company has to be about the product first and foremost, but some care and attention on the customer side is going to be crucial as Saab emerge from GM's shadow.

Under Koenigsegg, Saab will have a chance to rebuild their identity under the flag of an exotic and very Swedish ownership identity. The customer experience will hopefully be developed to reflect this.

This has been an interesting insight from a guy was, at one time, right there at the coal face.

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My thanks to Alan H for the tip and quotes!

You know I don't really care either way about the success or otherwise of the Cadillac SRX or Cadillac in general. Send them all here as far as I'm concerned....

BUT.

This particular Cadillac - the new SRX - has a sister vehicle that will be very important for Saab's future, so when I saw this review at Jalopnik on my feed reader this morning, I thought I'd take a proper look.

The most important thing to read in this review is the summary sentence on quality.

The SRX greets you not with the new car smell of off-gassing plastics, but instead smells more like an old Jaguar with a nose full of leather and wood, a subtle reminder that this car is part of a return to proper Cadillacs, a return to that whole "standard of the world" business that Cadillac hasn't been able to claim in at least three decades.

The interior fit and finish in the SRX is seriously luxurious, using GM's "cut and sew" hand-stitched leather throughout.

Fit and finish are said to be 'luxurious' and in the absence of any complaints, I'd take that as a suggestion that the quality of workmanship in screwing this car together was satisfactory.

For those who are concerned about the Saab 9-4x being built in Mexico for quality reasons, this will hopefully give an initial small measure of comfort.

There's a few other comments worth noting:

The difference between "Drive" and "Sport" is striking. The former is characterized by sluggish shifts, controlled-but-noticeable body roll, slightly over boosted power steering and a tendency towards understeer. Sport changes things completely with Crisp shifting, high revs, near-neutral handling thanks to the Haldex AWD system....

Saab were responsible for the adaptation of the XWD system into all of GM's FWD vehicle platforms. So kudos to Saab for a job well done on this vehicle for GM.

Standard equipment for the SRX includes the 3.0-liter, 260 HP V6 in our tester with a 300 HP turbo V6 coming soon.

Again, that turbo engine will basically be the HF V6 that's currently in the 9-3, tuned a little higher. And again, turbocharging was Saab's baby in the GM fold.

It's a review that's worth a lookover if you want a very generalised idea of the quality that should be present in the Saab 9-4x when it arrives. The vehicles were developed somewhat independently, but there's a commonality there that can't be denied, so a glimpse at one should provide some insight into the other.

I don't want to get too hooked up with this company, because there may not be any substantive link with Saab in the future.

The display car is a Saab 9-3 convertible, and they have received development help from Innovatum in Trollhattan, who also do work on projects with Saab. But whether Saab can/will take this any further in terms of production model development remains to be seen.

Regardless, it's an interesting development in electric propulsion and a lot of it's taken place right in Saab's backyard, so here's the Googletrans of a press release that came out on the eve of the car's debut at Almedalen Week 2009:

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Swedish company behind the next-generation electric cars.
2009-06-25 14:13

The Swedish company Electro Engine in Sweden AB has developed a new system that enables high-performance electric of conventional cars today is powered by internal combustion. Demonstration vehicles shown to the public during Almedal Week. The launch will take place June 29 kl. 09.00 in Visby harbor.

The system, known as True ElectricTM, can be used directly in the manufacture of new machine cars. It can also be used to convert second-hand cars to pure electric cars. This can be done without any reduction in car safety and performance. Moreover, the system has the potential to be far more cost effective than the system used for electric traction in the market today. A key component is a revolutionary and patent-pending systems for battery management.

Electro Engines CEO, Thomas Bergensfjord, notes, "many want to continue running stylish, practical and safe cars with good performance while they are keen to choose a cleaner and more cost-effective alternative. With True ElectricTM can now combine electric cars environmental friendliness and low running costs with the existing cars function and performance. For example, we may have a SAAB 9-3 to accelerate from 0 to 100 km / h in 6.5 seconds, reaching a speed of 180 km/h and run 15-20 mil (which I think is 150-200 miles or kilometers - SW) of clean electricity without we changed the car exterior or interiört - with both the trunk and pull the hook to go. "

According to Christer Asplund, project manager at the Power Circle, electricity industry association, this is a world news which may have a significant impact in bilvärlden. "We can really tell an important step in a technology. Moreover, it is a novelty which I believe is awaited the car makers. There has been much talk and long, not least in the sites and forums online, the need for a really good electric cars. A car that combines the advantages of large, safe cars with good performance and electric all the benefits, both in terms of environmental benefits and lower operating costs. The first vehicle shown is a SAAB is especially gratifying. "adds Christer Asplund.

"It is a unique concept as Electro Engine have produced. Cooperation with the vehicle manufacturers have already begun, both for cars and other vehicles. The American tradition of innovation and engineering, today's launch is something to be proud of, both at home and internationally",

Tore Helmersson, president of Innovatum AB, a development of Swedish industry and based in Trollhättan, has committed to deep to support the Electro Engine. Innovatum operates a number of future projects aimed at reducing dependence on fossil fuels. "Electric cars will eventually be an important part in the Swedish vehicle production. With Electro Engine illustrated that American innovators force can pave the way for a technology", summarizes Tore Helmersson.

True ElectricTM is a modular and future-proof system for electric propulsion based on patent-pending innovations in particular battery management, power electronics and advanced synkronmotorer. The system then adapted to each vehicle type and model.

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And here's another photos, from Allt om Motor, where there's another story:

This is a unique concept that Electroengine has developed. Cooperation with manufacturers has started, both for cars and other types of veichles. For Swedish tradition of invention and engineering the launch today is something to be proud of, both here in Sweden and internationally"

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Thanks to Per and Carl-Henrik!

People who are currently eligible for various discount programs might want to hurry up some of their purchase plans in light of this.

This came in from a Djup Strupe US-based dealer.

It's just been announced this morning that starting July 1st, Saabs (and Hummers and Saturns) in the U.S. will no longer be eligible for the GM supplier discount as offered through the Military, College grad, and Credit Union member discount programs, so anybody who has been on the fence about one who may qualify (is an active member of a U.S. armed services branch, is a member of a credit union, or is a recent college graduate) should probably snap one up while they still get the discounts.

I assume it will mainly effect US customers. If you think you might be cut off, best to check with your Saab dealer and make sure. It sounds like you've got 24 hours.

GM are our friends, aren't they?

On my way to work this morning, I saw a Porsche 944, just like the one below, pulled up at a set of traffic lights.

I had two immediate and concurrent reactions.

One was "Wow, that looks fantastic!" and the other was "what a pity it doesn't drive anywhere near as good as it looks". For those who might be new around here, I looked at buying a 944, only in silver, earlier this year. All my childhood fantasies turned into mush when I finally got to take it for a comprehensive and unaccompanied test drive.

The car was selling for $8,000 and at that price, it was the cheapest 944 for sale in Australia. I considered it for quite a while before knocking it back. I was considering the Mazda MX-5 as well. I had dinner one night with some friends and Greg, when I asked him what he thought of the options, answered with some kind words about the MX-5, then said "......but the other one is a Porsche!!!!"

That's pretty much what I thought for most of my deliberation period as well. Forget the shabby and incredibly dated interior (this was a pre-86 car) and the A-pillar right in front of my face. Forget the big noisy engine that puts out only 85% of the power my old 900 Turbo did, despite being 25% bigger. And forget the fact that it ran hot on the test drive, despite $15,000 of service history over the last few years. Forget that I feared having to re-mortgage my home just to do the clutch...... It was a Porsche!

If I'd spent that money, I'd be weeping right now.

Instead, I spent a few thousand more and bought a low mileage Mazda MX-5 and I look forward to every weekend now. Last Saturday I had to run two errands to get my internet connection fixed up. There I was, in the middle of the Tasmanian winter with the roof off and a huge smile on my face.

That was living!! And I'll do it again next weekend, too.

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I didn't just write this to re-hash my car purchasing stories all over again. There's more to it than that.

Koenigsegg have just signed an agreement with GM to purchase Saab. I guess you could call this entry some sort of open letter or appeal to Koenigsegg to remind them of something (not that they need the reminder at all. Just because it came to mind).

We've all heard, read and spoken a lot about Saab's heritage and model history. That's because to a large extent, there's not been a lot else that's been positive to talk about in recent years.

Saab's history is now in your care. It's up to you.

Saab have a number of revered models, especially the 900. Needless to say, though, they can't trade on memories any longer. Even the most die-hard of fans will only harbour affection because of those old cars. It won't make them buy a new one.

People don't buy Boxers or Caymans because of their memories of the 944. They buy them because they're good, modern Porsches.

We're all looking forward to the 2010 Saab 9-5. It's the first all new Saab in around 6 years and it's the first since GM "re-committed" to Saab back in 2005. It's Saab from the ground up and I'm sure it's going to attract heaps of interest.

But the next round of Saab cars is yours to design and build. They can't rely on the Saab name or the Saab badge. They have to be good, safe and smart because all those elements were designed into them.

I can't wait for the future of Saab Automobile to come around. It's going to be a cracker!

TTELA report that Saab's head honcho Jan-Ake Jonsson will be making a presentation at the Almadalen Week event in Visby, off southeast Sweden.

This is the same Almadalen 2009 where the True Electric Saab 9-3 convertible will be hanging out as well as other key players in the automotive industry and government.

TTELA don't know what the subject of his presentation will be, but any insight into Saab's future in conjunction with Koenigsegg would be welcome news.

If anything comes through, I'll keep you posted.

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Also in TTELA is news of a German citizen attempting to contest Saab's composition accord, whereby they pay 25% of owed debts in 12 months time.

He contended that as he pays some tax in Sweden, he was within his rights to contest the agreement. It sounds as if he wasn't actually owed any money, but was just disagreeing with the accord in principle.

The Swedish District Court dismissed his appeal.

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Dagens Industri have a report on Almadalen, with a little quote on the True Electric people:

The system, which has been developed with aid from the developing company Innovatum in Trollhättan, is also intended for direct new production of eletrical cars, and Electroengine already have made agreements for cooperation with car manufacturers.

They already have agreements?

Interesting.....

I had a temporary Twitter account some time ago but lack of use and/or a useful client led me to cancel the account.

I just wanted those who are Twitterers to know that SU now has an account set up, and I'll hopefully be tweeting on a semi-regular basis.

No, it won't be a case where every new post is tweeted. In fact, I don't have an automated post tweeter set up and have no intention to do so. It'll just be normal Twitter activity, both Saaby and non-Saaby.

If you're on Twitter, feel free to hook up @SaabsUnited

If not, then move on. Nothing to see here....

As you may or may not know, Auto Motor and Sport and I have a kind of Gentleman's agreement to use one another's content as and when we see fit, with proper accreditation, of course.

I've met a few of the blokes at AMS and consider them some of the best in the business, which is why I'm happy to add their qualifying comments to the CGI images of the 2010 Saab 9-5 that I posted a few days ago.

Auto Motor and Sport have already driven the 2010 Saab 9-5 and they reported their thoughts at the time. Obviously, whilst in Trollhatan driving the test mule, they also saw the real thing themselves. Hence they're qualified to add some thoughts to the CGI's that were posted.

They say as follows:

"This is a computer-animated image and unfortunately - we have to say as someone who has been in Trollhättan and seen the real car - it is not not good at all. The upper line on the side windows is not correct, and the same goes for the C-pillar design. The rear looks "strange", which is not the case with the real car. Taste is always a subject up for discussion, but we who have seen the wagon can testify that it is really powerful. Big, tough, and cocky - not as anxious as this picture!

This is great news and it's as I predicted when I first posted the images.

These images were just CGIs and if you've been hanging around here long enough, you would have seen CGIs of the Aero X and other models that were nowhere near as good as real photos, and even further removed from the real thing.

These CGIs were genuine, I can tell you that much. But they're also inherently limited by their own nature as preliminary images of the car, and being computer generated graphics.

The fact that the real thing, as expected, should be a whole lot more exciting and interesting to look at is a welcome thing.

If you've met an Aussie who is a total Saab nut and you've met him outside of Australia, then the chances are high that that particular Saab nut would either be Steve B (known as "sab" on the various internet forums) or the owner of this particular 99 Turbo - Brendan B.

Brendan's been to the Saab Festival and has got to know many of you through his running of the Saab 99 Register.

A few weekends ago, Brendan got his black 99Turbo out of the shed and took at for a run at Oran Park racetrack as part of a European Performance Car Challenge meeting.

Brendan's 99 was running in a coupe class and within his class, he ran a very credible third place based on handicap points.

• Jeff Morton - BMW 135i
• Mark Croudace - Porsche 986CS
• Brendan Burdon - Saab 99 Turbo
• Michael Cousidis - BMW M3 (E46)

He also managed to embarass a few newer and higher rated cars during the session as well.

Brendan's daily driver is a RenaultSport Clio, which is a pretty quick little hot hatch. Despite being 20-something years older and a fair bit heavier, the Saab 99T was only 5 seconds slower around the park than the Renault, a deficit Bredan reckons could be eradicated with some better brakes, tyres and suspension.

The modifications made to the 99T are mild and are as follows:

1. Exhaust - Custom 2.5 inch Stainless Steel turbo back exhaust with a straight through muffler.
2. Gearbox - Custom built 4 speed, basically using all the best bits from a mixture of 99 and C900 gearboxes.
3. Ignition stystem - Replaced the standard ignition with a MSD 6 BTM and replaced the magnetic sensor in the distributor with an Optical sensor. Also replaced the coil with a Crane PS91 coil and am now using Iridium spark plugs.

He says:

The Ignition would have to be the single best mod I've see done. Improved the fuel efficency for around town driving and have more power through the whole rev range.

To put the 1:38 best lap time Brendan managed into perspective - he was keeping up with an R32 Golf at 200 km/h on the back straight and managed to totally embarass a BMW E30 325iS, which could only managed a 1:52, a full 14 seconds per lap slower.

As you can see from the watermark, one of the photos above was taken by a guy called Matthew Mead. He is a motorsport photographer who does some very handy work. You can see more at his website. I like this guy as he shoots with real 35mm film as well as in digital.

More of his photos from this specific session are also on Flickr.

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A final thought.....

Have a look at that second photo again. This is why the 99 Turbo is still my favourite Saab of all time. The snub nose, the aggressive stance. As befitted the first turbocharged model they ever made, this was a car that meant business.

Today, our local Saab club had an economy run from Hobart to Derwent Bridge.

First of all, I want to thank you all for your hypermiling tips and emails the other day. My first action this morning was to empty the car of almost all the stuff I didn't need. I was running short of time, so I left a few papers and things in there.

But out went the spare tire, a box of MX-5 parts in the back seat and Monte parts from the boot. My spare is a brand new looking Pirelli P6000, by the way. Very good.

Next I headed down to the local service station and pumped the tyres up to 45 pounds per corner. It was a little daunting as I did it, considering I had 300+ kilometers ahead of me and no spare.

The only other preparations for the morning were a recap of the tips you all offered. So with that, we were off.

Here's the map again:

On the way there, I employed all of the suggestions as well as I could remember them. I took Saabjohan's suggestion about getting up to speed normally and then worked the gears and did as much cruising as I could on downhill sections.

I was as conservative as I felt necessary and averaged around 80 km/h or less for this leg of the trip.

My odometer read 164 kilometers by the time we got to the Derwent Bridge hotel for lunch and when I refilled the car there, I had used 12.9 litres of fuel. That gave me a fuel consumption figure of 7.8 litres per 100km.

If you're ever wondering about the accuracy of your SID, mine was showing 7.8, so it seems to be pretty accurate.

That's not exceptionally low according to some of the figures I've heard people mention here.......but I should explain a little about the route.

The road we drove today was fairly twisty and it took us into some of Tasmania's hydro country. This is where there's a bunch of highland lakes and reservoirs that feed into our hydro-electric power stations. We passed two of these hydro stations along the way and that involved some sustained hillclimbs.

The fact that we started near enough to sea level and ended up at an elevation of 774 meters should show that it was much more uphill than downhill, too.

I average around 12.5l/100km around our place, so 7.8 on a hilly, winding route isn't too bad.

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On the trip home from Derwent Bridge, I drove home normally and averaged somewhere between 100km/h and 110. I took exactly the same road in reverse and overtook cars where I needed to and it was safe to do so.

When I got home, the SID had moved from 7.8 to 8.0 for the entire trip. I probably should have zeroed it prior to the second leg, but the difference was negligible enough for me to be happy to drive the way I normally drive.

I might employ a few of the low-consumption tips, but I found that thinking about it so much took some of the joy out of driving for me.

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We only had four cars turn out for this event. I'm not sure how the others went as I wanted to get home a bit earlier than the others. Hopefully I'll find out soon and let you know.

Thanks again for all your help.

ctm spotted this article in today's Allt Om Motor and was kind enough to send through a translation. Great photo of JAJ there, too.

There's not much new here, but it's good contextual stuff. Basically it's the same "we haven't heard enough" from the government that the press has been reporting for around a week now. There's also a little bit dirctly from the EIB to make it more interesting.

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Green light for Saab's plan: safer and greener cars

Saab's future business plan may be approved by the European Investment Bank. But the Swedish car manufacturer may never receive the vital loan without government backing.

- "A condition for disbursement of money is adequate security," says Mats Gunnarsson, adviser at the bank.

The current rescue plan for the ailing Swedish carmaker Saab Automobile is based largely on a loan of 600 million U.S. dollars from the European Investment Bank, EIB.

The bank, owned by the EU countries, provides loans that are of interest for Europe and meet certain criteria, such as certain environmental objectives. It looks like Saab Automobile will be able to pass the first eye of the needle.

- "We have their business plan and what Saab intends to do is to invest in safer and more fuel efficient cars and that is something we in principle can finance," says Mats Gunnarsson.

EIB has so far not taken any formal decision to evaluate a loan to Saab, but according to Mats Gunnarsson such a decision [can] be made quickly. Then the new owners Koenigsegg Group with Swedish, Norwegian and U.S. stakeholders will scrutinized.

- "We want to ensure that the money goes to an investment that has a future," says Mats Gunnarsson.

EIB will also make a credit rating of the company, and they have previously made it clear that with Saab's poor financial situation they requires additional collateral. In this case, it is in practice about state guarantees.

The Government has asked The National Debt Office to negotiate with Saab about the terms of the guarantees. But EIB intends to keep away from that process.

- "We do not want to be involved in the negotiations," says Mats Gunnarsson.

If all goes without a hitch - Saab gets a government guarantee and EIB approves the loan - the car manufacturer can expect some favorable terms. Amortization free loan with a maturity of 7-10 years and a better interest rate than a loan taken on the open market.

The EIB has the highest credit rating and can borrow capital to good condition.

- "The loan will match the investment's economic life, and in the automotive industry that means about seven to ten years," says Mats Gunnarsson.

Not earlier than September 22, when EIB has its next board meeting, can there be go-ahead for a loan.

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As an aside, and not related to the above, I know we've got a few Googlers here who like to keep abreast of the news. For what it's worth, keep in mind that the one quote is often used to fuel between 5 and 10 different stories. It looks like a lot, when it's just the same bunch of words in different clothes.

There's also a bucketload of story recycling. I'm still getting stories on my feed reader, posed as new stories, about how GM are down to two or three bidders for Saab.

Could this possibly be another Saab 'green' technology-share for the future?

It's an independant operation, but it's Swedish (in Uppsala), it looks to be quite innovative, and they've used a Saab 9-3 convertible as their display car.

The company is called True Electric and they'll be displaying the car - which is operational and ready for test drives - at an event called Almedalen 2009. It's hard for me to understand exactly where this is being held from the translation, but I'm sure you Swedes can find it.

True Electric's technology involves Lithium Ion batteries like other electric vehicles, but the difference seems to be the way they're managed. Each sell is individually regulated and instead of using thousands of batteries (like other electric vehicles) the True Electric model uses only 160 for a travel distance of around 300km.

It should be less costly to install and maintain, as well. Conversion of existing cars is a few years away, but they're hoping to nail it down to the lower end of the 50,000 to 100,000 SEK price range. Maintenance should be cheaper because with individually regulated cells, you can replace an individual cell if faulty, rather than replace the whole battery pack.

It's certainly an interesting technology (and a good looking car to model it with). I hope they can take this further, preferably with that little Swedish company in Trollhattan.

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Thanks to Daniel G for the links!

GM had four brands to sell a few months ago:

• Saab
• Hummer
• Saturn
• Opel

All four have found buyers, but only two of those purchases and deals look to be reasonably solid at the moment - Saturn and Saab.

The deal for Hummer has hit a rather massive roadblock in the form of the Chinese government. BBC Radio reported that the government is frowning on the deal due to the nature of Hummer vehicle conflicting with the direction that they want Chinese companies to move in. The buyer, Tengzhong, say they're sill on the case and negotiating with both GM and the Chinese authorities.

The deal for Opel appears to be far from done, with GM going as far as signing tentative agreements with both RHJ and Beijing Automotive just in case the deal with Magna falls over.

The Saturn deal looks like a solid one, with Roger Penske acquiring some prime dealerships with a pretty open field of vehicles that he can stock in them.

Of course, the deal for Saab is ongoing, but looking solid from where I stand. There are questions over finance, but I believe that the people involved are going to use their considerable energy and ideas to make sure this deal gets done.

We've already uncovered one of the legal minds involved with the process - Pranav Trivedi - who has extensive experience dealing with Russian business deals. That would indicate that there's some Russian connections involved with this deal.

Karen spotted and article on the news wires today that mentions another of the legal team: Lynn Heistand. Like Trivedi, Heistand works from Skadden's London office and she is mentioned in the AMLaw Daily site as their Dealmaker of the Week, for working concurrently on the Koenigsegg-Saab deal and a deal for Nortel Networks, being acquired by Nokia Siemens.

A weekly award from a blog is not necessarily worth scrapbooking, but her CV makes for some good reading and it's just more reassurance that there are some clued-in minds working on this.

Last night I posted some CGI images of the 2010 Saab 9-5 sedan and the wagon that will follow after it.

Shortly thereafter I took some heat, made amends (kinda), patched up some relationships......... and then my router/modem completely died. It's 16 or so hours later and after 2 hours on hold and two trips to the computer store for new cables and a new modem I'm back online, having missed all that happened in between.

That forced break has given me plenty of time to think. So here's why what happened, happened.

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Posting those images was no small decision. I knew that Saab wouldn't have wanted them out there this early and that I'd be risking my relationship with them by putting them up here. I thought about it for a fair while before doing so, and you know the result.

I posted the images because this is an independent Saab enthusiast's website and more than anything else, a glimpse at the real 2010 Saab 9-5 is what almost every Saab enthusiast wanted to see.

The tipping factor for me was that these images were CGIs, which from experience I know are OK for getting the basics about a car without giving away the details that a full-res proper photo would give. If I'd received full-res photos, there's no way I would have published them.

In order to further limit the impression given, I also reduced the size of the images and the resolution. Small mercies, but still...

After being online for about an hour, Saab requested that I remove them, which I did. We had some discussions via email and phone in the hours following. It seems that the time they were up was long enough for them to be copied and posted elsewhere so the removal from this site is now unfortunately of little consequence. Hence, I've re-posted them in the original article.

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At the end of the day, I'm a blogger and this is what I do. It's one of the prime purposes of this website - to share and celebrate the good things about Saab. For them, it's a double-edged sword because the community around here (and elsewhere) is, over all, most definitely a good thing, but sometimes it can cut the other way.

I love the cars and I love the company and on balance, I believed that these low-res CGI's would give Saab's community something to smile about - without giving them the full picture - at what is still a time of some uncertainty.

I think the overwhelmingly positive reaction to the images means that we've all got a lot more faith and hope for Saab's future as a car company.

And remember - the real photos and the real car will be around 10 times better than these.

Now there's something to smile about!

UPDATE: II

These are out there now, so there's no point in having the small ones anymore.

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Djup Strupe does it again.....

These are the first images that I can confirm are original Saab stock. They look more like CGI's than actual photos of real cars to me, but they're authentic.

There's one of each of the sedan and wagon (which is an absolute stunner if you ask me)

I have no idea what spec these cars are (eg. Aero or otherwise).

Also, please remember that no matter what you think of these images - they're most likely CGI's and every car looks better in the metal than what it does in photos.

.....which means the road should melt in the presence of this wagon....

I want one of those wagons - NOW!!!!

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A recap for the unfamiliar:

The 2010 Saab 9-5 is due to come out in sedan form either late 2009 or early 2010. The Motor Show debut will be later this year in Frankfurt.

The wagon is said to be following year after.

The car should be available with a mix of four and six cylinder engines (petrol/BioPower) and a four cylinder diesel. The six cylinder diesel that was planned for the car was cancelled by GM.

Photos of the interior

We also have a full list of colors and features.

Seen yesterday in the carpark of a highway eatery between Stockholm and Gothenburg.

Thanks to Baah!!

Hmmm.

Almost looks like Bard Eker in the reflection......

Saab have recently distributed a brochure to some dealers, who have been invited to see the 2010 Saab 9-5 and the various other cars in Saab's future. The display will most likely take place from next month.

The brochure included these watery images of the next 9-5. Click to enlarge.

There was at least one new piece of tech (new to Saab, at least) that hadn't been mentioned previously as far as I recall.

Just push the start button in the cockpit and you'll immediately get a new perspective on on-road excitement. Like the new generation of highly efficient turbo engines fuelled by petrol, diesel or bioethanol, the pioneering Saab XWD cross-wheel drive system and the advanced DriveSense system allowing you to adjust the agility of the car with the simple twist of a knob. Not to mention a completely new level of real-life safety, featuring a range of sophisticated driving assistance systems. So prepare for a different and very energetic experience. The all new Saab 9-5 Sedan.

Sounds like fun.

The word going around is that there may be press photos etc of the new 9-5 around a month afterwards.

Not car-related, but so related to my youth I just had to mark these events here.

I didn't have many posters on my wall when I was a young boy and I was far too bashful to have one of a girl.....but if I had, it would have been Farrah. Charlie's Angels, Cannonball, just about every magazine my older sister had. She was everywhere in the late 70s and early 80s. She died today at age 62.

And then there's the soundtrack of my early teenage years being switched off with the unexpected death of Michael Jackson. I had the 1 hour Thriller video - on Beta!

Celebrity deaths normally happen in threes. I'm predicting (sadly) that Patrick Swayze might pop his clogs before the weekend's over.

Rest well, folks.

No wonder they've got no time for interviews....

TTELA report that Christian Von Koenigsegg and Bard Eker are/were on site at Saab in Trollhattan today.

They're theorising that one of the other guys in black suits (CvK is the one who's not so hirsute) is Augie Fabela, the Chairman of the Koenigsegg Group board. I'm not so sure about that. They look a little young to me.

TTELA were not able to get an interview. It seems the line is that GM and K-Segg are still in negotiations and whilst that's the case, they won't be talking.

A pity, really. It's a good opportunity to get a groundswell of belief going. As I've said here before: the media is a beast, and the beast will be fed.

PT was kind enough to scan and send over a page from the latest edition of CAR Magazine, from the UK.

In a column they cal 'Final Drive' they have a tribute to what seems to be one of their favourite cars over the years - the Saab 9-5. Maybe some of you Europeans need to clue us up on this, too, as they claim their favourite version of the 9-5 was the one with the Isuzu V6 diesel. Hmph.

Here's a few selected quotes. You'll have to buy the magazine to read the full deal (there's also a good writeup on the Insignia).

I started writing this at least five years ago, round about the time we thought the 9-5 surely must be due for replacement.....I'm a slow writer, but I rarely take 5 years to write 450 words.....

.....The incomprehensible delay in replacing what is one of only two model lines flags up the utter hash General Motors has made of its Swedish asset....

.....It had a slightly imperfect, offbeam coolness of the kind that also defines Alfa Romeo. Enough coolness to make it worshipped almost fetishistically by sufficient customers either side of the Atlantic, cementing a business case only GM could fail to open and shut.....

....Inside, the 9-5 was simply brilliant....the Swedes understand furniture (the seats) like the French understand cuisine....

.....Purist drivers, badge snobs, the uninitiated and those who crave the safety of the tribe never got the 9-5. Here in the motoring press we rarely hailed it, almost never gave it a slot in a 5-series group test. But when I was editing this magazine back in 2002 I ran a 9-5 saloon as a long-term test car. And I still, to this day, miss it.

A fitting goodbye for a fantastic automobile.

Well done to the author, Greg Fountain, and thanks to PT for sending the scan.

I know rallying costs a lot of money, but this just looks like such a good fit that it makes sense.....

Picture one of these:

And picture it done up in all sorts of WRC livery. I'll let the photoshoppers take care of that, but you can picture it.

Many have mentioned Saab's rally heritage before and I KNOW that Saab has other priorities in the next few years, but a smaller 9-3 sized vehicle would be a perfect vehicle for Saab's return to motorsport.

Why?

The FIA has just released new guidelines for the 2011 season and they've got Saab 'rightsizing' written all over them.

At its meeting in Paris today the FIA World Motor Sport Council made a number of crucial decisions regarding the future of the World Rally Championship and the cars which will contest it.

Engines

Technically, the biggest news is that from 2011 World Rally Cars will be powered by a 1600cc turbo engine instead of the current 2000cc turbo unit. This decision overturns one made earlier this year which stated that World Rally Cars would be powered by a normally aspirated 2000cc engine in 2011, with a proposed switch to a 1600cc turbo engine in 2013.

The FIA said the date for introduction of the 1600cc engine had been brought forward to bring it in line with the units used in the cars on sale to the public.

OK

2011 may be a little early, but 2012 would have to be a chance for a new smaller 9-3 with a 1.6 HOT engine, shouldn't it?

An article at Tekniken's Varld indicates that the Swedish Touring Car Championship may follow the same lead, so at least a campaign in this series might be a chance.

I'm a sports nut. I'd love something big and substantial to cheer for.

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Thanks Per!

This weekend, I'll be taking the Monte Carlo on an economy run with other members of the Saab Car Club here in Tasmania.

It's the first club event that car's been on, actually, so I'm really looking forward to it. I'm not sure if there are prizes involved, but I believe it is a competitive event - aiming to use as little fuel as possible ever the 150km or so of driving we'll do.

I've had a read over WooDz's guide to driving for mileage, and I've got myself used to the idea of cleaning out ALL the clutter, staying within the first 3rd of the turbo gauge and slowing well in advance of a light.

But if anyone else out there has some experience with this type of one-off event and has some tips for a first-timer, please feel free to drop your advice in comments.

At least we get a free lunch!

This is another long post - please be patient - there's music at the end!!

It's also one of those strange posts. I've actually had quite a difficult time putting it together, figuring out exactly what line to take.

On one hand, there's a troublesome report about the NLV Quant and the owner/founder/muse behind NLV - and on the other hand, there's the unknown possibility of the car actually being viable.

And quite aside from all that, there's the downright curious and fascinatingly grooooooooovy.

What it all adds up to is yet another call for someone from the Koenigsegg Group to stand up and talk about their resources and plans.

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The troublesome report

The troublesome report comes from a Swiss journal called WOZ, which I'm told is a reliable publication with a slightly left-wing tilt to it. This story certainly seems to be well researched and written and poses some serious questions, especially if the development of the Quant is a pillar of Koenigsegg's bid and application for EIB loans (though personally, I think it's Koenigsegg's relationship with Cargine that's more relevant in this context).

The report in written in German, so you can do a Googletrans yourself, read the original or just peruse my summary points, below.

One thing I should fill you in on, right from the beginning, is that the NLV in the company name NLV Solar AG, stands for Dr. Nunzio La Vecchia (the "Dr" title is written in the article, though I don't see it on the NLV Solar website or his personal site. It is used on a site from another of his businesses: Juno Technology Products).

The report claims.....

• The Quant plan was a considerable part of Koenigsegg getting the nod to purchase Saab. Part of K-Segg's appeal was their capacity to innovate and bring new environmental technologies, which the author takes as referring to the Quant.
• That La Vecchia claims a PhD, though he refuses to disclose where he obtained it.
• He's 44, of Italian immigrant descent and quite loaded with money (more below).

One of the most curious bits, if I'm translating this correctly, is that whilst all his technology stuff appears quite brilliant, and whilst he's got the house(s) and car(s) that display astute business acumen - no-one in scientific circles there seems to recognise him or give his theories credence. Again, this is my interpretation of an internet translation, so I might be wrong there.

The dot points continue....

Did anyone place a bet with Ladbrokes betting agency a few weeks ago when they offered odds on potential Saab buyers?

You'd have got 5-to-1 on a Swedish consortium buying Saab. I think Koenigsegg qualifies to win that bet, despite the Norwegian and US interests. I'd have lost my money if I had placed a bet as I thought Renco would have been GM's choice, even though they weren't mine.

Ladbrokes are now offering odds as to whether Saab will enter Formula 1 under Koenigsegg's ownership before 2013. I think I'd stay away from that one, but you never know.

BTW - it looks like F1 participants are all enjoying a group hug with Bernie again today. Max Mosely is nowhere to be seen, though I'm sure News Of The World will find out how he's choosing to soothe his separation anxiety.

Thanks Joyrider!

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The Saab Newsroom are asking which future Saab you're most looking forward to.

They talk a little about the showroom of the future, which was viewed by potential buyers. It contained top-secret cars as well as the ones we know about. One of those top-secret cars was a Russelsheim derived model of a future 9-3, though as I understand it, it may not be the final product.

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Tesla have received almost half a billion dollars in US tech loans to help them build the Model S four door electric car. The money has to be repaid by 2022.

Call it a matter of national pride, but shouldn't the Swedish government consider this an incentive to try and help Koenigsegg and Saab build the Quant and beat Tesla at their own electric game?

Personally, I'm not sure the Quant is anywhere near ready enough to come to series production soon, but I'm for helping them try.

Thanks Karen!

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Saab social networking?

Our unofficial Saab Ambassador to the UK, Robin M, has recently started up Saab Friends, where you can make new.....Saab Friends and catch up with old or current.....Saab Friends.

It's only been up for a week and there's 26 members so far, so you'll be getting in early. I'm just hopeless with these things and haven't joined up, though I do intend to. I might wait and see if I can be member #99

:-)

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From Flickr:

I thought it might be interesting to go over the last 40 years and take a look, using 5 year segments, at what's happened at Saab.

It's basically the Saab-Scania era vs the GM era, and I want to take a look at the innovations, models and sales that happened during those periods.

The sales figures have been sourced from Ryan's graph at Saab History. The iinnovations are from the innovations page here at SU, and the model stuff is out of my head.

1970-1974

Models: The Saab 96 and 95 were still on offer, continuing on from their heyday in the 1960s. The big mover in Saab terms was the Saab 99. Only two years old by 1970, the 99 range would be expanded with the addition of the 99EMS and maybe one of the most important developments in Saab design - the Combi-Coupe.

Innovations:

• 1970: Headlights wash and wipe
• 1971: Energy Absorbing Bumpers
• 1971: Electrically Heated Seats
• 1972: Side Impact Protection

Sales:

1970 - 61,711
1971 - 73,982
1972 - 72,960
1973 - 83,997
1974 - 89,467

Total sales - 382,117
Average sales - 76,423

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1975 - 1979

Models: The 99 range expanded with a 5-door GLE version but the big news was the Saab 99 Turbo. Even more than the Combi Coupe, this car was a total gamechanger and gave Saab a fantastic reputation for innovation and technology. In 1979, Saab took the game even higher with the introduction of their best selling car - the 900. It was a huge leap in terms of luxury, ride and equipment and set Saab up for the golden years of the 1980's.

UPDATE:

I just received an email in my inbox from Alfa Romeo about Alfisti.com - their new and official global online community site. Registrations opening now.

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I've already posted my own cobbled thoughts on the merits of embarking on a new media adventure once the Koenigsaab deal is stitched together.

But why just take my word for it?

Here's some thoughts from a former automotive CEO, who used a blog to help develop various aspects of the company.

I'll leave his name out of things for now. You can have that at the end.

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In the early days, there was tremendous competitive risk in allowing information out ahead of the car's unveiling. For this reason, we made a concerted effort to fly under the radar and maintain as a low a profile as possible. When we finally unveiled the car, we knew there would be questions. In fact, we knew that simply taking the wraps off the car would promote both a groundswell of enthusiasm as well as skepticism around a broad range of topics - political, social, economic, technical, and everything in between.

We saw tackling these questions as not only an opportunity to sell the concept ......, but also, and more importantly, to show rather than tell how we were different from big, established car companies-namely, by making ourselves accessible to the public, not just select industry insiders.

Internally, we considered this approach "managed transparency," recognizing that while we couldn't share every nuance, we should and would strive to be as open as possible in an effort to build trust and establish a dialog about the merits of our program. My first blog post.......went up as the car was revealed; it announced to the world not only what we were trying to accomplish, but also why.....

......While it's challenging making broad generalizations about how and why companies should blog, I can personally attest to the following:

• Simply put, a blog is a conversation. In the arsenal of marketing tools, it's the most cost effective and it's among the few that allows for an exchange of ideas. In the world of automobile manufacturers, the notion that a car maker would actually be interested in hearing what car buys think was then, and largely to this day remains, an anomaly.
• Of course, for blogging to ring true, it needs to be more than an exercise kept up for the sake of appearance. At *******, we began with my blog, which provided direct access to the company's.......CEO.......Whether people had questions about the design of a component, the marketing......, or what motivated folks to [purchase], they could expect a straight answer right from the horse's mouth.
• Earning trust and respect is a big deal for start-ups, but established companies have just as much to gain from doing the simplest thing in the world: engaging their customers in a conversation.
• I think people confuse the importance of the two root words in "spokesperson." I think the most important aspect is to be an actual person. This lesson was very much in mind as I began speaking as the voice of *******.
• .....if I wanted to know how to best serve prospective customers [on a particular issue] I would also need to know how [details pertaining to that issue]. I found that the best and quickest way to get an answer is simply to ask them. This approach provides real world results, and it sets up a dynamic where customers feel like their input matters (and in this case, it most definitely did).
• When members of the development team get recognition for their hard work and insights, and occasionally challenged on these very same areas, it fosters a sense of commitment and common purpose that no amount of traditional advertising or PR could ever hope to accomplish.
• While we disseminated and tracked traditional press releases at ******* alongside our online activity, we made a point of reaching out to our customers first - ahead of the press - in a private forum whenever we had new exciting news to share about the company or car. In many cases, we had relationships with key bloggers that were the next in line for key pieces of info after customer had received it. With customers and the blogosphere pretty well covered, the significance of traditional press releases was greatly diminished.

For companies looking to forge a stronger, more meaningful relationship with their constituents and spend their marketing effort where it counts, a commitment to blogging and other forms of online dialog is an investment that is hard to match.

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The full article, written by Tesla Motors founder and former CEO, Martin Eberhard, is here.

Turbin's tracked down some good information on who's working behind the scenes on Koenigsegg's purchase of Saab from General Motors.

A post on the legal weblog, amlawdaily, indicates that Koenigsegg's international counsel on this deal is a guy by the name of Pranav Trivedi, who works for a law firm called Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. They call themselves Skadden for short.

Trivedi works in Skadden's London office, but has a much wider history than that, including what I think must be a link to one of the members of The Koenigsegg Group.

Trivedi's inclusion on the team is two things:

It's good if you like very experienced operators who are named by Chambers Global as one of the World's Leading Lawyers for Business and a guy who's pulled off one deal that was awarded Deal of the Year by publication - The Banker.

It's not-so-good if you're wary of Russian connections and possibly, Russian money.

The Koenigsegg connection appears to be Augie Fabela, who was a founder and chief of Vimpelcom, a Russian telecommunications company, until 2002. Fabela has been named as Chairman of the newly formed Koenigsegg Group board, though he is not listed as a shareholder in the Koenigsegg Group.

Trivedi has listed on his CV, amongst many other things, the following:

Mr Trivedi's experience in mergers and acquisitions transactions in Russia includes, among other matters, advising:

• the special committee of the board of directors of Golden Telecom, Inc. in Vimpel-Communications's US$4.3 billion acquisition of Golden Telecom via a tender offer;

In addition to that possibly direct relatationship, it should be noted that Fabela is connected to a US-Russia Business Council and that the bulk of Trivedi's experience is in Russian business circles. I'm sure their paths have crossed several times.

--

The link to Russia may scare some, but do not lose sight of the fact that Travedi has impeccable credentials (including education at Columbia and Yale), a superb and award-winning reputation and the one thing that Koenigsegg's been criticised for a little - he's got plenty of experience in this field.

I'm confident that time spent staring over the table at the odd Russian oligarch has prepared him for negotiations with General Motors.

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And by the way, Turbin has received an honorary Simon Townsend's WonderWorld Woodrow the Bloodhound award for this piece of work.

Wear it with pride, cobber!!

Thanks to Kroum for the artwork!

I got an email from 'Barracuda', who's recently spent a little vacation time in Sweden, taking in the sights of both Stockholm and Trollhattan.

I feel intensely jealous when I get stuff like this, but anyway.....

Two years ago this month, back in June 2007, I was in Trollhattan for the Saab Festival. The 2008 refresh for the Saab 9-3 was due to be unveiled on the final day of the festival, but there were a reasonable number of 2008 models already being driven around on the streets there by Saab employees.

Fast forward to 2009, and whilst I'm not sure there are any product debuts planned for the Saab Days activity that's happening next month, it seems some of the new models not officially available just yet are making the rounds on Trollhattan's streets.

Barracuda snapped the following shots for our mutual enjoyment. There's more over on his Flickr account.

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A Saab 9-3x in red, with XWD, tootles around the streets of Trollhattan.

A TTiD model, parked in the factory carpark.

I've tried to be pretty quiet on the questions I have about Koenigsegg's investors when it comes to the Saab deal. I've outlined those questions in previous posts and my modus operandi is to try and seek real answers to those questions rather than posting a whole bunch of possible theories, however credible. Fact is - you can easily lose sight of the question at hand if you pose too many possible answers.

Overnight, Dagens Industri were the source for a new article that was re-hashed in several other news services.

Börjesson was kind enough to provide a translation of the full article in comments, which I've reproduced here.

I've got a few thoughts, which I've scattered through the document.

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SAAB DEAL WILL REQUIRE AT LEAST 5 BILLION

The unknown investors behind Koenigsegg Group must put up capital of at least 5 billion kronor to take over Saab Automobile.

That is a prerequisite for the Swedish government to agree to a loan guarantee of the same amount. Otherwise, the deal will fall through. This is the unanimous view of DI's sources in the Swedish car industry, which are all sceptical to the play for Saab and various statements from Koenigsegg's owners.

That the investors are unknown have created distrust.

"This looks like a parody. The statements made by representatives of Koenigsegg are astonishingly uninitiated. They want to develop new Saab cars, but hugely underestimate the costs and the work required," says one source who has worked in a management position in the Swedish car industry for many years.

I'm not sure sure about the pre-requisite status, though it wouldn't surprise me if Maud played hardball on this (at considerable political risk, mind you).

The new Saab cars are all ready to go. Koenigsegg's challenge will be design and construction of a new Saab 9-3. This whole deal will, in my opinion, live or die with the next Saab 9-3.

Now here's something special.....

I posted earlier this evening about some possibilities for the Saab Pride submissions I've received. Shortly after writing that article, I received an email from an academic in Germany - a Dr. Rüdiger Hossiep, attached to the Psychology Dept at the Ruhr University in Bochum.

Dr Hosseip and a team of students set out on an ambitious mission to study the level of attachment that various people have to particular brands of cars. Their study involved over 1 million people and was focused on a German automotive forum called Motor Talk.

Here's a Googletrans about the study:

They developed a procedure which allows the over three million records of more than 1.2 million users of the largest German car forum on the internet "motor-talk" to each other in relation to.

Their results bring all the existing brand rankings shaken: for example, identify themselves the followers of the cult-quirky brand SAAB 40 times more closely with their car as a Nissan driver.

Researchers have published the results of the evaluations of the last three years, for the first time. Parallel to this is launching an online survey, which will show what is behind the large or small is love. All motorists are invited to participate!

I've tried to complete the survey, but it's in German and it doesn't want to co-operate with the Googletrans software. I've put a link to the survey, below.

But back to the initial findings. There are tables for the last three years: 2007 to 2009. These measure something the team calls an 'involvement index' - which is basically a measure of the number of users, their level of engagement, with the number of registrations for that marque factored in as well.

Here are the results for 2009 and you can see the prior years' rankings on the left:

Those numbers actually reflect a fall for Saab. They're still on top of the index, but not by nearly as clear a margin as what they were in 2007, when they had nearly twice the index figure of the second place brand (Volvo, at that time).

Still, it's a very interesting outcome and confirms hat many of us have believed for some time - that Saab has a very passionate following, and one that's pretty web-savvy as well.

Saab pride, indeed!

You can read the findings page and see the prior years charts at the following links: the original in German, or in English via the Googletrans.

If you read German and would like to participate in their latest survey, asking what's important to you about your car, then click here.

Last year, I was going to put together a book of your photos and stories - called Saab Pride - and based on the Saab Pride of Ownership competition we had at Trollhattan Saab some time ago.

I received plenty of submissions for the project. More than enough, actually.

My problem is that despite having all this material here in my inbox, I know beyond all reasonable doubt that I'm not going to have time to collate, edit and publish the book.

The last 6 months of Saab news has put me in a position where I really welcome the announcement that's been made regarding the sale to Koenigsegg. I need to get back to being some sort of normal person again. Doing all this blogging stuff is fine and dandy, but when you throw in a full time job and family commitments, it all becomes a bit too much - a fact I'm only realising now that the announcement has been made and things have calmed down a bit.

So......

What I propose to do is publish the Saab Pride submissions here as entries on the website over the next few months. It may be that in doing so, slowly, I'll be able to take the edited versions from the site and format them into a book anyway.

It just seems like a huge waste to have these stories and images sitting around without them being shared amongst the community.

Agreed?

As another follow up to the JD Power report from earlier today, I thought I'd pass on this TUEV report from Germany, which Fuzzi has emailed to me.

I've not included the various bits of text, but just these tables.

Apparently the Saab 9-3 is highly rated in this report, which came out in an edition of Autobild earlier this year.

I'm not sure exactly how to read these tables, but I'm sure we'll get some assistance shortly, either via email or in comments. All I know is there's a lot of green in the bottom table, which I assume is a good thing.

Click either to enlarge.

Here's just a quick update as to where I believe we're at with the Saab sale situation. Let's call these well educated guesses.

It's my understanding that the financial reps on Koenigsegg's team (either staff or hired guns) will have commenced at Saab doing their due diligence work on the company to assess just what it is they've got themselves into. Actually, a San Diego newspaper stated last week that mysterious K-Segg Group stakeholder, Mark Bishop, was in Europe last week....maybe he's still in Europe now? But I digress......

Potential suitors got to have an initial look at Saab's situation some weeks ago and they based their bids for Saab on what they saw. Now is the time for the thorough inspection by GM's preferred bidder.

Remember, this isn't a done deal at this point. What's been signed is a memorandum of understanding, not the metaphorical bill of sale.

Now the parties with the most at stake get to have an unvarnished look at the risk they're taking:

For Koenigsegg: this means a good look at Saab's operations and potential. What's it going to cost to run, what's needed for new models, dealership finance, marketing, etc. All this and more.

For the EIB: they'll be giving Saab's plans and Koenigsegg's support a good look as well, though I suspect they're not too worried as the loan applications they receive from K-Saab will be accompanied by guarantees from.....

The Swedish government: These guys are still the joker in the deck. Whilst it's the EIB that's handing out the money, it's the Swedish government that's assuming the risk. If they're doing their job properly, then they'll be having a good hard look at Koenigsegg and their backers as well.

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I hope after everyone's laid their cards on the table, that this deal still looks as good as the marketing potential it represents.

Both companies might have a lot to lose, but they've also got the whole world to gain if they can pull it together.

Seen a week ago on the streets of Stockholm.....

A classic red Saab 93, with thanks to Jorgen

I reported on Saab's showing in the 2009 JD Power Initial Quality Survey earlier today. It would seem that Saab didn't do so well in the survey if you go by the graph alone.....

......but what this graph misses out on is improvements in the industry over all, and by certain brands in particular. Those details might be in the accompanying text, but I wouldn't know that because like what I imagine is a majority of people, when faced with limited time and the choice between a whole barrage of text and a simple chart, I'll look at the simple chart.

The Detroit News has an interesting blog post about this today:

J.D. Power won't disclose the vehicle with the most problems, but will say it had 181 problems per 100 vehicles sampled. That is less than two problems per vehicle, and a respectable showing compared to the early years of the study.

"No one is building junk anymore - those days are over," said David Sargeant, vice president of automotive research at J.D. Power and author of the study. "We're really talking about the difference between a really good car and a great car these days."

It'd be nice if that quote was presented with the main chart, rather than buried in some accompanying text or an external website.

......and that's 30 billion problems more per 100 billion cars made than the industry average!!!!

The latest JD Power initial product quality survey has just been released and as has been the practice since Adam wore short pants, Saab hasn't done well.

The actual measure that JDP use is problems reported per 100 vehicles. On this scale, Saab had 138 problems recorded, though there's no description as to what these problems are, or the reliability of the data.

The best brand was Lexus with 84-per and the worst brand was MINI with 165-per.

Here's the table. Click

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I'm sure that car companies have a love/hate relationship with this survey. Those at the top probably love it and those lower down the list probably cower at the thought of it coming out.

Why?

Because being at the bottom of this report gives an initial impression that product isn't much good in quality terms. The measure of problems-per-100 doesn't help this.

But if you move the decimal point a few digits to the left, you'll see that the actual measure per car makes the race a lot closer.

In fact, as the Associated Press points out, there's less than one problem-per-vehicle difference between first and last on that table. Add to that the fact that industry, as a whole, is improving and things don't seem so bad after all.

They just look bad on a graph.

Auto Motor and Sport have an update on the effort to get a Saab 9-3 vehicle ready for the 2010 Swedish Touring Car Championship.

It looks like the team is called Saab Performance and is owned by a guy named Jan Warnestad. They did some testing last year at Saab's own track in Trollhattan, but the project may have slowed after that due to uncertainty about Saab's situation.

It seems they're back on track now (literally) with a testing session held recently where they completed 96 laps at Gelleråsen.

Apparently all went well, with the team learning a lot about how they can improve the car, as well as setting a lap time that would have got them qualified in 12th place in the last STCC race held at that particular track.

Swedes should click through to AMS and read the original article.

In fact, all though click through to AMS, so you can watch the in-car video of the car in testing!

Good luck to these guys. I hope we can see them on the tarmac next year.

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Thanks Dippen!

I'm not sure it's wise to say who dug these drawings up, but suffice to say they're in the public domain, having been found as part of a patent application by Saab. I believe it was lodged last year.

When the 9-X Air concept car came out, I told you all that there was something special about the operation of the roof. We never got to see it in action, however, as Saab never allowed the roof to be opened (or closed) in public. Having looked over this patent app and the associated drawings, I believe that's because the 9-X Air doesn't show off the full system they've developed, though it gives a hint as to what's to come.

This is the 9-X Air as we saw it last year. And yes, I know Saab are now calling it the Saab 9-X Convertible, but I liked the 'Air' name better.

And below are the patent drawing relating to the convertible concept they've developed and applied to protect.

As you'll see, the 9-X Air gives an indication as to their intention with the high sides coming down from the B-pillar to the rear of the car. What you can't see in the photo above is the retractable rear window, which would protect rear passengers from uncomfortable headwinds with the roof in the open position.

Figure 1, below, is basically the car with the roof closed. When opened in the preliminary position, the roof folds into a compact unit and is stored in the boot of the car, as per normal.

Unlike a normal convertible arrangement, however, there is still a rear window. Normally this would be part of the roof on a convertible, but in this new system, it's a separate piece of the puzzle.

Figure 5 shows the folded roof being tucked away, with the boot of the car raised from a hinge at the rear and about to close again concealing it.

Figure 6, below, shows the boot closed again, with the rear window still up and the car in a similar configuration to what we've seen with the 9-X Air.

All four passengers are now enjoying open-top driving, but all are protected a lot more from the wind than they would be in a regular convertible.

If the initial party trick is the protection of all occupants whilst creating a damn sexy body style, the Figure 7, next, is the extension of the party trick.

I'm always surprised by the breadth of Saab-love. I shouldn't be, but whenever a new country pops up on my Saab pride radar I just can't help but wonder where the next set of photos are going to come from.

I've done a quick search and I'm pretty sure that this is the first time I've featured photos from Slovenia.

The Saab Club of Slovenia had a gathering last month and as you can see, there's a fair variety of beautiful old Saab machinery owned by clubmembers. This is like a who's who of Saab models that made the company famous with a little custom Saab-work thrown in for good measure.

My thanks to Ivan for sending the photos in.

An interesting hood ornament on that 96 convertible.

If this deal where Koenigsegg buys Saab is finalised in the next few months, then we're all at the edge of what could be a grand age for both companies and the Swedish automotive industry, too.

Sure, we've all got questions about how this is going to work, whether there's enough money behind it and what models will come in the future. But we have to assume that with an announcement made and the public acceptance of it that ensued in much of the motoring press, that there's no backing away now.

With all due respect to Merbanco (my first choice) and Renco (my last choice), this is the sexiest deal of the lot. Having announced the engagement, Koenigsegg and Saab are now in bed together and this deal HAS to come through.

With that in mind, and assuming a successful transtition, Koenigsegg-Saab are facing an opportunity of once-in-a-corporate-lifetime proportions. They could do this later, but they'd be better off doing it right from the get-go.

You guys need to put Saabs United, and many of the other websites like it, out of business.

I hadn't heard of a site called Carwinism prior to yesterday, when a guy named Claes in Sweden sent me a link to a recent article there.

I could have done a Googletrans and posted it straight here, but I got the feeling that this article was a little more important than that. So, I pushed the boundaries a little and asked Claes (who'd I'd not met before) if a proper English translation could be made available.

Thankfully, I received that now along with the permission to post it here to share with you non-Swedes (thanks Jonas!). However, I've also just discovered that there is a sister site, in English, called Carwinism.com so the posting of the full translation here isn't needed.

Carwinism.se is a site dedicated to celebrating the car in all aspects, and any brand. 2009 is both the worst year ever for the car, and also, the 200th anniversary of Darwin, hence the pun in the website's title.

This article was written by a social anthropoligist named Olle Hagman, from Gothenburg. In the article, he goes a long way to explain the good feelings many of us have with regard to Saab's sale to Koenigsegg.

In the debate concerning Koenigsegg's financial ability to develop SAAB, the dream perspective has been lost on the way. For, in my opinion, it does hold great value that the manufacturer of the world's fastest car, designed by a Swedish entrepreneur who since childhood has dreamed of making cars, over night has managed to turn around the perception of SAAB. From being a supplier of American nightmares to Swedish dreams.

The article is entitled The Car's Journey from Machine to Organism and I guess even just the title is a good explanation for several things:

• Why people develop 'relationships' with their cars
• Why blogs like SU exist in the first place
• Why companies that build automotive appliances are not loved.

This article doesn't deal with the k-Saab transaction in much more depth other than what I've posted above.

Rather, it traces the evolution of the automobile from family hauler, to driver's car, to a look-at-me symbol of indivdual success. Various ages have meant various things for the automobile, they way it's designed and the way it's presented to people. The one thing that carries through all of this is the development of the relationship between people and the cars they drive.

For many, cars DO mean more than just adequate transportation. Such is the case with Saab, and it's in this light that Hagman writes his article.

It's highly recommended reading. Again, my thanks to Claes and Jonas for the tip.

These photos popped up on my Flickr feed and when I saw them I was filled with a wave of premature nostalgia and admiration for the tough-little-re-design-that-could.

I can remember when we got the first spyshots of the re-designed Saab 9-5. It's fair to say that it didn't receive a warm reception and was quickly nicknamed the Dame Edna model, for obvious reasons. Whilst that name started as an un-complimentary descriptor, it has since taked on a more endearing nature (much like Dame Edna her/himself).

Time has passed and my own opinion on the re-design has changed. There are only a few of these 9-5s here in Hobart, but I always take a second look and smile when I see it.

I think I owe Simon Padian and the Saab design crew an apology when it comes to the 9-5. I know that somewhere along the line I was probably pretty harsh about it.

Truth is, though, like many Saab designs, it looks a little odd at first and then works its way under your skin. It's certainly done so with me.

I like some colors better than others, but there's no doubt that in my own mind, this Dame Edna 9-5 will be somewhat of a forgotten classic for Saab.

You may or may not know it, but Saab were actually pretty determined that they were going to go it alone rather than seek a buyer, such was their own confidence in the business plan they'd put together. The search for a buyer began when the Swedish government refused to support Saab with loan guarantees unless there was a new owner on the scene.

There's little doubt that a lot of things will have to go right for the Saab-Koenigsegg deal to work out. There's a lot of potential there, that's for sure, but it ain't going to be easy.

Koenigsegg's purchase of Saab gives Saab a lifeline of sorts. It gives them time to release new models. It gives them massive marketing impetus. It gives them a shorter distance from the decision makers to the difference makers.

But does it Koenigsegg something as well?

Ny Teknik explored this idea in an article last week. ctm was kind enough to provide a translation, as follows:

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Koenigsegg's bid on Saab is an attempt to save Koenigsegg - not Saab. With the help of Saab's development department and loans from the state, Koenigsegg can realize their plans for electric or hybrid-powered sports cars. Automotive journalist Norbert Andersson provides this analysis.

Koenigsegg is just the shiny facade: a small manufacturer who sells one car per month and has never made a profit. The money will instead come from Råde Eker and company Projectiondesign, a manufacturer of video projectors. It is also Eker's money that has maintained Koenigsegg.

This small manufacturer of supersportscars for ten million each has a tough situation on the market. In order to broaden the market, Koenigsegg wants to develop a cheaper car designed by Bård Eker. What's missing is money. And it is here that Saab engineers enters into the picture. In addition, Saab may receive state aid to develop electric or hybrid technologies, a technology that Koenigsegg want to build into their cars. A more "down to earth" sportscar from Koenigsegg could also be marketed through Saab dealers.

But the question is what Saab gains? Bård Eker has no experience of running an automotive company. He has very little capital. The 300 million Kronor he wants to get by selling shares in Projectiondesign is enough to perhaps run Saab for some weeks. Saab's loss last year were 3 billion Kronor and the figure this year will be higher.

No until 2011 can Saab be profitable, according to the company's CEO Jan-Åke Jonsson. In order to survive in the meantime, Saab want loans which the Swedish state will guarantee. But this will require strong guarantees from the owners so that the state will not have to take over Saab if the business plan fails.

Given that the Saab's business plans have always failed, there is little or no trust that it will survive this time.

Through negotiations, GM probably wants to force other interested parties to put in a serious bid. Because if Saab goes bankrupt GM loses all the 10 billion Kronor that Saab owes them. In addition, they will miss out on the revenues on license fees for the GM technologies found in Saab cars. Even with Saab's relatively small production, it amounts to hundreds of million Kronor per year. In addition to this, Saab in the future has to buy components from the GM and let GM's Mexican plant in Ramos Arizpe produce the 9-4X.

Is there any benefits for Saab to have Koenigsegg as owner? Yes, in marketing, where they can be associated with expensive sports cars.

But what is that worth if Saab gets an owners without financial resources and without cooperation with a large manufacturer that can help the Swedes with development, components, and purchases?

I'll bookend this post with images from Flickr.

First up, it's a different kind of Saab, a 340 passenger aircraft pictured over Tucson. Not a real image of course, but a screencap from a flight simulator. I know there's a few flight-sim fans here, so enjoy....

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As covered in a previous post, it's Midsommar in Sweden this weekend, which means the Swedes gather in number to eat, drink and be merry.

Here's the carpark at one such gathering, with thank to Jorgen.

I think next year I might see how many pictures we can get of Saabs with maypoles.

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Canada has a bit of a wacky-weed problem in various areas, most notably the offices of internet publishers Carguideweb.

When Saab went to Dutch supercar manufacturer Koenigsegg, surprise was definitely the emotion of the day.

I'm sure the most surprised people were Koenigsegg themselves, learning that they're Dutch rather than Swedish.

The wacky-weed has also led to an obsession with the (most hated) word 'quirky' and its derivatives:

With a production run of just a few cars a year, the quirky supercar maker seemed ill-equipped for the acquisition of a large-volume worldwide sedan manufacturer, but once the dust had settled, it seemed to make more sense.

Once known as a quirky manufacturer themselves, Saab has been in need of a serious quirk infusion since their complete pacification at the hands of General Motors.

...and this one, from Canada.com:

Just when we were all getting a trifle bored of hearing about the various financial woes of GM and Chrysler on a daily basis, here comes the best news I've heard all Financial Crisis. Nutbar supercar-maker Koenigsegg has purchased niche-player Saab, and plans to move manufacturing back to Sweden.

No more horrible GM badge-engineered nonsense. No ridiculous Chevy Trailblazer with a key between the seats. Nothing but sweet, sweet Swedish quirkiness.

Koenigsegg, for those of you who don't know, currently builds Swedish meatballs like the 800 horsepower CCX. Saab, for those of you who are already too painfully aware, builds blandness like the 9-7X SUV: a vehicle with all the personality of an Ikea hotdog.
Saab executives were so excited about the change of ownership, when asked for comment, all they could say was, "Bork bork bork!"

Obviously I jest about the wacky-weed. These are pretty good quick reports, even if they do manage to quirk it up more than would be to my liking.

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Businessweek have a great background story on Koenigsegg and their acquisition of Saab.

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EduSaab was kind enough to shoot through a link to Euronews, where there's an 8-minute video news report on Saab and the Swedish motoring situation.

Time well spent!

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And finally, the rear bookend from Flickr.

Some great Saabs and other classic cars in action here.

This post was originally published at Trollhattan Saab back in January 2008. I was in Detroit at the time, had spent all day at the North American International Auto Show looking over this vehicle and gathering my thoughts. I put this together, hit 'publish' and ran out of the hotel to go get a big steak with Greg Abbott :-)

Anyway, for those who might be a little unfamiliar with the Saab 9-4x, here's a look at the concept vehicle on which it will be based. This is very close to the real thing in design terms, though the materials will be more garden variety and it won't have all the tricks this car has.

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You probably know already, but let me tell you a little about how Auto Shows work.

You have a huge number of huge displays and a huge press pack moves around from display to display. The company executives come out and make their presentations, which typically revolve around the most important thing they're doing at that time.

There isn't a bigger presentation at the Detroit Auto Show than the GM presentation. It was climbing-room-only. And Saab was right in the middle of it.

GM used their address to announce a major partnership with Coskata, an ethanol group working on a new cellulosic production method that will significantly reduce the cost and physical resources consumed in the production of ethanol. You can read more about that here.

To accompany this announcement, GM also revealed two ethanol-fuelled vehicles - the Hummer Hx concept and the Saab 9-4x BioPower concept. It didn't quite sink in at the time, but to have GM's primary presentation of the show, with Rick Wagoner, Mark LaNeve and Carl-Peter Forster addressing the crowd and having Saab right at the center of it really put a spotlight on the 9-4x - and you could tell it worked.

This is the first view we had of the Saab 9-4x:

As I mentioned earlier, the press pack typically moved from stand to stand with the presentations. Today, there was one particular thing that worked to Saab's advantage - lunch. I joked about it earlier, but the lunch break meant that people hung around, they looked at the 9-4x and in great numbers.

I can hear you - "Don't bore us, get to the chorus!"

So let's take a look at it.

UPDATE

There are no longer any passes available for this event.

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JL Racing are offering you some free access to an upcoming race meeting at Calabogie Motorsports Park in Ottawa.

There's been a few other pressing matters going on in the last few months, so JL Racing fell off my radar a little but I love the idea of Saabs in motorsport and love to see well organised teams like JL Racing putting Saabs out there to be seen.

Here's the invitation:

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Mark your calendar!
July 24th to 26th 2009

JL Racing and Turpin Saab are pleased to offer you complimentary passes for customers who would like to come out for an exciting day at the races, Saab style! Come and see what your Saab is truly capable of and cheer on the Saab sponsored racing team, JL Racing (www.jlracing.net).

This Invitation Includes:

• Complimentary passes sponsored by JL Racing and Turpin Saab
• Entry for Friday practice plus Saturday and Sunday race action
• A chance to meet the JL Racing team in the paddocks
• Free Parking
• Children 12 and under are admitted free of charge

The Motorsport Club of Ottawa (www.mco.org ) announced a fully packed car race weekend. This year's third-annual Ted Powell Memorial Race Weekend, will be held July 24 to 26, 2009, at the new, world-class Calabogie Motorsports Park.

Ted Powell was an Ottawa-area race legend whose many achievements resulted in the Motorsport Club of Ottawa naming its Lifetime Achievement Award after him. A Canadian national road racing champion in the late 1960s and early '70s in the "Under 2-Liter" class, he rubbed fenders with some of the true legends, like Peter Revson and Mark Donohue in the popular North American Trans-Am series.

This Ted Powell race weekend attracts well-known racers such as Major-General Lewis MacKenzie, commander of the UN forces in Bosnia, who races a Formula Ford, and the full semi-professional field of the Castrol Canadian Touring Car Championship (www.touringcar.ca). These are race-prepared sedans that the public can identify with, such as Saab's, BMW's, Audi's, Subaru's, Chevrolet's and Honda's. Racing takes place all day long from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Calabogie Motorsports Park is the first new world-class motorsport race track built in Canada in more than 25 years. It opened in September of 2006, and this year will be its third full season of operation. The Calabogie track is longer than Mosport, (near Toronto), or Mont-Tremblant, (near St-Jovite, north of Montreal) . Located about 40 minutes from Turpin Saab, and a little over two hours from Montreal, "Calabogie" is 5 km long, spectacular and very challenging. It has lots of opportunities for passing, making for a great race experience.

Spectator viewing takes place from along a high berm that permits unimpeded viewing of more than five turns, which is more than at many tracks. To get to Calabogie Motorsports Park from Turpin Saab, take Hwy 417 to Arnprior. Seven km west of Arnprior, turn left onto Calabogie Road (Hwy 508). As you enter Calabogie, turn left on Hwy 511. Go four km and turn left onto Wilson Farm Road. We will have maps ready when you pick up your passes.

RSVP before Monday, July 13th by contacting Sue Sorenson from the Turpin Saab team during regular business hours at (613) 591-0889 or via email ssi.receptionist@turpin.ca

The good news just keeps on getting gooder!

I know there's a few people who are cold on the Saab 9-4x, which is fine. I was a little guarded about it when I first saw it in Detroit last year but the interior alone gave me cause to be positive and as time has gone on, I've got more and more partial to the exterior, too.

Now that the K-Segg deal is underway, Saab have an opportunity for added impetus in their marketing and thats going to benefit the whole brand. One of the biggest beneficiaries, I think, could be the Saab 9-4x.

The traditional Saab customer may not be an SUV or Crossover customer. Say what you will about the 9-7x, but the one thing it proved is that there are customers out there who like the idea of a bigger vehicle with a Saab badge. The 9-7x was Saab's second-best selling vehicle in the US since they day they launched it and the 9-4x will correct all the mistakes they made when they badge engineered a Chevy into a Saab suit.

I think it's got heaps of potential, especially in the United States and with a diesel engine option, more than you might think in Europe, too.

So I'm stoked to see it in testing once again in Belgium. There's a couple of new photos at Autoscoops.

The photos don't really show us anything new, although with the 9-5 getting closer it's interesting to see the rear of this car as I think the 9-5 might be similar. It's just good to see it again. I like the proportions and I like the look of the whole vehicle.

When I saw it in Detroit last year I poo-poohed the idea of driving it enthusiastically but the Saab people at the motor show quickly told me to keep an open mind. It's not going to be a thrill machine, but new crossovers are called crossovers because they've got a lot of car characteristics built in from the ground up.

Now that this vehicle's getting closer, I'm really looking forward to seeing it, and more importantly - driving it, too.

It's midsommar holiday time in Sweden this weekend so there'll be beer and schnapps, potatoes, herring and lots of grown men dancing around maypoles.

For those who are new to it, here's a few introductory notes:

Midsummer is a national holiday in Sweden and is celebrated on the weekend nearest June 24.

Swedes celebrate Midsummer with equal gusto to Americans partying on the Fourth of July. Families and friends gather and are especially fond of doing so in their summer cottages located around lakes and along the shore.

Every Swedish town, city and province celebrates Midsummer - the longest day of the year.

And of course, the good news for we Aussies is that it's around the shortest day of the year. Geez I hate winter!!

My guess is that midsommar celebrations around Trollhattan will be particularly enthusiastic this year given the story of Saab's survival and new ownership we've seen in the last week or so.

Live it up, Sweden!!!!

Consider the following:

• Opel may end up part of a US/Canadian/Russian consortium
• Volvo may well end up in Beijing
• Porsche are going to need a bailout by Qatar
• Saturn lives in name only.
• Hummer has gone to an unknown machinery firm in China.
• Many of Chrysler's nameplates will disappear.
• Pontiac is flat out dead (the last sign of life, the Vibe, was snuffed out today).

....and there's probably more that I can't think of as I write this.

Out of all the car companies being affected by the Carpocalypse (copyright, Jalopnik), could Saab be considered the biggest beneficiary?

It was a good article at Examiner.com that prompted this question.

......if Koenigsegg injects some of its own remarkable automotive insight and engineering prowess into Saab, then I truly believe we will see one of the greatest resurgences of intelligent and progressive automobile manufacturing of the 21st century.

I agree.

Of course, the big IF there is largely dependent upon Saab's ability to turn their sales around with new models, and the Koenigsegg Group's ability to invest in developing all-new models, particularly a new 9-3, in the future.

Saab grew an awesome reputation from the 60's through the early 90's, only to lose it to a large degree in the last 15 years (despite what were still some pretty good cars).

It's not often that a company goes through that and had a chance to genuinely return to it's geographical and technological roots.

Saab could well be the biggest automotive winner in this current crisis.

The following table shows European market share data for 2009, up to the end of May. If you're looking for Saab, the place to check is down near the bottom. Just above Lexus.

It's nice to be able to say your beating out a marque like Lexus, but you'd want to be able to say you're beating out other companies as well. Unfortunately, if there are any other companies below Lexus, they're not named so we don't know who they are (tho Cadillac must be one, right?)

We all know sales have been in the toilet due to a perfect storm involving the GFC and uncertainty about Saab's future.

We also know that Saab needs new models, which are coming.

So the big question is, how high do you think Saab can be on this list in May 2010?

By then we'll have the 9-3x in dealers yards, as well as the all-new 2010 Saab 9-5. The Saab 9-4x should be fairly close to release at this time, too, though probably not close enough.

Place your bets. I'm aiming for 1% share and a spot just above Alfa Romeo.

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Thanks for the table, Roeland!

I received this in my inbox a few days ago, from Darryl Carl at New Salem Saab.

I'm sure there are a number of long-standing Saab dealers all around the world who would echo these sentiments (and a few long-standing owners and enthusiasts, too).

My thanks to Darryl for sending it in. Hang in there, bud.

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Dear Koenigsegg Group,

Now that it's official, we here at our Saab dealership and the surrounding Saab dealers that we know just want to tell you that we are so excited about this venture and the future possibilities; it's impossible for me to express in the English language our sincere delight.

Our dealership is the second oldest continuously owned exclusive Saab dealership in the United States. We were approved for dealership operations from Saab Motors on March 23, 1961. We can and have repaired every Saab ever imported into the States.

I have raced, crashed, sold, repaired and lived by Saab, with Saab as a part of my entire life since birth. We currently are a US top 10 in Certified Saab Sales and meet or exceed our new Sales objectives monthly.

It is imperative you know the exclusive Dealers in the United States have hung on waiting for this type of possible dream solution. We, the exclusive dealers of the States, are so committed to Saab, its engineering, safety and potential, profit and loss seems to be second over the love of the brand.

I wanted to drop a small note of thanks for returning Saab to the Swedish aura it belongs in. You truly have "possibly" purchased the largest uncut gem in the industry. Saabs potential in our opinion is endless.

So we salute you and very much look forward in assisting the resurgence of our brand, the Saab brand. We ask for you to care for us as we have cared for the brand for so long and so lovingly. We pledge to stand strong, as we have, and look bright eyed toward the future of Saab, now possibly resting back in Swedish hands, built by Swedish people and engineered by the standards we know will sustain this brand from our Swedish aviation heritage.

If there is anything my small group of dedicated, long term Saab enthusiasts can do to assist in any fashion, do not hesitate to phone or email us. We look forward to the official announcement and our first official greeting.

One of the finest days of my life, aside from the birth of my twin boys, will be signing the new dealer agreement with the new Koenigsegg Saab.

Sincerely,


Darryl F. Carl
President / Owner / Service Manager
New Salem Saab
(518-862-2795 Office 518-862-2799 Fax 518-528-4083 Cell)
www.newsalemsaab.com

A few people have made mention of Cargine in comments and I've been so swamped with newsy stuff (and normal life) that I hadn't really had time to look at it until now.

The interest was sparked mainly by an article in Swedish publication Ny Teknik, which states that this technology is a prime candidate for further development with the assistance of the government-backed $600m loan that Saab will most likely receive from the EIB. This money has to be used for investment in new technologies that create efficiencies; greening things up a bit.

Cargine's work involves the development of a pneumatic valve system, which as I understand things makes the camshaft redundant, uses no oil, reduces weight and can increases the engines efficiency. In short, you get more power from the same inputs with fewer emissions.

Christian von Koenigsegg is a Director on the board of Cargine, so there's your first link. It doesn't stop there, though. Cargine's first single-cylinder demonstrator was delivered to Saab for assessment back in 2001 and Saab have been further testing the technology in some 9-5 test vehicles for a few years now.

You can read all about it at Cargine's website. This sort of stuff, along with things like Saab's variable compression research, is the sort of things Saab should be involved in. I can imagine that a few of the former Saab engineers from the old days would be grinning from ear to ear at this idea.

In the meantime, here's a translation of the Ny Teknik article (thanks to Wictor and others!)

(.....and by the way, the headline isn't accurate. It's said that Saab will spend that $600m in EIB money over 60 or 70 different projects so Cargine will only get a portion)

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Koenigsegg can ask the EIB loans to the air-driven valve

Scanian Cargines air operated valves can be one of the technologies such as new Koenigsegg Group invests in the purchase of Saab Automobile to go through.

New technology (Ny Teknik) can today reveal one of the major technology projects Koenigsegg probably expects to receive development loans from the European Investment Bank, EIB, is the company Cargines valve technology for combustion engines.

Cargines CEO confirms Urban Carlsson for new technologies that "technology can be interesting in this context" but also says that it is too early to make any comments because the contract is not yet ready.

Cargine has since 2003 a joint development partnership with Koenigsegg, who is also a partner in Cargine.

The common goal is to produce an engine with air-controlled valves for Koenigsegg sports car and turn it into an energy-saving green.

- It's fun on a small Swedish bilbyggare become the first in the world with this unique technique, "said Christian von Koenigsegg in the last year in an interview with New Technology.

According to Urban Carlson, technology is soon completed:

"We do not have much left.

With the help of the controllable valves can be cold air pushed into the combustion process, which lowers emissions of nitrogen dioxide, hydrocarbons and organic carbon. (See working principle as motion graphics)

- Especially in cold starts reduced emissions dramatically, "says Urban Carlson.

If Koenigseggs purchase of Saab Automobile goes through the valve concept can then be used on the new Saab cars, Saab CEO Jan Åke Jonsson wants to launch to save Saab.

The plan includes the completion of four new models, 9-3 X, 9-5 and then in combination and 9-4 X.

Large energy-efficient cars for the premium segment seems to be Saab's dream plan.

In order to switch to cleaner technologies Saab has applied for a loan of 4, 7 billion from the EIB. The ball to assess the Saab's business plan and environmental projects is now in the bank.

Cargine also cooperated early with Saab in the development of valve technology. But when you needed money to move on, it became a stop.

"We got no. GM (ed note: Saab's American owners) said no to the activity basmotorutveckling at Saab in Trollhättan, state Urban Carlson.

According to Jan Åke Jonsson, the 'capital of the EIB go to 60-70 different projects that are focused on the environment. "

Last Wednesday, it became also clear that Saab's creditors agree to forgive 75 percent of the company's debts. This after the chord determined by the District Court in Vänersborg.

Saab chords reduce by 8 billion.

The remaining debt of 2, 5 billion will be Saab able to pay out of their own cash, promised Jan Åke Jonsson.

My thanks have to go to WooDz for sending these links through.

It hasn't really sunk in yet, but this is going to be your average Saab 9-5 or 9-3s big brother :-)

OK, it's not really, but kinda. I'll take it. Maybe some "my other Saab is a Koenigsegg" stickers are in order?

What we've got here are a few demonstrations of just how blisteringly quick the Koenigsegg CCX actually is.

The first video is a series of drag races between a Koenigsegg CCX and a Ferrari F430 Scuderia. The acceleration is astounding and the view from the Ferrari (or from the porthole in the K-Segg) is just as thrilling.

The vids are after the jump but here's a screenshot

Yes, those little white/yellow dots in the mirror are the Ferrari.

Of course, that's straight line power, which isn't what real world driving is about (not that these are real world cars, but you know what I mean). What if you introduce the CCX to some corners?

The first CCX attempt on Top Gear wasn't a smashing success. Well, it was smashing, in that the car was too quick and unstable and wandered off the track and ate some tyres.

When Koenigsegg brought the car back to England with a rear spoiler fitted, the Stig flew it around the track in record-smashing time.

Both videos await you after the jump.....

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NOTE: if are using Internet Explorer, watching the videos here may cause your browser to crash. It's a glitch and no-one seems to know how to fix it (other than recommending you use Firefox or get a Mac).

You should click here to watch the drag races and click here for the Top Gear video.

Others, go end enjoy.

There are reports coming out of China today stating that Geely have signed a preliminary agreement with Ford to purchase Volvo.

From Auto Motor and Sport:

It is the English-language newspaper Shanghai Daily, which writes that Geely will buy Volvo. A delegation from Geely have visited Volvo's headquarters in Gothenburg, and a preliminary agreement should be clear.

Shanghai Daily writes that Geely has plans to move production of the next generation XC90 to a factory in the city of Dongguan, Guangzhou Province, and refers to data from the National Business Daily.

A little more from The Local:

Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Jia Xinguang, an analyst with the Chinese National Automotive Industry Consulting and Development Corporation reckons that Volvo would not be sold for less than $3 billion, the Shanghai Daily reports.

Ford purchased Volvo Cars in 1999 for around $6.5 billion.

For their part, Volvo are playing dumb on the whole issue:

A Volvo spokesperson told the TT news agency on Thursday that the company had no knowledge of any agreement to sell the Swedish automaker to Geely.

"Ford is in charge of the sale. We don't know anything here," said Volvo's Maria Bohlin.

I know, as a Saab enthusiast, that I'm particularly pleased that they're staying in primarily Swedish hands. I can only imagine there's a bit of dread around right now at the thought of an even larger Swedish icon passing into Chinese hands.

So how's the reaction over there?

Saab had an online game called Race Against Time a few years ago. A book as well, actually.

I bet they never thought they'd be racing against time for their own continued existence.

If I'm reading this correctly, the Gothenburg Post is reporting today that Saab may need to try and grease the rails to getting their EIB loan through the system. The dilemma appears to be as follows:

• Saab's current three-month reconstruction period ends August 20. I don't think they want to apply for another one.
• They need around $1billion to keep operating, a sum that includes the $600 million they'd get from the EIB, backed by the Swedish government.
• The EIB possibly can't meet and consider new loans until September - which is after Saab's current reconstruction period ends.

This means that Saab's new owners might be called upon to exhibit the 'financial strength' they've been talking about the last few days. Saab may need some bridging finance to get them through if they come out of reconstruction in August and need to be carried through to loan approval in September.

Saab are going to do everything they can to try and make this easy for the government and the EIB. They will provide all info and representatives from the Koenigsegg Group are going to meet with the government today, prior to getting sloshed for Midsommar.

It's just another hurdle on the way to independence. That first new Saab under Koenigsegg's direction is going to taste so sweet after all this trouble!

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It should be noted here that in another article, in TTELA, that both Jan-Ake Jonsson and Guy Lofalk state that Saab have enough money to get through.

The EIB money can not be used to pay existing debts, nor could it be used for normal production expenses. As I understand it, that money has to be used for investment in technologies that can improve the efficiency of the cars they design. Saab plan to use it in between 60 and 70 different projects.

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Thanks Per!

UPDATED below!!!

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I featured Andy Rupert's custom plaid door inserts in his C900 (now sold) way back in March 2007.

We both thought that he had the monopoly on the plaid market until recent Flickr activity unearthed another plaid-clad Saab 900, though this time in a red-ish-pink-ish tone that's a bit more of an acquired taste.

I emailed Andy when I saw the door and we both found it amusing. Andy even included a quick post on his blog (which is in an all-new format and still excellent reading!).

Now this new plaidster has taken things to a Whole New Level.

The classic Saab 900 is known for it's troublesome roof lining, as many of you will know. I'd wager more than 75% of Saab 900s have had their roof linings re-done during their lifetime.

This 900 was obviously no different and when it came time to re-trim the roof.......you guessed it!

Andy no longer owns his 900, which I linked to at the start of this post.

I don't know who this new plaidster is, but I wish Andy still had his car as I'd live to see a plaid war started. It'd only be over when someone plaided up their paintwork :-)

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UPDATE:

I just had to update this post with an image from Charls, in comments.

This is his C900 roof liner, done with textiles purchased at Ikea. Top marks for originality there!!!

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On the whole, I think many people are looking forward to the possibility of some slightly hotter looking Saabs coming out of the factory in the future.

The relationship with Koenigsegg and the possibility of some design work from the Eker people means that the door is open for some more distinctive Saab design.

Memo to the new guys: more identifiable and more unique is good. But not like this......

Wulf found this Saab 9000 for sale online - for $18,000!!!!!! - and shot me the link (and shot might be the operative word when you see that last interior photo. Is that a blood stain on the floor?)

I like my custom Saabs, but I can't say I like this.

The car is for sale in Michigan and if you're interested in paying $18,000 for this denigration of Swedish style, then I've got some wonderful blocks of swamp land I'd like to show you.......

There was mention of three out of four prominent members of the Koenigsegg group in the news today:

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Bard Eker was making all the right noises in an article in The Guardian newspaper.

"Saab has to refine their quality level, their soul and spirit and we believe that this is something we can help with," Eker told Reuters in a telephone interview. "The most interesting thing is that GM thinks the same," added Eker.....

....."So far we haven't seen much in terms of environmentally friendly cars from the big (players)," he said. "That is something the smaller companies can more easily attend to because it is much quicker to turn around a smaller company."

Asked if a "greener" Saab could be in the works, Eker said: "Obviously we have some ideas but it's too early to talk about them ... but environmental thinking is a very important thing in our view."

It looks like maybe Kroum's dream of a 500hp supercharged Koenigsaab 9-5 might have to wait a little.

I hope not, but maybe....

This is a great bit:

"They have a good management team and obviously that is something we will not interfere with," he said.

Eker said the car industry faced "much more pain ahead" but that the opportunity to buy Saab was simply too good to pass up.

"The auto industry survivors will be much more dependent on bringing something new to the table in terms of technology and environmental thinking (after the crisis ends)," he said.

"Rising to such opportunities is one of our strengths."

The rentention of Saab's management team - who have kept Saab alive despite every GM attempt to make it irrelevant and homogenised - is a key to Saab's ongoing growth. These people know what they're dealing with.

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Confirmation from a local San Diego newspaper that the Mark Bishop who holds 22% of The Koenigsegg Group is the Mark Bishop that we were speculating on a few days ago - the one I've dubbed "Flipper".

A Rancho Santa Fe resident with a three-decade history of selling mortgage debt was identified yesterday as one of the new prospective owners of Saab Automobile.

In the deal announced yesterday, Mark Bishop, managing director of Liquiddium Capital Partners in Westlake Village, would own 22.2 percent of Saab, with the remainder held by Sweden's tiny Koenigsegg Automotive and two other firms.

Bishop, 53, was traveling in Europe yesterday and could not be reached for comment.

Bishop has no known background in automotive companies. At Liquiddium, he's in charge of finding funding and institutional investment for the firm's real estate holdings.
Liquiddium's strategy is to buy foreclosed-upon or underperforming real estate properties - including apartment complexes, retail stores and storage units - and then hold them for four to six years before reselling them.

Maybe I'm being too hard on Flipper? Maybe it's the innate human desire to find someone to blame for things that go wrong?

I find his business (which has been more sub-prime oriented than is written here) and the outcome from it quite unpalatable but there's nothing illegal about it. The fact that he got out of it before everything melted down shows some good timing.

I'll try and mellow up a little.

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And the name behind this whole Koenigsegg thing, Mr CvK himself, was also in the news.

Christian von Koenigsegg, founder of the sportscar maker that plans to buy Saab Automobile, said on Wednesday that Saab's cash flow goals were "fairly reasonable" but hinged on economic conditions.....

....."We are contemplating different scenarios according to what the market looks like and how that affects the business plan," Christian von Koenigsegg told Reuters in an interview. Asked whether the new company could reach a positive cash flow as expected by Saab after 2010, he said: "That sounds fairly reasonable, but it all depends on the market conditions and if there is a turnaround in the economy."

Koenigsegg said the business plan was undergoing stress tests and that he was cautious about the outlook for 2009 due to the downturn in the global economy.

"Our ambition is to turn the company around and keep it for the long term," he said. "We are entrepreneurs. We are not venture capitalists."

Again, he's making all the right noises.

There are a lot of questions going around, especially in the Swedish media, about how this tiny company can afford to operate one that is thousands of times larger in terms of scale.

The PR gurus are very aware of this, which is why "financially strong" is being mentioned whenever you hear a Saab-connected person speak at the moment.

These photos were loaded on to Flickr overnight with tags including "Saab.com" and "Lowe Brindfors".

It seems there might be a new photoshoot happening for Saab's newest vehicle offering.

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I noted somewhere in comments that you can now build your 9-3x online in certain countries.

I'm really pleased to see this coming. If there's one thing Saab needed almost as much as a new owner, it's some movement with new products.

I'm also really pleased to see Lowe Brindfors still involved as I reckon they've done some sensational advertising work for Saab over the years.

The Saab 9-3x is only a small step on the new product front, but it's an important one. And a really good looking one in red, too.

I need an early night and as today's decision regarding Saab's debt composition has already come through, I'm calling it a night.

Here's a few things that have popped up and a quick look back at an extraordinary week.

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PT hooked me up with an excellent article on Koenigsegg and the Saab purchase over at The independent.

The sad truth is that for the last two decades, when it was under GM control, much of Saab's brand equity was squandered. A reputation for building safe, stylish - if occasionally idiosyncratic - performance saloons was devalued by an over-reliance on GM-group technology and simple neglect.....

....By deftly removing Saab from the rest of GM Europe, Saab avoided being lumped in with the Vauxhall/Opel wrangling. Getting in early was a clever move.

Recommended reading.

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Via comments, the speculations as to KoenigSaab sub-supercars have already begun.

Let it be.....

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Also from comments, it's a new day and more is emerging about the mysterious Mark Bishop (tentative SU nickname: Flipper).

TTELA say he's 53 years old with a 20+ year history in merchant banking. Aftonbaldet say he has family living in Trollhattan and a deep personal interest in Saabs.

None of them say he's Flipper, but none of them say he's not Flipper, either. I'm quite hot on everyone else in this drama, but the jury's still out on Flipper.

The media is a beast and the beast will be fed. I'd suggest Koenigsegg Group feed the beast or it will feed itself.

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It was an extraordinary week.

Due to the nature of this site, stories tend to fall off the front page in a hurry. Here's how things unfolded.

It wasn't long ago at all that it was Renco vs Saab vs Merbanco

13 minutes after I went to bed that night, the news came through that Koenigsegg had won the bidding. I added my 0.02c worth shortly thereafter.

I did a primer on Koenigsegg for those who didn't know much (like me) beyond the fact that they made fast cars. We then got the first hint that this Koenigsegg bid was "Koenigsegg" in name only, with major backing by outside investors.

The K-Saab love started early, though I was reserved.

Swede and GM Purchasing chief Bo Andersson resigned from General Motors, effective immediately but brief hopes that he might return to Saab were squashed when he took up a position with GAZ in Russia.

We covered some background on Bard Eker, the main single investor in Koenigsegg. We also covered the Quant solar vehicle concept that Koenisegg showed in Geneva this year.

Merbanco didn't have as famboyant a presence as Koenigsegg, but they were a very solid bidder that I'd have been quite comfortable with at the helm. Merbanco's CEO, Christopher Johnston, was kind enough to agree to an interview, which will show you why they were such a good bidder.

We got our first solid look at The Koenigsegg Group.

You'd have thought with all this Saab-Koenigsegg stuff going around that it was all a done deal. Well, it wasn't yet. Not until the official announcement came through.

Lance Cole finished off an incredible week with a look at how design (and money) are going to be the keys to Saab's future.

Not that it was really in too much doubt......but Saab received approval this morning to write down its debts, which was the next step in its reconstruction process.

Saab's administrator, Guy Lofalk, said that in total, Saab had 579 creditors in total and that he had 472 approvals in hand, over 81% of the creditors by number and over 93% of creditors by value.

Apparently one branch of the Swedish government withheld approval, saying that they didn't have enough information about the new owners to make a decision. Communication problem there?

Anyway, that part of the procedure is now over and done with. Saab's debts will be written down by 75% and they will have 12 months to pay the balance outstanding.

Source: TTELA

Jim Jelter, Marketwatch:

But anyone expecting Saab to be a big moneymaker for GM was bound to be disappointed. It was a boutique car company with a loyal but narrow fan base -- nothing more, nothing less.

Company boss Christian von Koenigsegg knows that, and he's shaping the company's strategy accordingly. Koenigsegg, in comments Tuesday to the Swedish press, said they are taking a "very long-term approach" to restoring Saab.

As a Swede, and a car guy, he understands Saab's origins and its strengths. His own company is at the extreme end of the boutique line of carmakers, turning out a mere handful of high-performance, hand-built and exorbitantly-priced road burners a year.

For Koenigsegg, Saab is not a trophy. It's a massive undertaking that will make or break the company.

Regardless of the outcome, it's refreshing to see at least one conquest from GM's expansionist reign released to its native habitat. Perhaps, with a little nurturing from engineers who know how to let a car breathe, it might once again thrive in the niche market it never should have left.

My emphasis added.

Whatever suspicions I have about some of their funding partners, CvK and Eker are the real deal and have livelihoods staked on this.

Talent + pressure = inspiration?

This quote was picked up by Karen and dropped into comments. I think it's a pretty important one to get a feel for what Koenigsegg might want to do with Saab:

.....quoted in new AP article "New investors face tough road ahead to right Saab" By TOM KRISHER and LOUISE NORDSTROM

"...Von Koenigsegg, in an interview with Swedish television, seemed to agree, saying that the new owners would try to restore some of the brand's heritage while finding a place in the market between upscale and mainstream. "This is neither a luxury or a people's car, but it has its own niche -- a bit of postmodern comfort, sporty, but with environmental thinking," von Koenigsegg said. "We want to capture the Swedish aspect too. GM had a bit more of an international approach, and Saab drowned a little bit in that context. ... Von Koenigsegg dismissed criticism about his company having no experience in large-scale production, saying it isn't needed because Saab has that knowledge. He said Koenigsegg can contribute green solutions and engine technology."

Between upscale and mainstream is a fairly delicate niche to carve out, but it's probably about right.

The most important bit is Swedish identity, which is what Saab sorely needs once again.

CvK's first assignment is to harness everything Saab's got in terms of design capability, maybe pair it with Eker Group's design facility, and put together an absolute killer of a Saab 9-3.

They would have viewed a 9-3 prototype as part of the Showroom of The Future that they saw in the bidding process, but I've got a feeling that that car isn't going to cut it.

The next Saab 9-3 will be the biggest statement in the company's history. Period. It needs a signifcant separator to distinguish this as an all-new car from an all-new company.

Screenshots supplied by ctm.

That's publicity for ya!

An ominous phrase: "now is when the real work actually starts....."

You'd think Jan-Ake is ready to taper off, wouldn't you? But he's right. What they've been doing up 'til now is entertaining the guests. Now that one of those guests has moved in, it's time to really get to know one another.

And just before I toss you the links to the video, here's something I noticed while watching it that I hadn't seen before:

The SAAB stamping on the internal panel, at the top of the wheel arch. Click to enlarge and you should see it OK.

Cool.

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If you are using Internet Explorer, or otherwise have trouble watching video on this site, you should click here and watch the video directly on Youtube.

If you usually get to watch video here OK (probably using a Mac or browsing with Firefox) then go ahead - the video is waiting for you after the jump.

When I got this one my inbox I told Lance that I was really looking forward to it and expected that it would be the best thing I'd read in 6 months.

Click here to read all of Lance's previous contributions at Trollhattan Saab.

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If the Swedish Gods made Volvo on a misty, straight lined sort of day, then they must have made Saab on a summer day in Southern Sweden. The sunny disposition of Saab's cars has taken what was essentially a domestic product, to a place in the heart of the wider world.

From Canada to Tasmania, from Japan to the mid-west of America, not to mention many points in between, Sweden's small car maker - the one that did not build copies of contemporary trans-Atlantic cars - has a beloved following across the globe in an achievement that is often overlooked.

After all, unlike the British, the Swedes did not have the mechanism of Empire through which to force themselves and their cars upon a global market and care little if they lost a few brands along the way.

Like many Saab fanatics, I own my Saabs with feelings that relate to an inanimate lump of metal in a differnent manner to the way a man (or woman) might feel about a Ford Focus, a Daewoo Desperanza, or a Honda un-Civic.

The workers at Saab's factories have similar feelings about the cars they build. Building Saabs means something to a person.

Yet the Italians also have relationships with their cars -feelings just as emotional as our Saab bond. Be it Fiat, Lancia, Alfa Romeo or Ferrari, Italians cars have soul. But then so do Citroens- my grandfather loved his Citroen DS, and I know why. And who can deny the Americans the social iconography of the Mustang...

But all these cars come from places where they are brands amongst many brands.

Saab comes from a place where it is a unique brand amid a commercial landscape populated by just one other, very different brand - Volvo, (who by the way, now make excellent cars).

So there really is something special, something unique about the design, the drive, the feel, the very essence of a Saab. Remember, in the beginning, a small team of men crafted every aspect of these cars and the driving and ownership of them; it is a legacy that was almost lost in the chapter of GM's general mediocrity.

Saab inspires people, Saab has character - a recognisable lineage of design across the models, a soul that makes a Saab part of your family. I've even gone as far as dedicating an entire column (and a very popular one at that - SW) to the undeniable presence and truth that is The Saab Smell.

Saab is in fact part of the Swedish psyche- a social science ingredient and part of the national identity.

It is not just Saab's design language I am talking about - it is the very essence of the thing.

3,000 words on why this new ownership development is so exciting for your average Saab fan.....

Click to enlarge.

The following is a transcript from TTELA, the local newspaper in Trollhattan.

As you might expect, stories about Saab are filling the tops spots on their website right now.

This is one of them.

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Long-term and Swedish
Christian von Koenigsegg on intentions with the purchase of Saab

ÄNGELHOLM

A Long Term Swedish car company. This is the intention behind Koenigsegg's purchase of Saab. So says Christian von Koenigsegg to media today.

At the same time he points out that it is a financially strong consortium behind the deal and not just Koenigsegg.

- It became clear during the spring that Saab has great concern," said Christian von Koenigsegg, when TT today met him in the production and exhibition hall at the factory outside Ängelholm.

- Within our group and the network to which I belong, we started to think about the issue and felt that we could contribute to create a solution for Saab and a long-term Swedish car company," he continues.

He emphasizes that it is a financially strong consortium behind the proposed deal, not just the small sports car manufacturer.

- It is a misunderstanding. It is not the small car Koenigsegg taking over. We are a purchasing group," he says.

Christian von Koenigsegg does not want to tell how many millions Saab cost.

- I would not go into any details of the current situation, we are in the negotiation phase with GM and offers no comments on it.

That Saab, for several years, has been characterized by miljardförluster (I think that means big losses - SW) not stop the financiers behind Koenigsegg.

- We have gone through Saab in detail and seen what there is for the strengths and weaknesses and we believe that our entrepreneurial spirit and the skills we have in the automobile, and other sectors in our group, can help create a long-term and successful Saab. This is a process that will take time and require much patience and work.

Koenigsegg Group consists mainly of a group of entrepreneurs of a different nature. In addition to Christian von Koenigsegg himself included Mark Alan Bishop, Bård Eker and Augi K Fabela, who is the chairman.

Christian von Koenigsegg can not make any guarantees about jobs in the Saab will remain in Sweden.

- If we become owners of Saab, we shall do our utmost to create a powerful company that can live on the international market.

But stop the jobs left in Trollhättan?

- Our ambition is to build a Swedish car company with all that implies.

Does it mean that the jobs stay in Sweden?

- Yes, very much, "said Christian von Koenigsegg.

The deal for Koenigsegg to take over Saab has been officially announced. Sort of. There's still a whole bunch of due diligence left to go, government approvals, loans, etc. I'm feeling quite confident that things will proceed as expected and that the deal can be done on schedule, later this year.

And the crowd has cheered!!!

Comments filled up fast after the announcement and many Swedes are walking around today with smiles on their faces. Their favourite little car company has just joined forces with one of the coolest supercar manufacturers on the planet.

I'm cheering too. I know I've been a little downbeat about this in the last few days and I'm going to express my final cautious thoughts in a moment. But the satisfaction of knowing that Saab has a future - and I believe they do - when many thought that no-one would be interested, is a very nice sort of satisfaction to have.

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I'd like to express my gratitude to both Merbanco and Renco (yes, them too) for their interest in Saab. I know Renco's had a rough deal around here but their interest in Saab was important. It raised the bar.

We all saw the quality of the Merbanco interest in Saab in the interview I did with Merbanco's CEO, Christopher Johnston, the other day. If Koenigsegg hadn't proposed whatever they did to clinch the deal, I would sit here feeling very very comfortable with the idea of CJ and his crew at the helm.

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I'd also like to express my gratitude - as a Saab enthusiast - to Jan-Ake Jonsson, Guy Lofalk and the reconstruction team, and all of the PR staff at Saab.

One of Saab's PR people commented last week that he's learned more about corporate PR in the last 3 months than what he had in the previous 3 years. Such was the pressure, the constant changing situation and the need for accurate information.

All of these people have done an incredible job. I write about this company everyday so I see and hear a lot of things and I can honestly say there wasn't a single day when I didn't feel like we were going to have a positive outcome from this process.

That's down to Jan-Ake Jonsson's incredible leadership and the PR team's great communication.

You lads and ladies are a credit to the company!

--

I really believe that the future can be incredibly exciting for Saab.

The technological and design crossovers that can occur between Koenigsegg and Saab in the medium to long term raise some incredible possibilities. We who have had to be patient under GM's ownership should really have some exciting prospects coming in the future.

I still have my reservations, though, and they come down to the people inside of, and the people backing the Koenigsegg Group.

When you buy a house, the deal is usually contingent on two primary elements: the price you're willing to pay and the conditions you're willing to provide. If two purchasers are offering the same price and one offers more attractive terms (shorter settlement, no sale of their existing home, etc) then that person will usually win the prize.

It's my fear that Koenigsegg won this bid with conditions that place them - and Saab - at some risk. Whether it be the price they paid or the conditions they offered, I'm just worried that they're stretching themselves thin.

Prior to them being chosen, all objective analyses pointed to them most likely being the bidder with the least experience and resources. That's the reason for my fear.

They've been chosen now, so we have no choice but to have faith in the process, and belief in the words of a straight-up guy like IF Metall's Paul Akerlund, who's given his opinion stating that there's sufficient financial muscle behind this deal.

My other concern is with experience.

It's my sincere hope that Koenigsegg retain all of the key players at Saab and recruit the right key players where they don't already exist.

A wise person, one who's in the know about such things, recently told me the following: A weak buyer with no experience is the worst. A very strong buyer can buy the experience. A weak buyer with great experience can attract capital.

It all makes sense. I hope Koenigsegg are wise enough to identify and fill any gaps that exist with good, Swedish heads.

--

With those reservations aside........

SAAB IS NOW ON ITS WAY TO A FUTURE SEPARATE FROM GENERAL MOTORS AND TIED UP WITH AN INNOVATIVE, INCREDIBLY COOL AND INTELLIGENT SUPER-CAR COMPANY. DESIGN AND INDIVIDUALITY CAN LIVE AGAIN!!

Yowza, baby!!!!!!!!

I thought I'd try......should have done it weeks ago.

Congratulations to the domain owner - Charlie K of Goteborg.

Well done!

The press release we've all been waiting for.....

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• Deal will secure Saab's future
• EIB expected to provide $600 million financing with state guarantee by the Swedish government
• GM reinvention achieves another milestone

Zurich. General Motors Corp. and Koenigsegg Group AB, a consortium led by Koenigsegg Automotive AB, today confirmed the details of a memorandum of understanding for the purchase of Saab Automobile AB that secures Saab's future.

The sale, expected to close by the end of the third quarter of this year, includes an expected $600 million funding commitment from the European Investment Bank (EIB) guaranteed by the Swedish government. Additional support is to be provided by GM and Koenigsegg Group AB to fund Saab's operations and product program investments. This includes plans to launch several new products that are in the final stages of development. Saab had filed for reorganization under Swedish Law on Feb. 20, 2009. This tentative agreement is a key milestone for Saab to successfully emerge from its reorganization process.

"This is yet another significant step in the reinvention of GM and its European operations," said GM Europe President, Carl-Peter Forster. "Saab is a highly respected automotive brand with great potential. Closing this deal represents the best chance for Saab to emerge a stronger company. Koenigsegg Group's unique combination of innovation, entrepreneurial spirit and financial strength, combined with Koenigsegg's proven ability to create world-class Swedish performance cars in a highly efficient manner, made it the right choice for Saab as well as for General Motors."

As part of the proposed transaction, GM will continue to provide Saab with architecture and powertrain technology during a defined time period. Additionally, Saab plans to produce its next generation 9-5 models in the Saab production facility in Trollhättan, Sweden.

"The proposed agreement will enable us to maximize the brand's potential through an exciting new product line-up with a distinctly Swedish character. Today's announcement is great news for Saab's current and future customers, dealers, suppliers and employees around the globe, said Jan Åke Jonsson, Managing Director of Saab Automobile AB.

The sale will be subject to customary closing conditions, including receipt of applicable regulatory, governmental and court approvals. Other terms and conditions specific to the sale are not being disclosed at this time. Deutsche Bank acted as financial advisor to General Motors Corporation.

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Post-release feedback via ctm in comments

From a Swedish news agency:

The staff at Saab in Trollhättan were informed on Tuesday morning in connection with the press release went out.

- "It is good thing that the situation is much clearer now. Then maybe we can stop all the speculation and get some peace and quiet to complete negotiations," says Paul Åkerlund, IF Metall union.

- "I think this can be a good solution."

He criticizes some self-appointed experts who have spoken, perhaps without knowing so much.

- "There are so many people talking on television and radio, but first they have to get acquainted with what this really means."

Do you mean that the financial muscle behind the Koenigsegg?

- "There are financial muscle behind," he says.

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And more:

Anette Hellgren, union representative at Saab Automobile and also with the company's board, is very happy on the announcement about Koenigsegg.

- "It is wonderful. We know that they have the financial muscle needed," says Hellgren.

She would not reveal who the economic interests behind the team now buy Saab are, but wont to make sure that they are entirely adequate. Even long-term.

- "We have a long-term plan until 2013," says Hellgren.

She also points out the advantage in that the company has been able to choose the buyers they want to sell to. GM and Saab have made the assessment that the group around the Koenigsegg is best suited.

Was there several options or was it just Koenigsegg in the end?

- "There were several. They were not alone in the end."

She has never believed in anything else than that Saab would have a new owner. So dark was never the image, despite all the gloomy prophecies, earlier.

- "What reassured me was the great interest when it was time for reconstruction."

When I got an email through asking me to take a look at some pictures from the Saab Cabriolet Challenge, I figured something must have been wrong. It's too early.

The Challenge was to have taken place in late June, just before the Saab Days that'll be held in Trollhattan as a low-key replacement for the usual Saab Festival (though I think there's still going to be something big to celebrate when that comes around!).

For whatever reason, the organisers decided to move the Cabrio Challenge forward by a few weeks and it was held last weekend, instead.

As you can see, the scenery was pretty good, even if the weather wasn't.

The event was held over a few days, with participants navigating through various parts of western Sweden with some stops for fine dining and accommodation along the way.

They even had a stop to take in some rock carvings and paintings around Trollhattan, and it looks like the Saab gods have been in action there :-)

There are a number of fantastic photos over the Saab Turbo Club of Sweden forum. That Monte Carlo yellow C900 convertible is a real sight to behold!

Despite the non-convertible type weather they had, I'm sure everyone had a great time in the company of other 'vert owners and it's good to see some were adventurous enough to get the top down when a brief respite from the rain permitted.

Thanks to Trued for the event and the photo links!

Following yesterday's news about the recent formation of the Koenigsegg Group (or, should I say, the application for this), there's been some fruitful digging through the bowels of the internet to produce some background on the various players involved.

A lot of the hard yards have been made by Karen and she's left a few links in comments, which I've followed up further.

The purpose of the exercise is to get a better grip on exactly who it is that's using Koenigsegg's enthusiast-friendly nameplate to purchase Saab.

The good news is that I think these people are going to go all out to make Saab profitable, because my initial impression is that not all of them are going in to this deal to stay as owners of Saab beyond around 5 years.

The not-so-good news is that IF this research is right (and I'm emphasising the IF for a reason), then at least one of these people is someone whose past associations could be characterised as 'dubious'. Not Renco-level dubious, but it does make me wonder if he'll stick around. As long as his money's good, I guess.

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Christian Von Koenigsegg's first ever company, called Aalpraz and formed back in 1992, will be the largest single shareholder, with a 42.5% stake in the new group.

Koenigsegg Automotive will also be a shareholder, with 23.5% of the new group. Incidentally, that makes Volvo a part owner, too, as Volvo hold a small number of shares in Koenigsegg that were given to them as payment for use of a wind tunnel. It's a slight worry that they had to barter in this fashion, but maybe that's just me.

These two ownership shares indicate that the man with the automotive brains in this group - Christian Von Koenigsegg - is going to have plenty at stake. To a large extent, his life's work and family name is going to depend on making Saab successful. That's a good motivator if you ask me.

Koenigsegg Automotive is 49% owned by Bard Eker's Eker Group so the Norwegian has an ownership stake that way already. In addition, however, the Eker Group will also have a direct share of the new group in the order of around 12%.

I like Bard Eker and his way of thinking. I like him a lot. Maybe this stake is why he's had to sell his ownership interests elsewhere in recent times. That would seem to indicate that he's going to have a lot at stake here as well.

The final shareholder - with a 22% holding in the Koenigsegg Group - is the one we didn't know much about: Mark Bishop. Karen's done some great digging and we think we've found our man. We knew his name and previous mail coming in to me indicated that he was based in California. He was hard to find, but I'm quite sure Karen's on the money here.

The Mark Bishop we've found does most of his business in the real estate world. He was previously a VP with a Wall Street firm of questionable repute called Drexel Burnham Lambert. They were junk bond kings in the 1980s and declared bankruptcy in 1990. That doesn't mean he had anything to do with that, of course, and Drexel alumni include people like the late Steve Fossett and execs now with Goldman Sachs and Cerberus (who just nose-dived Chrysler into bankruptcy and FIAT's open arms).

Further digging indicates links to sub-prime mortgages (never a good phrase in these economic times) and mortgage pool investments. The most recent info, which Karen dug up, is an investment scheme aiming to buy troubled assets. From there I found associations with companies called Liquiddium and ABS Investment Group, both of which look into buying distressed properties with a view to realising gains as the properties come back to their real values.

This would be a troubling record for me. In short, he sounds like one of the Wall St types that we should be kinda mad at for all this financial crisis stuff we're stuck in right now. Making money on sub-prime on the one hand and making money when the sub-prime mortgage holder has to sell on the other. It's probably great business sense, but unpalatable to me, personally.

I've tried to contact Liquiddium, but the emails bounced. Let's hope his cheques are better.

NOTE: All of this is contingent on whether or not we have indeed found the right Mark Bishop. The name is right, as is the location and the background.

This one walks, talks and looks like a duck, but we could still be wrong.

And you thought with the Koenigsegg news that this might be a quiet week.......

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MONDAY

The head man in charge of Government Motors, who goes by the name of Garber or Gerber or Gibberer or something.......he's the guy who has to OK the Saab sale. He'll come back to work on Monday, hopefully in a good mood and like most things GM when it comes to Saab, he'll show a fair bit of neglect by rubber-stamping the paperwork in quick time.

A statement could be forthcoming any time after his morning coffee.

TUESDAY

If there's no announcement or press release on Monday, Fritz Henderson is scheduled to make some announcements in a press pow-wow on Tuesday.

After the normal style press conference, he's going to get hip with the e-generation, put on some leg-warmers and get tweetin with a Twitter chat session. Money well spent, that.

WEDNESDAY

Saab's next court date is Wednesday, when the judge in Vanersborg is expected to rule on something or other (I'm diligent this evening, yes?)

The important thing about this date is that Saab had to get 75% approval from creditors to approve their debt write-down in order to continue on track with their reconstruction proceedings.

They've already got 80%-plus in approvals, so this court date should be another formality.

THURSDAY

As far as I know, we can all have a rest on Thursday, unless you're one of the US dealers who's got a deadline on......

FRIDAY

On Friday last week, US Saab dealers received a Fed-Ex envelope from GM with an agreement to sign. That agreement gives permission for GM to transfer them over to the new Saab ownership structure. It also severs a number of GM obligations to them so it's a big deal.

That agreement has to be signed and returned by Friday of this week.

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Thanks to various contributors for some of those reminders.......

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And whilst I'm thinking about it.....

It's good to see some concerned-type headlines at Automotive News Europe today. "The Fight To Save Saab" is a notable addition to the normal headline.

People CARE about this company. I've never seen ANE show a shred of concern for Saab in the past, but it just goes to show that people really do have a genuine affection for the little Swede.

And elsewhere, Automotive News' Managing Editor, Keith Crain, has an editorial on the whole automotive crisis thing and mentions Saab in it:

Saab dealers and employees can only sit and wait. There will be a new owner, hopefully with good ideas for the company. It's too bad the late Bob Sinclair isn't around. He would have known what to do to make Saab a viable and valuable brand.

Darn right. The late Bob Sinclair oversaw two exceptional models during his tenure at Saab - the convertible and the SPG (or Aero).

Right now, Bob would be planning a new kickass version for every model in the range, and the perfect way to market it, too.

Thinking of you, old friend.

With many thanks to Erik in comments......

The following is a Googletrans of an article appearing DN.se:

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Koenigsegg want to set up group

Koenigsegg want to form a group and has applied to the Swedish Companies Registration Office for the formation of limited liability Koenigsegg Group. Can there be a way for the company to prepare the site for Saab Automobile?

The request came in just two weeks ago, May 29.

- I can not comment on it, "Halldora von Koenigsegg, who besides being married with Christian von Koenigsegg is also active in his company and work at the financial department at the car plant outside Ängelholm.

Koenigsegg Group will devote itself to "itself and by group companies to produce and trade with passenger and related products and services, and associated activities in and outside Sweden."

According to the request which has been submitted to the Swedish Companies Koeningsegg Group will take over a complete corporate identity from a 'stock company.

Around 22 percent of the shares in the new company should be owned by American Mark Alan Bishop.

The largest shareholder is Alpraaz with 42.5 percent. It is Christian von Koenigseggs first company he started as a 20-year-old in 1992. According to the statutes dealing with consultancy in technology, marketing and finance, and trading in securities. Halldora von Koenigsegg is President.

The second largest shareholder with a stake of nearly 23.5 percent, the Koenigsegg Automotive, the company which in turn is owned 49 percent of Norwegian Eker Group.

Eker Group will also be direct owners of Koenigsegg Group with a share of nearly 12 percent.

The Chairman of the Board shall be the American aUgi K Fabel. The Board proposed three members: Christian von Koenigsegg (CEO), Mark Alan Bishop, and the owner of Eker Group Bård Eker. Melissa Joan Schwartz is deputy of the board.

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I mentioned this guy, Mark Bishop, last week.

Again, I can find no mention of him via Google, even using the full name. There is one Mark Bishop mentioned as a member of an equity group out of New York, but the mail that's come to me is that this guy's from California.

Whoever he is, it'd be nice to know what his, and the Koenigsegg Group's intentions are for Saab Automobile and their staff.

I'm confident that their intentions are good and that they see plenty of value to be unlocked by such a good brand and automotive philosophy. It's the lack of knowing that's a killer in this instance.

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OK, nothing on 'The Bish' so far, but Augie Fabela's all over the web.

It seems he's a US-based businessman who's previously had interests in telecommunications in Russia. A company called VimpelCom. He was the Chairman of the board there until 2002 and bought a lot western style governance and transperancy to the organisation. He's written on the subject and from a first quick skim, there's plenty of international experience there.

I'm not sure what he's up to now. It's late.

Saab have recently undergone a fairly drawn out process, courting potential buyers for the brand as they work to carve themselves out from GM ownership.

One of those potential buyers was reported to be Merbanco, a private group based in Wyoming, in the United States. Christopher Johnston (in true, western US style, you quickly get to know him as CJ) is the CEO of Merbanco and whilst he's coy about their involvement in this process - by necessity - he was happy to take some questions via email and provide some insight as to how an (alleged) potential buyer sees Saab at this current point in their history, and what they'd need to do under an (alleged) new owner in the future.

I'd like to thank CJ for his time in taking our questions and permitting them to be shared here on site at SU.

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Christopher Johnston (CJ): Steven, Thanks for contacting us regarding the recent news reports. Without confirming anything, we may be under a non-disclosure agreement and therefore wouldn't be permitted to discuss detail, or even confirm, any involvement in Saab. Even if involved and permitted, we would not divulge proprietary details as that would not be the right thing to do.

That said, I have visited Saabs United often, enjoy reading the comments, and assume that any parties interested do the same. I don't know if or why anyone is interested in our views, but will do my best to answer questions in general.

Saabs United (SU): What Saabs have you owned in the past. What do you own now?

CJ: Past: 900 Turbo, 9000 Aero, 9-5 sedan.

Now: 9-3 Cab for summer.

Here in snow country, I'm waiting for the AWD ng9-5 and the 9-4x. Living in a place where it is applicable, I love the moose test!

SU: When did the Saab sale come across your radar and why were you interested in the transaction?

While our name was leaked last week, we can't discuss Saab publicly and can't even confirm if we were involved. Let's say I have been a fan of the brand since 1982 and love to acquire good "passion" brands that are under stress internally or externally. The first new car I ever bought was a Saab. We have had a nice history here of finding and restoring ailing brands.

SU: Can you give us an insight into that history of turning companies around? We've heard of the AGCO connection, though information was limited on the web. Can you expand on that and are there any others you'd like to talk about?

CJ: My Father and Partner was a founder of AGCO, now the second largest Ag equipment company in the world. Following the initial acquisition of "stressed" Allis Chalmers in 1990, AGCO (NYSE) proceeded to do more than a dozen add-on strategic acquisitions, the largest of which was Massey Ferguson. Dick retired from the AGCO Board in the late 1990's. The Johnstons, with partners, joined to execute another turnaround in the acquisition of Republic Realty Mortgage Company, then the largest privately held commercial mortgage banking company in the US. RRMC was purchased from First Interstate Bank of Los Angeles and, following two add on acquisitions from NationsBank (now Bank of America), RRMC was divested to and became the backbone of General Motors GMAC Commercial Mortgage Corp.

continued after the jump......

Last month I showed a small image of a prototype coupe that we think might have been made in Finland by Valmet as a proposition for Saab, back when they built the ng900 convertibles.

There wasn't really much known about it (and still isn't) but at least there's a decent size photo now.

What we did find out on that previous entry is that the car is stored at a car museum in that place I have to always have to cut and paste Uusikaupunki.

One of the guys at Saabforum.nl has recently visited the museum and taken a few shots of some of the more interesting Saabs there (the red convertible's a little freaky).

I'm just pleased to see another, larger shot of this car. It divided opinion last time we saw it but I quite liked it.

--

Thanks Jacco!

Robert Collin has called him a playboy adventurer and his purchase of Saab a joke.

Mickey Mouse thinks that we who belive in the purchase of Saab by Koenigsegg are wet-dreamers who should wake up.

And the Scandinavian media is so hot on Bard Eker's tail that he shut up shop and refused to speak until 'the proper time'.

If you thought people weren't interested in Saab's purchase story, think again.....

Bård Ekere are tired of the influx of media around the Saab-purchase.

Founder and owner Koeningsegg Bård Ekere races against the influx of media in connection with a possible purchase of Saab, writes FredrikBlad.

I noted that some media boils on previous statements, but I do not say anything about SAAB-issue now. FredrikBlad, and all other media will wait until the time has come, says Ekere to the newspaper.

Personally, I'm pleased he's decided to stop talking. Technically, this decision is still up in the air until the owners of GM - the US government - give it the green light.

But more than that, though, I'd love to see the Koenigsegg group do things on their own terms rather than bow to the demands of the mainstream media.

You might think that shunning some of the media is a bad idea. This is a good-news story and it should be told - and it will. But I tend to think that Koenigsegg should take more control of their message.

This is something that Saab themselves have done in the last few months.

When they began this separation process, there was a whole section of the media that didn't even believe that Saab could be sold. Some said that there was nothing worthwhile selling.

What did Saab do?

They decided to pick and choose who got the stories. That's why some media outlets got a preview drive of the new Saab 9-5 and others didn't.

Want to cover the Saab story fairly? Come on over and let's talk!

Want to talk like this deal, and Saab itself, have absolutely no chance? You can watch while everyone else coveres the story from the source.

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This is probably a selfish philosophy on my part as I've got a vested interest in advocating this position.

See, I really think that no car company has taken full control of their communications in the way that the internet age could allow them to. This world that we live in has the potential to allow a company to connect directly with their customers in a way that few companies have tried before.

What we do here at SU and on other community-based sites is communicate a company's message directly to the people who want to hear it.

You might think that's a small audience. A number of people who buy a car might research it a little on the web beforehand, but few will continue on afterwards.

But with the interest that Saab will gain from the Koenigsegg connection, that number is going to grow. It's the enthusiasts who hit the web and if Koenigsegg and Saab want to control their message, this is a way they can do it.

Could we really all be driving Swiss solar-cell cars in just a few years time? Revolutionary vehicles that would be built in Saab's factory in Trollhattan?

It sounds like fantasy, but Swedish news service Readtid.se published an article over the weekend, based on sources apparently familiar with Koenigsegg's intentions.

Those intentions, in summary, are the acquisition of Saab's manufactuing ability in order to produce a production version of the NLV Quant concept car that they showed at the Geneva Motor Show earlier this year.

The following is an edited and shortened Googletrans

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Swiss environmental behind Koenigsegg-business

Small sports car manufacturer Koenigsegg's purpose behind buying Saab Automobile is to get [access to] Saab's factory to build electric cars, with the Swiss company NLV Solar AG.

- But I can not believe that the main option is to continue to operate bilverksamhet, and in any case not integrated with Koenigsegg, because there is no point to it......

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I'm really not sure about this.

The questions you've got to ask are:

• Is this solar technology really at a production-ready stage for use in an automotive application?
• Is the battery technology even available for this sort of automotive application?

I didn't keep much of an eye on the Quant or the reception it received at the Geneva show.

It was presented by a guy who's name I didn't catch (I'll call him Young Elvis) and the initial reaction paralelled my own thoughts: this is one of those futuristic cars that's more of a design study and a 10-years-time tech expo.

This story from Realtid seems to suggest they're serious about producing it in just a few years time.

This wouldn't be a bad thing for Saab, per se. It's just a little unexpected and the far-out nature of it all makes me wonder how realistic the possibility is.

It's fair to say that Robert Collin from Aftonbladet is not a fan of the idea of selling Saab to Koenigsegg.

The following is a Googletrans, tidied up as best as I was able, from an article in aftonbladet this weekend. Bits I couldn't easily tidy up are in italics.

I think he's asking similar questions to the ones we've asked here - who are Koenisegg's financiers and what are their intentions? We tend to take it as given that they'll follow the proposed business plan they've signed up to, but I think Collin is much more skeptical about either their intention or ability to do so (probably both).

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Koenigsegg is the Swedish facade in this proposal. And there is Bård Eker the Norwegian. Neither of them have the money needed to save Saab, but both are nice poster names.

Koenigsegg was needed to charm the Swedes and the Swedish government, Bård Eker to attract the money of Norwegian investors.

The Koenigsegg family is penniless after all the losses of the super sports car adventure. And Bård Eker, according to Reuters data, already lost 80 million (!) as he filled in Koenigsegg's large black holes. And now his money has started running out.

[Eker] Has good contacts

But the adventurer and playboy Bård Eker has good contacts in the Norwegian upper classes, and has tied up four or five of the Norwegian financial families to buy Saab. According to Aftonbladet's sources, one of them is one of Norway's major car dealers.
Spokes has also received with a known American riskkapitalist on the train.

Eker, according to Aftonbladet, had confused the almost four billion that General Motors calls for Saab. And he ensures that the Group has further almost six billion to develop the next 9-3 model.

According to Aftonbladet's sources, none of the financiers are in the automotive industry today.

Provides GM space

Why did General Motors choose this, quite otippade and untested purchasers in large players in the automotive industry or subcontractor?

The buyer gives the General Motors bigger space.

Why dispose of Fiat as quickly? Well, that Fiat would not have any future business with GM.

And why sell GM Opel to Magna and not Fiat?

For the same reason. Magna is one of the world's largest suppliers, which GM wants to have continued business with. Therefore, GM also keep a stake around 30 percent of Opel. In order to control purchases.

The end may come quickly

Same thing in Saab affair. General Motors wants to continue to take a small part, perhaps around 20 percent, and you want an owner who continue to buy expensive technology components from GM.

General Motors has whittled this down to a buyer who is milking the money out. But it is for Saab's best?

Hardly.

On the contrary, it can be devastating for Saab, to Trollhättan and the American automotive industry.

If Koenigsegg and Bård Eker are also thinking starting to use Saab themselves, as they said in various interviews, may be the end for the small car maker in Trollhättan be faster than quick.

Did anyone else feel like this weekend was a long pause after all the stuff we've been going through with the Saab sale?

It's like we'd all been holding our collective breath for so long, and finally we had a chance to exhale again.

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Stay tuned as I'm chasing a couple of important interviews right now.

Questions have already been sent off for one and I'm trying to line up an appointment with the other.

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A brief update on the Swedish media from ctm:

di.se claims the K-Saab deal was handed over to judge Robert Gerber in New York on Friday, who seems to be the judge supervising the GM Chapter 11. Decision by him early next week, which kind of syncs with remarks by Swedish Government officials late last night about a deal being done very soon and probably announced next week.

DN.se have talked to "auto experts" that claim that Saab will change their brand name to Saab-Koenigsegg... Yeezz...

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Spotted by 1985Gripen on a photo gallery website:

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There's a fantastic piece on Top Gear's James May in the Mail on Sunday.

A must-read for TG fans.

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Note to all:

Check your coolant and if need be, flush your cooling system.

I flushed the system in the MX-5 yesterday and I swear it mustn't have been done in about 5 years prior to that. The water was brown!

The car ran too hot when I drove it home from Melbourne last weekend, but a good flush and a run over Grasstree Hill this afternoon showed that it's now running as sweet as a nut!

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What you've seen going on here, on the front page of this site, is only about half of what's been going on in the background.

In a frenzied time like this, you need some cool heads around you to keep you from boiling over and there's been a few times where I've almost boiled over, even in the last week. I guess that's why companies have a Board of Directors.

I don't have such a board here, but I do want to acknowledge and thank Kroum, PT and Turbin for being the cool heads in a crisis this week.

If you only knew......

I was cleaning out some email folders last night when I came across this photo of the Saab Aero-X from a few years ago.

Aside from just being maaaaaaagnificent, the curious thing about it is that it was taken at a Swedish airforce installation in Ängelholm, which of course is the home town of a certain Swedish supercar company.

If they only knew back then what we know now.......they might have left it there for prototyping :-)

I know there's been a lot of joy expressed and not a little caution about Koenigsegg's emergence as the bidder that GM will continue to negotiate with.

I've been concentrating on posts that give a little more background about Koenigsegg so we can have an understanding that goes beyond cool cars. I'm especially interested in the guy who's turning out to be the one in the spotlight - Bard Eker.

He's the one who said it would be a dream to own Saab. He's the guy who seems to have made a lot of the right moves in his career. But then he's also the guy who questioned why Saab would need as many engineers as they have.

Is he a Norwegian Richard Branson or a guy who'll end up in debt up to his eyeballs pursuing a fool's errand?

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Saab have already received a massive kick in the grassroots media from the Koenigsegg decision. For every analyst who's questioning the deal there are a thousand or more car fans who see it as a massive boost for Saab's image.

That's nice for now, but what will it mean, if anything, for the future?

I guess that will all depend on what Koenigsegg plan to do with Saab and how integrated the two become in the next year or so. It'll take some time to see mechanical additions to the Saab lineup from this partnership, but there are things that can be done fairly quickly.

Marketing and PR are the most obvious areas where Saab can benefit straight away and I hope they are preparing to take maximum advantage of this - if and when the deal is done.

Business support is going to be a big issue as well and I hope Koenigsegg retain and recruit the right people where they need to. Saab have worked hard to survive already. Don't forget that it wasn't so long ago that production in Trollhattan was threatened and I'm sure that move would have been a substantive threat to Saab themselves.

They deserve an owner who's going to maximise Saab's strengths and benefit from them.

I hope Koenigsegg turn out to be an owner who can do that.

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Let's call this the definitive thread for people's thoughts on this deal.

Over all, I'm very excited about the potential for this partnership. I might be living in fairy land, but I believe that a smart, smaller car company can carve a niche if their products are right and their people are hardworking and intelligent. The last 18 months has shown us that bigger isn't better. Hopefully the next 18 months can show that smarter is better.

And we know that Saab is full of smart people.

Whether you're happy, worried, overjoyed or cautious about this arrangement, please let us know why in comments.

The following is a background piece on Bard Eker, the Norwegian who owns 49% of Koenigsegg, as well as running his own industrial design business and Hydrolift boats.

He's been the most vocal member of the Koenigsegg consortium and is probably the man who's courted whoever the investors are behind the bid.

This piece was published today in Norway's E24 news service and I'm very grateful for the translation that Arild has sent via email for me to share here.

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NORWEGIAN SPEED PHANTOM ON SAAB HUNT

This week industrial designer Bård Ekere became father of a little baby. If the negotiations with General Motors are successful, he can get even one more baby - SAAB - over the weekend.

Facts about Bård Eker

Industrial designer and entrepreneur

Age: 47

Wealth: NOK 450 million, according to financial magazine Capital last summer.

Income: 0 according to the taxation lists for 2007

Currently: Interested in taking on SAAB.

Speed. Full speed. All the time. That's how the Norwegian designer, multi millionaire and father Bård Eker likes it the best.

But yesterday, in his home town of Fredrikstad, he had to park far away from the microphones to the Norwegian and international media. A media that can not understand that he is the front man of a group based around the Swedish luxury carmaker Koenigsegg, who now is the forerunner in taking over Swedish SAAB, although both Reuters and Sveriges Television reports that the group has already signed a letter of intent for the purchase of the car company.

- My dream is to buy SAAB, Eker said in an interview with E24 as late as mid-May.

Major changes

Now the dream can come true. Yesterday, it became known in Sweden that SAAB's bankrupt owner General Motors has agreed to write off debt. No later than the creditor meeting on Wednesday next week, GM will make public who the buyer is. If it is Eker and his group, and they succeed in taking over, big changes may await SAAB.

- There's nothing that is run less efficiently than a car factory today. SAAB has 1200 engineers, and when you ask the boss why there are so many, the answer is that the learning guide for the automotive industry says it should be at the least 600. We are 10 man who develops the world's fastest car, Koenigsegg, said Eker to E24.

Within just two days, Eker has gone from being unknown to most people in Norway to being hunted by major international media.

- We have received calls from many foreign media, including both the New York Times and Bloomberg, says Eker secretary, Siv Bjørnstad, to E24.

Boat and car

Eker has been called "the Ghost Who Walks" by his employees in Fredrikstad. He barely sleeps. Just working all the time. That is when he is not driving sports cars or racer boats to their limits. The Eker group has been built up over the last nine years around the design of everything from projectors to boats and cars and even child buggies. The design is very distinctive and extreme at times.

-If Bård takes over SAAB, soon there will be SAAB models with wings, said one aquantance of Eker jokingly.

The young Eker was to become an architect, but after studying at the National College of Art and at Pratt in New York, he started his own industrial design business in Norway in 1989. He designed, among other things, boats. And when the manufacturer of the Hydro-Lift boats went aground in Fredrikstad in 2002, he took over the bankrupt company. Since then, Hydro Lift has invested in fast and expensive boats.

Big loss

But it is the design and production of exclusive data and video projectors that are now bringing the Eker group the biggest revenue. Last year Projectiondesign, where Eker owns 54 percent, had a net profit of NOK 73 million. Bill Gates has bought six projectors to his ultra-modern house, while Ferrari and McLaren-factories use them in Formula 1-simulators.

So far, his investment in Koenigsegg has not been as profitable. Eker has invested well over NOK 40 million for a stake of 49 percent in the super sports car. Koenigsegg is currently losing money, but last year the manufacturer only lost about 1 million dollars of a total turnover of approx. 90 million.

Rich Racers

His car companion, Hans Christian von Koenigsegg, calls Eker the Norwegian Richard Branson in the Swedish media.

Eker is not unlike Branson of appearance, and also not when it comes to adventure. In 2004 he started offshore racing at sea. Allready the next year, he became world champion with Bjørn Rune Gjelsten's old boat "Spirit of Norway" on which Eker had previously been a mechanic. In the speculations about who Eker has with him as investors in buying SAAB, it is the rich competitors from offshore racing and customers of Hydro Lift and Koenigsegg who are mentioned. But Gjelsten denies that he is in on the SAAB-deal, and says he has not had contact with Eker for a while.

Hardly Norwegian

There is little evidence to suggests that Eker has teamed up with his countrymen in the mysterious investor group.

Paul Åkerlund, who is head of the union IF Metall at the SAAB factory in Trollhättan, says he knows who's behind with the capital to buy SAAB.

He will not say who it is, but tells the newspaper Aftenposten that he is confident that they have enough money.

-Is it Norwegian or foreign investors who are behind this?

- Norway is a too small, Åkerlund says.

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Links:

• Eker Group
• Hydrolift
• Eker Design
• Projection Design
• Koenigsegg

Thanks again, Arild!

I'm adding this to the page as I will want to talk about it later and need something in the archive to refer to.

Regardless of my needs, though, have a read through this because this could be one of the reasons why Koenigsegg are so interested in Saab and what they've got to offer.

Can you see this with a Saab badge?

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The NLV Quant - By Koenigsegg

Swedish supercar marque Koenigsegg and NLV Solar AG, a pioneer in photovoltaics and accumulator technology, have joined forces to create the Quant. The brainchild of this marriage of power and energy is a four-seater solar electric car. A full-scale model is to be unveiled at the 2009 Geneva Salon, with the two companies currently working on running prototypes to scale up for series production.

Two companies, one vision

The project was born when NLV Solar AG commissioned the environmentally aware Swedish supercar manufacturer Koenigsegg to develop and design a "car of the future", incorporating NLV Solar's groundbreaking, proprietary technology in the felds of photovoltaics and accumulators.

In 2008, the two companies signed a co-operation agreement to create a test vehicle for a unique propulsion system which makes optimum use of
the solar technologies developed by NLV Solar AG, allied with an innovative accumulator unit. The groundbreaking thin-flm solar-cell coating is being implemented in one of Koenigsegg's signature avant-garde designs.

Groundbreaking technology

The advances in electric power generation and storage, combined with the aerodynamic, futuristic Koenigsegg design and engineering, will enable the NLV Quant to charge the FAES(Flow Accumulator Energy Storage) to full capacity in 20 minutes and give the vehicle a range of 500 kilometres. The additional power input from the invisible, thin-flm photovoltaic coating that covers the body of the car, further increases the range potential.

The revolutionary solar and FAES systems enable the design of a fully electrical vehicle, rather than relying on more commonplace hybrid solutions. This also simplifes the drive train layout and packaging, as only one propulsion system is needed.

Another story breaks while I'm sleeping. I tell ya, I'm going to have to go into vampire mode.....

Bard Eker, the man who holds 49% of Koenigsegg and the main voice behind their bid for Saab, has done a brief interview with Dagbladet.no.

Here's the Googletrans of some interesting bits. I think an open letter to Mr Eker might be in the pipeline. Let me just say this, quickly: I'm beginning to like this deal more and more, and it has little to do with the romance of the notion. I like this guy's way of thinking.

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There have been some poisonous comments in the Swedish media. I want to make one thing quite clear, we are not buying Saab only to chop it up (sell bits and pieces, ed note). There is no such plan," says co-owner of the car manufacturer Koenigsegg, Bård Ekere, to Dagbladet.

International attention

Thursday night SVT revealed that Koenigsegg, of which Eker owns 49 percent, with a number of Norwegian investors in the back, will move up as needed to take over kriserammede Saab stable and the 52-year-old Swedish pride is back. (note: that should be 62 years - SW)

Buyers will have signed a letter of intent with the U.S. owners General Motors (GM).

- We believe it is possible and that we have several good solutions to take with us into Saab, "says Ekere.

While his secretary has spent days on the phone to explain to the international media as the New York Times and Bloomberg that Ekere is not in the office, he takes the time to meet Dagbladet in Fredrikstad.

Next week

With the trademark and production, including in Trollhättan in Sweden, following a debt of 10.5 billion and 3400 employees. Negotiating an acquisition is now fully in Zurich.

- There have been many processes at once to get to purchase and there can still emerge some reefs in the sea," says Ekere, which does not itself negative, to Saab's own statement that a deal may already be in place next week.

Despite the financial crisis also allows them to feel in Scandinavia "there are many investors who want to be with" to finance the acquisition, says Ekere.

- But the amount of money and who are with us I will not say," says Ekere, who has been heavily into the design since the last series Koenigsegg, CCX.

........

What is the most important and Koenigsegg takes you more input as owners?

- Culture and technology. Saab must be more innovative, not given an A4 template, which is some what General Motors did. And Saab's culture must be stronger, with the dealer, customers and the Trollhättan, that we and investors like to be a catalyst for, say car.

- Breakthrough technology

While Saab is not always linked to the "speed and power", Koenigsegg is the world's fastest-cars, with unique technology and design.

- I am sure we have some good solutions for Saab, with groundbreaking technology. And we do not take no for an answer when a new idea comes up.

- Is the investment in fuel cells and electric cars a possible scenario?

- Yes. No matter what part of the transport industry you work in, you have to think about the environment.

LabourStart

Ekere stressed that the agreements are not in place yet and that they are dependent on goodwill from all levels.

- We have had very good vid of sails since we started, but we may soon on a new level: When must the guys on the floor would be to invest. It keeps that a few will not, that the plans will go wrong, "says Ekere.

- Would you come to where you are now if the trade union movement was clearly negative?

- No, we would not like, but I want to say anything that could harm the negotiations now. Trade union movement in the Saab is important and will avoid any major dismissals. At the same time we live in a world where it happens.

- Will all the 3400 employees keep the job?

- It is not the intention to terminate many, but this I can not say more now.

Union emphasized today that three companies will take over Saab. He believes the media's focus on that the parties have signed a declaration of intent has been exaggerated.

......

Secret investors

Ekere will not comment on who the investors will buy the Saab is.

- I can not say. But I've been involved with the speculation in the newspapers and it has been fun, there has appeared a lot of things, "says Ekere.

Photos by Dave R, taken yesterday.

And yes Dave, I do like the symbolism (though I'm sure no-one at Saab likes me saying that - officially, at least)

Last night, after following this Saab-sale-story in great detail for almost a full four months, I missed out on the breaking news by just 13 lousy minutes. The light went off at 12.55am and the first email about Koenigsegg came in at 1.08am.

As I didn't have an entry set aside for it, the comments threads were all over the place.

Not so today.

There is an outside chance that a release may come out from Saab/GM making all the news stories of the last 24 hours official. I'm off to catch some Z's now, but if that release is forthcoming, please keep yourselves up to date here.

Any other breaking stories are welcome, too.

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I'd also like to express my gratitude to everyone for posting all the events that you did last night.

I was out of action but this site isn't about me, it's about the Saab community that hangs out here and once again, you proved that you are a class act.

I woke up to 176 emails in my regular inbox (the one that received comments notifications) and a further 25 or so to my Gmail account, telling me of the news and telling me to wake up :-)

So thanks to everyone for all of your hard work. You've actually written more of the content at this site than what I have in the last 48 hours.

Champions, every one of you.

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I'll leave with another K-Saab image, sent in by Andreas.

Let it be.....

I've expressed my own cautionary feelings about the Saab-Koenigsegg deal on this site already. My main worry is that the K-Segg consortium don't have adequate resources to pull off what they're trying to achieve.

Without knowing who their backers are, it's really hard to know. I find myself having to be confident in two things:

• one report that suggests that they may have enough backing to not even need government loan guarantees (sorry, can't find the link) and
• the fact that if they do need the loans, the very prudent Swedish government has looked them over and given them the thumbs up.

One report suggests that rather than Norwegian money, as is widely believed, Koenigsegg might have a lot of US money behind them. I've heard one name mentioned via Djup Strupe. The name is Mark Bishop, but I can't find anything about such a person at this point.

Note: This bid has been named as a Koenigsegg bid, but it might be just as appropriate to call it an Eker Group bid. Bard Eker, who owns 49% of Koenigsegg, is the one who's done the most talking about this process and may be the one attracting the foreign investment, too.

Given Eker's substantial role in all this, the other thing I'm worried about is the status of Saab's engineering corps. They will play a huge role in Saab's development in the future, including the ability to sell technologies to GM and other companies. Eker's concentration on running as lean as possible is fine for a small operation, but he's not proposing to buy a small operation (despite Saab's meagre market share).

I'll come back with some more commentary at the end of all this.

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Robert Collin from Aftonbladet is not amused by what he sees as a bit of a joke.

He sees the Koenigsegg bid as an exhibition of megalomania rather than good business sense. Koenigsegg's business has struggles itself at times, and the proposition of buying a struggling company like Saab is ludicrous given Koenigsegg's own problematic record, according to Collin.

If I'm translating his article correctly, Collin contends that Koenigsegg weren't that interested in Saab early in the process and only came back to being a serious candidate when the ranks thinned.

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This is from The Local:

According to Lasse Svärd with Dagens Nyheter (DN), the marriage of Saab and Koenigsegg is a positive development for Saab, at least in the short-term, as it signals that things are finally moving forward for the troubled Swedish brand after months of uncertainty.

"Saab needs to quickly find some peace and quiet with a far-sighted owner that can supply the company with the resources to help it create new models," he told DN.

But Svärd stopped short of embracing Koenigsegg as an ideal owner for Saab......

"It's really a hard question to answer. Spontaneously, my answer is no, at least it's hard to see how it will all work," he said when asked if the exclusive sportscar manufacturer was the right partner to give Saab the lift it needs.

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And in the same report from The Local:

Expressen's automotive reporter Jan-Erik Berggren was more direct in expressing his concerns about Koenigsegg's suitability for Saab, despite the professed excitement from Saab enthusiasts, who for months have expressed their keenness for a Saab- Koenigsegg tie-up on blogs and internet forums.

"For them, Koenigsegg is like a wet dream," writes Berggren.

"But it's time for them to wake up."

I think Jan-Erik's disappointed that his theory of a German Bank fronting for a Chinese laundry fronting for Mickey Mouse didn't turn out to be correct, but that's just me.

Well, it was something like that. I wish he'd taken up my nudie run challenge.

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ctm gave me his reading of much of the local Swedish media via email to me:

Swedish media is filled with the story. The angle in articles and editorials is that this is a dead end for Saab and that someone is just out to try their luck in a business deal without any logic. Lots of articles downplaying Koenigsegg and the Norwegian inverstor, portraying them as jet-setters, and all auto experts are doing thumbs down on the deal. The forums are filled with people saying "wow, cool" - but, then again, it's just comments from people that don't really know anything about it.

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And finally, this report via Bloomberg:

The Norwegian designer (i.e. Bard Eker) has overcome obstacles and turned around bankrupt companies before. He bought Hydrolift out of insolvency in 2001 after working with the boat maker on a deck design. The Hydrolift factory burnt to the ground in 2005 and was rebuilt the same year, according to a May 2009 article in Finnish boating magazine Kippari. Today, the boats are used by clients including Norway's police, according to Hydrolift.

"Baard is an extremely hard worker, a very talented artist and a good business man," said Dag Alexander Hoeili, an investor involved with the design of the Koenigsegg cars. "So if there's anything to the talk about Saab, then I am convinced he'll succeed."

Thanks MoodySaaber!

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I think this requires a full editorial, but I'll say it quickly here.

We all know that Saab faces challenges in the future. We all know that sales are slow, new models can't come soon enough and that Saab desperately needs a new 9-3 as a volume seller.

What's done is done.

Koenigsegg are the bidder that's been chosen and whilst the deal isn't sealed yet, they are the company that Saab stand the biggest chance of moving ahead with.

There are undoubted challenges, but Saab's management remains. If this goes through, Saab will be Swedish again. That counts for a lot. They will have new models soon and they will have a new, refreshed message and presumably, the financial backing to carry this through.

Size is no guarantee of success. Hard work and smarts will get you a long way there, though, and these Swedes will have those two elements in spades.

I'm cautious, but I'll throw my full support into this deal and seeing a successful new day for Saab.

Go Vote!

There's absolutely no point to this poll, but I'm going to invite you to participate anyway, just for fun.

Autoblog are running a poll asking whether people think the Koenigsaab deal is a good thing. As I write this, 91.4% of voters agree with the deal.

Head on over to Autoblog to have your say. Let's see if we can lift it to at least 95%.

Thanks to JuergU!

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New Logo??

SAB dropped this in comments and Etienne has it up on his site as well. I'm not sure who got there first (though it looks like one of Steve's designs) so credit to both!

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Simon Padian

There's a good, quick interview with one of Saab's chief designers, Simon Padian, at a site called In Design Live.

What are the trends that you are setting with your design and how do these tie in with your design ethics?

I am not so sure Saab design is about consciously setting trends, rather about strengthening the brand identity and offering a clear alternative to the mainstream.

Saab design should be seen to adhere to the philosophy of Scandinavian design and to provide a clear, distinctive and progressive aesthetic that the brand deserves.

As such rather than creating trends I would like Saab design to always be one step ahead and to be respected as a leader in design - much the same way that Apple has become.

A good, quick read.

Thanks to "Me"!

This is quite unexpected and very hopeful news.

Bo Andersson is reputed to be one hard-headed purchasing guy. As you'll se below, he started at Saab and was later retained by GM and heads their worldwide purchasing operations.

There's no word as to where he's going, but the timing's quite amazing, isn't it?

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General Motors Global Purchasing Group Vice President Bo I. Andersson To Pursue Other Career Interests

DETROIT - General Motors President and Chief Executive Officer Fritz Henderson announced today that Bo I. Andersson, group vice president, Global Purchasing and Supply Chain, has decided to leave GM to pursue other career opportunities, effective immediately.

"Bo has made tremendous contributions to the development of our global purchasing and supply chain strategy as we've globalized our product line portfolios and manufacturing footprint," Henderson said.

Andersson, 53, joined GM in 1987 as a manager at SAAB AB located in Sweden. Previous appointments include executive director, Purchasing of Electrical commodities and later of Chemical commodities. He also held the position of GM Europe vice president of Purchasing. Bo was appointed vice president, Global Purchasing and Supply Chain in December 2001 and was appointed a group vice president in 2007.

A successor to Bo will be named in the near future.

Is K-Saab an alright nickname for this new entity?

Or should it be KoenigSaab? K-Saab's a lot easier for a blogger to write :-)

A few things that have crossed my desk today:

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In comments, from Loma:

May sound stupid, but I had a terrific grin this morning when I saw my 2006 9-5 Vector Sport 2,2 TiD Estate on the driveway. I opened the door, noticed the sportseats, the beauty full carbon trim on the dash and gear stick. Drove off, enjoying all the torque in that second gear. All felt so right now, it all made sense.

Arrived at the office, looked back one more time at the beautifull lines and curves of this car, the amazing aero front bumper..A colleague asked what I was so happy about today. "You'll see, you'll see..", I answered him with a little smile....

I bet a lot of us got that self-esteem boost today about our beloved cars, as stupid it may sound.

Ahhh marketing can be so strong!

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From Terry, via email:

I have just texted Giles at Abbott with an order for a new car. I don't care what shape or colour just so long as it is a saab designed by KS!

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From TTAero, via email:

Hi, just dropping you this to tell you what this really means to me and SAAB.. My wife just told me that we must put some money together if this is true. So, we need to replace the now 1 year old TTiDAero with the long awaited XWD diesel 9-5 of some sort.... I'll drink to that!

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From Brecht, via email:

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And via a link from Dippen in comments:

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Ahhhhhh.

Young love.

Ain't it grand?

The stories about Koenigsegg's bid for Saab are everywhere on the net. If you're currently on the front page of Saabs United then scroll down for some of the Swedish stories that are doing the rounds this morning.

Something we should all be aware of, however, is summed up well over at Auto Motor and Sport.

So far there is no official confirmation from either the Saab Automobile or Koenigsegg - but consistent data from the Report is the deal settled. Koenigsegg becomes new owner of the Saab!

Already last week, we knew that a decision could come by the end of this week and it is known that all three bidders have been collected in Sweden and at Deutsche Bank, which handles sales to General Motors.

The actual transaction will take probably several weeks - maybe months - to negotiate clearly with all its details, before a formal transfer can take place from General Motors to Koenigsegg. But the parties are likely write a letter of intent, perhaps as early as the end of this week, confirming that a buyer is appointed.

I've been tapping the phones this evening and am getting the same story:

No official announcement has been made by General Motors at this time.
The decision is most likely resting with the US treasury at this point, as they're the substantive owners of GM.
An announcement could come today, but is perhaps more likely on Monday or Tuesday of next week.

I guess we'll all have to wait until then before being absolutely 100% sure that Koenigsegg are the ones to take negotiations to the next step.

For now we'll just have to remain 99.9% sure.

It would seem that we're looking for a big American investor behind Bard Eker and Koenigsegg's bid for Saab.

Aftonbladet are reporting on the Koenigsegg decision (that would make a great title for a Robert Ludlum novel - The Koenigsegg Decision) and include some info about the backing.

Swedes can go here for the full story. Here's the Googletrans:

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Swedish super car manufacturer wants to take over the crisis company

ÄNGELHOLM / TROLLHÄTTAN. A small luxury car manufacturers are expected to take over Saab.

A month ago suggested the owner Bård Eker that Saab have to be scaled:
- For the Koenigsegg is ten man develops world's fastest car.

The past few weeks, the automotive lashed by rumors that Swedish Koenigsegg is one of the stakeholders to Saab Automobile. Few, however, seriously believed that the small sports car manufacturer from Ängelholm is a realistic option as the new Saab Owner.

But yesterday revealed SVT that Koenigsegg is the only client that is still there and has already signed a letter of intent to buy Saab. According to the Reuters GM will announce the buyer on Monday or Tuesday.

Norwegian financier

Jesko von Koenigsegg, Senior Advisor at Koenigsegg Automotive, believe that the deal could be finalized in the near future:

- Before this is nails and clear, it may take a couple of weeks. I often say that nothing is settled before the money is in the bank, "he says.

Will Saab be a sports car now?
- If it becomes clear, as we do not know yet, will Koenigseggs brand and sports car feeling slightly shifted to Saab. It is in the business idea. Maybe Saab will be the car it had been, if it had not had such a large international owners.

Produces 20 cars per year

But the Koenigsegg is not the sole owner of Saab. According to a source at Saab are two funders - the Norwegian businessman Bård Eker and Eker Group, which is major owner of Koenigsegg, and a great American financier.

- Rate not Koenigsegg after production in Ängelholm in 20 Supersport cars a year. They have great sponsors behind them, "says the source to Aftonbladet.

Quick business

Yesterday, the Government Riksgälden clear that, once the deal is complete, begin negotiations with Saab, the new owner and the European Investment Bank on the government loan guarantees should be.

Aftonbladet has unsuccessfully tried to reach the founder and CEO Christian von Koenigsegg, 36. He has not been on since Monday.

- He is on the move, saying his wife and the company's Communications Manager, Halldora von Koenigsegg.

For the Saab in Trollhättan, denies both unions and employers to Koenigsegg's Saab. Information Director Eric Geer also rejects SVT's reported that a letter of intent is signed.

- But it may come very quickly, "he says.

Major changes

Would Koenigsegg and Eker Group become Saab Owner, waiting likely major changes in Trollhättan.

- There is nothing to operate less efficiently than a car plant today. Saab has 1 200 engineers and ask your boss why you get the answer that it is a textbook that should be at least 600. For the Koenigsegg is ten man develops world's fastest car, "said Bård Eker to Norwegian E24 a month ago.

This is a particularly important article as far as I'm concerned. TTELA is Trollhattan's local newspaper and Magnus Nordberg has done an incredible job covering this story right from day 1.

Being Trollhattan's local paper, this is a heartfelt affair for Magnus as it is for the whole city - and you can read the relief right there on the page (even through an internet translator)

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FEW THOUGHT IT WAS POSSIBLE

It will be Koenigsegg, which takes over Saab!

But the relevant question now is not how the little Koenigsegg company will be ready to drive Saab. The relevant question is what wealthy people are behind the bid.

But before we give ourselves to the discussion we need to stop and reflect on the following:

Saab has found a new owner. Saab has actually found a new owner. And the middle of the worst financial crisis. Remember how we thought is it possible? only four months ago.

Since it is naturally a bit of an anti-climax to the information we have been waiting for so long in the form of a leak (and yes, we assume that SVT's mission true) that no one can comment.

Saab can not do that, so long as GM confirmed task.

Koenigsegg is prevented for the same reasons.

And GM, which since June 1 has U.S. government as the principal owner, must probably await the green light from above, before the news can come out.

Perhaps the official confirmation of the day. It is determined in the U.S.. And what in that case, is just a confirmation that a Memorandum of Understanding (a kind of intent) signed with the Koenigsegg.

The details we will wait for another time.

It is somewhat unfortunate for Saab, as it will immediately create speculation that small Koenigsegg does not have the strength to be a good owner.

But it says it almost itself: It is not, of course, Koenigsegg, which in the strict sense will buy Saab. Koenigsegg has sales of just over 100 million and it appears as in its own absurdity that a company like that could buy Saab.

Christian von Koenigsegg and his company is just an (attractive) figure in this affair. The interesting question - yes, the crucial question - is what/who is the consortium or a wealthy man that is hiding behind them.

There are many who have doubted Koenigsegg's financial strength. But it should be clear that they defeated the two (U.S. Renco and Merbanco), financial terms, is extremely strong competitors in the final.

It is reasonable to mean that Koenigsegg has a much better financial backing than many of us thought. Den norske, empire, entrepreneur Bård Eker is the principal owner of Koenigsegg, but neither he enough in this context. So what are the other funders? It may not only is Norwegian and Swedish capital behind the bid.

Until we know more about it, it is impossible to judge the new Saab owner.

Fast, a conclusion we can come up with right now. On the Koenigsegg is a dream solution from a brand perspective.

Koenigsegg is Swedish, manufactures sports cars and has its manufacturing facility in an old aviation hangar outside Ängelholm.

What do Saab associated with? Well, that is Swedish, manufactures körglada and sporty (and safe) cars, and that has its roots in aviation.

So Saab's marketing department need not wait for more facts about the new owner.

They have already won the TOP LOTTERY PRIZE.

My thanks to Arild for the Googletrans provided in comments.

This story originates at Expressen:

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The Swedish family von Koenigsegg has begun final negotiations on the Saab Automobile.

With Christian von Koenigsegg at the forefront, the carmaker is discussing the final details with General Motors in Zurich, according to the Expressen.

- We think this is interesting and exciting. And very much point to it as we hope, "says director Jesko von Koenigsegg to Expressen.

Now Saab's future is determined. Still last night discussed the General Motors with the Swedish Koenigsegg car on the final details of a purchase. Saab's leadership, together with General Motors, have picked out the sports car manufacturer Koenigsegg to be the buyer who get a chance to piece together a business.

Board member and the company Koenigseggs Senior Advisor Jesko von Koenigsegg says to Expressen:

- The group that Koenigsegg Automotive is part of, I think is very good. If everything is ready, we'll go out with a press release and tell all that apply and provide answers to all questions.

Attractive plans

One reason that Saab and GM chose Koenigsegg is that they were the only car manufacturer that was in the final selection. Koenigseggs plans for Saab is also said to have spoken mainly Saab pipeline.

Behind the small Swedish sports car manufacturer - with a turnover of over SEK 100 million and a 20-tal-made cars per year - there are individuals and companies with financial muscle, according Jesko von Koenigsegg.

- It may be cause for unnecessary speculation if you think that it is only Koenigsegg Automotive, which is behind this. It is a group that makes it and who think this is incredibly inspiring and exciting.

MULTIMILLIONAIRE dream

Norske multi millionaire Bård Eker owns 49 percent of the Koenigsegg and has been identified as a major Saab enthusiast.

- My dream is to buy Saab, has Bård Eker said in several interviews during the winter.

Yesterday did not want to Bård Eker comment on the deal.

- I can not comment on it here yet, "says Bård Eker to the Norwegian home E24.no

According to reports in Norwegian newspapers today, there are a number of Norwegian investors behind Bård Eker and in Norway there is a hope that Saab will now use the Norwegian subcontractors.

Jesko von Koenigsegg see an advantage in the Saab, a Swedish partner.

To raise brand

To quiet affair in the port is the company's CEO, Christian von Koenigsegg, in place in Zurich where negotiations are taking place.

- Would it be that we hope is a Swedish solution where our aim will be to raise the Saab brand further by introducing what we can provide. And by the Christian can bring in terms of technical know-how. That is where we feel that there is an opportunity to do what Saab might have done themselves if they ended up with a major shareholder.

Do you think about the new Saab 9-5 [in this regard]?

- Yes, it's great stuff and with a small [investment] could be made even more exciting.

Awaiting feedback

Industry Minister Maud Olofsson was yesterday unavailable for comment.

- Furthermore, it is not Government should not comment because it is not the government to buy or sell Saab, "says her press secretary Frank Nilsson.

Social Democratic economic policy spokesman Thomas Eneroth also declines to comment on.

- No comment before anything is official, said his press secretary, Daniel Färm.

UPDATE: Koenigsegg buying story on Bloomberg news video

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My main fears were that the Koenigsegg bid may be short of funds to pull off a transaction for a company of Saab's size.

According to Dagens Industri, that might not be a problem at all.

Oh, and Koenigsegg might not be involved as much as we think, either.

The Googletrans, via Arild in comments:

Koenigsegg is only the facade Updated 2009-06-12 05:57

A group of Norwegian and American investors, led by Koenigseggs major owner Bård Eiken (left), has written a letter of intent with GM to buy Saab. This according to Dagens Industri.

Since the beginning of the year, Bård Eiken, major owner of sports car manufacturer Koenigsegg, has raised capital to buy Saab, writes Dagens Industri. Koenigsegg itself and its CEO Christian von Koenigsegg has nothing to do with the affair, but is only a brand which money is collected behind.

And money is abundant, according to DI. The buyers should have as strong finances that they do not need to take the Swedish government loan guarantees.

The composition of Koenigsegg's bid was pretty much unknown, hence the caution due to the carmaker's small size.

It'll be interesting to see the details of this come out over time. I'll be taking the lead from the Swedish media as I have no insiders with access to K-Segg at all.

------

Thanks to Niklas and Arild in comments!!

You know you're dealing with a different kind of car company when they skip the 0-100 time in favour of a 0-300 time!!!

You've probably seen Koenigsegg's products in pictures or on TV, but how much do you actually know about them?

The following is a quick primer from Koenigsegg's own website, about the company that is in the box seat to become Saab's new owners in the very near future.

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BRIEF COMPANY INFO

Christian von Koenigsegg grew up with the dream of creating the perfect sportscar. After several years of planning he launched the Koenigsegg project in 1994. A tight-knit group of competent people was gathered and a prototype was assembled, the success of which enabled the foundation of Koenigsegg Automotive AB.

In the year 2000 Koenigsegg started the series-production of the CC 8S model. It proved to the world that it was indeed possible for a small and dedicated group of enthusiasts to rival the old established supercar brands.

In the spring of 2004 Koenigsegg launched the CCR, a vehicle that leaves all others behind. The Koenigsegg headquarters is now in a large Fighter Jet facility, which houses 45 full time staff plus several extras.

They include 7 engineers, 4 R&D staff, 4 composite technicians, 5 pre- assembly staff, 3 engine assembly staff, 14 final assembly staff, 3 storage staff and 5 at PR, sales, administration and leadership. Extra personnel are called in when needed, usually for development purposes. Presently 7 vehicles can be assembled simultaneously, with 4 stations in the pre-assembly hall and 3 in the final assembly hall.

A large network of suppliers and partners is tied to Koenigsegg, most of which are based in Sweden. Many are small companies and craftsmen that produce low volumes of high quality components. Both the assembly and the manufacture of the components is very labor intensive (e.g. all 300+ carbonfibre parts that make up each car), and the materials are without exception very costly. This is the reason for the high price of a Koenigsegg.

COMPANY HISTORY

1994
The Koenigsegg project was launched. With a long tradition of building high quality cars and a large number of suppliers to the racing car industry, Sweden offered a suitable breeding ground for the development of a world-class supercar. The concept for this supercar was set from the start, a two-seater, mid-engined construction with a hardtop; all based on state of the art Formula One technology. A network of competent designers and engineers, with connections both to the Swedish car industry and the universities, was tied together.

1995
Koenigsegg moved into new premises in Olofström in southern Sweden. Development started and the production of the first prototype was initiated. The newly assembled Koenigsegg team makes an extraordinary effort; in only one and a half years a fully operational prototype was finished, ready for media promotion and evaluation.

Let me start with this......

That's the really good news :-)

The good news, without the "really" attached, is that Saab's continued separation from General Motors moves on, with the [unofficial] announcement today that Koenigsegg has been chosen as the preferred bidder for Saab, with final negotiations to take place over the coming months.

Bloomberg:

June 11 (Bloomberg) -- Koenigsegg Automotive AB, a Swedish maker of luxury sports cars, is the frontrunner to buy Saab Automobile AB from General Motors Corp., a person close to the situation said.

Koenigsegg, partly owned by Norwegian entrepreneur Baard Eker's Eker Group AS, is in the lead because of the investment it pledged to reorganize Saab and because it's the only carmaker in the race, said the person, who declined to be identified because the talks are private. U.S. billionaire Ira Rennert's Renco Group Inc. and Merbanco Inc., a group of Wyoming investors, also bid.

A few words of caution.

I was chatting via Skype with a guy from Opel last night about this whole thing and he mentioned that the Opel deal with Magna - which has faded from the press and seems all signed sealed and delivered - is far from being finalised at this point.

We have the same situation with Saab here.

Whether it's a letter of intent or a memorandum of understanding, what we have here is the choice of a preferred bidder at this stage. This is the party that GM has chosen to take things further with in relation to a sale of Saab.

Note: GM has chosen. And this is what gives me cause for concern. It's the reason I'm writing this sitting down instead of in the midst of doing a snoopy dance.

The positives that come with Koenigsegg are obvious. They are Swedish. They build exotic cars and have a brilliant public image, which can only help Saab.

The negatives in this selection are a little less obvious. Let me put it this way:

GM are bastards.

8.47pm last night - heard that Merbanco were out of the running. (bummer)

9.20 pm or so.... Spoke with Saab Sweden - no news. Anxiously waiting.

9.30 - 11.30pm - watched The Footy Show

11.30pm - Too many late nights. Been up to 1.30am most nights. Getting too much. Must go to bed.

12am - Start reading "In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote

12.55am - Turn off light.

1.08am - first email hits my inbox about KOENIGSEGG SIGNING LETTER OF INTENT TO FREAKING WELL BUY SAAB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Saab's official line - via email around 3 hours ago....

For the record:

Investor situation

• There has been no GM or Saab Automobile announcement relating to potential investors
• However we will present the preferred candidate in the near future
• Until then we will not speculate on any potential investor identities
• We expect to have the new ownership structure finalized in the early summer

------

My 2 cents coming in the next hour or so, including some Djup Strupery and why I'm sitting here way less excited about this announcement than what I thought I'd be.

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UPDATE - Thanks to Turbin for this updated photo...... :-)

This car caused plenty of conjecture when I showed it yesterday.

Fortunately the original photo was much larger than the one I posted, so I've been able to isolate a close-up of the car so you can see the details.

Here's a standard 9-3 rear section for comparison.....

And a close up of the rear wheels.

I don't know what's going on with it. Much bigger rear wheel arches by the look of things, though I'm not sure why.

It might be one of the tech guys having some fun for all we know, but it's good to get glimpse at these things.

After hooking up Mark O with a Turbo X in the north-east United States recently, I thought it might be good to advise where the other Turbo X's are for sale.

It's somewhat disappointing and little bit silly that there are still a quantity of these cars available. I know several people who have bought one and are absolutely loving it. Maybe it's Saab's decision to build some with auto transmissions that's part of the issue?

Anyway - here are some Turbo X's that are still available and I imagine you'll get a very very good deal if you're interested in one.

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Germany

Site sponsors, Mobil Forum in Dresden are refusing to acknowledge the worldwide recession, preferring instead to remain positive and stock their yards.

As you might know, 2009 is the last model year that the Saab 9-3 will have a V6 engine available. In 2010 the Saab 9-3 will be 4-cylinder only as the Saab 9-5 comes online with a V6 option.

MobilForum have snapped up some of the last V6 models to be produced and they have these 2009 models, as well as several Turbo X's now in stock.

If you're keen on a V6 Saab 9-3 and you're in Germany, then this year is the last chance you'll get to pick one up new.

And the chance to grab a still-new Turbo X should be considered as well.

If you're interested, please contact Andre or any of the other guys at Mobil Forum Dresden.

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AUSTRALIA

Heartland Saab in Sydney have just one Turbo X left.

It was only registered in March 09 and it's only got 243 kilometers on the clock. It's essentially brand new and comes with 19 inch wheels, auto transmission and a sunroof.

These retailed for $105,000 last year. Heartland will include all transfer fees and send it out the door for $79,000

If you're interested in this Turbo X sedan, then call Kurt at Heartland Saab on (02) 9685 8423. Tell him Swade sent you.

Some good news is emerging with various news services reporting that the Swedish government have met all three of the bidders for Saab, and that they're ready to sit down with any of them and talk about loan guarantees.

This is a very positive development, as the government's willingness to do so is paramount in getting something signed on paper.

ctm summed up the various reports as follows:

The government now says that they are prepared to immediately negotiate about state-guaranteed loans for the three bidders interested in buying Saab. The government has met all of the remaining bidders, and some have expressed an interest in state-guaranteed loans at a takeover.

And he added the interesting observation that if only "some" have interest in state guaranteed loans, that means that one of them is well financed and possibly looking to bypass the loan procedure.

I wonder if that will be a factor?

------

TTELA have a report in today that sums up the three remaining bidders.

It then goes on to mention a few interesting things.

The GoogleTrans:

I further understand that all three final candidates not only bought the Saab's business plan, but are also willing to spice it. Perhaps with a Saab 9-1.

Now that is excellent news!

But, despite this attempt at logical reasoning: Actually, we have no idea who the candidates best. Ultimately, GM's words, not Saab's desire, as predominant.

And the reason GM, which now sits in the GM Europe headquarters in Zurich and is negotiating with the three final candidates in parallel? Perhaps it is not more difficult than GM simply select the bid that is most economically advantageous - for GM.

I can add my own piece of Djup Strupery to this. It's a point of concern, but it is what it is.

Djup Strupe tells me that Jan-Ake Jonsson is not in Zurich at this crucial time. His lack of attendance likely at the insistence of either GME or Deutsche Bank.

It's a little disturbing that Saab's management can't be represented at the highest level at what is a pretty delicate time.

Pardon the Vectra references and this quick review from the UK is good in every way.

At motorway speeds there is a fair amount of buffeting - not many open-top cars can keep the hair in place at 70mph - but along those aforementioned A roads, the Saab simply makes you feel good. It's one of those rare cars that's worth more than the sum of its parts. It's not the latest drop-top, it's not particularly fast (economy is good though at over 36mpg combined) and it's not the best convertible to drive. But it's also not brash like a BMW and not as expensive as a Mercedes. Instead the 9-3 Convertible is elegant and classy. Visit one in a showroom if you care - just be prepared to fend off the hordes of middle-aged dreamers.

It's a nice reminder of the virtues of open top driving and why the Saab 9-3 Irresistivertible is so good at it. And doesn't it look awesome in Cerulean Blue?

Click here to read the full review.

Thanks Per!

I got an email overnight from a Canadian reader, John M.

He begins thus:

I didn't buy my first Saab until about 13 years ago, a '83 non-turbo 900 for my wife. I was told at the used car lot that I would be nuts to take it to the local Saturn-Saab-Isuzu dealer for servicing, but that the local independent expert would do a good job servicing the car. That same week I bought a *shudder* Chrysler *Cringe* mini van that I needed for work. I naively thought that the Saab would likely be more trouble as it was older and didn't come with a warranty. Well needless to say I am now looking to buy my seventh used Saab and I don't know if I could EVER buy American again.

These Saabs do have a way of working themselves into your lives, don't they? They're a bit like pets but faster, more obedient and in most cases, easier to sit on.

Anyway, John's contemplating picking up another Saab for the family garage and continues as follows:

Question- I am considering buying a used Saab 93 or 95 wagon, probably a 2005 or '06. My heart says 93 Aero but there is a bigger discount for older 95's. What do you think?

I've passed on my opinion, which is that if they're around the same price, I'd look for a 9-5 Aero wagon. The B235R engine is a cracker, they're well equipped, safe, well sized and easily upgradeable if you want a bit more poke.

I do love the Saab 9-3 SportCombi. A 2006 model Aero with the V6 and button dash would be a dream come true.

But at similar money (if that's indeed the case) then I'd have to pick the 9-5 Aero. Especially if it has ventilated seats :-)

Comments are open for your thoughts on the 9-3 vs 9-5 wagon debate.

May 2nd, 2009:

I posted a story about Saabs sitting around on dealer lots with rather large discounts sitting on them. A Turbo X with 23% off, for example:

From the dealer:

The story about the Turbo X combi still sitting on a lot is all too true over here; I have one sitting in my showroom right now that is exactly the same story, it was MY demo for 3 months, has about 3000 miles on it, and is an absolute steal of a deal, but nobody will touch it- To give you an idea of what I'm talking about here, the thing was $46,105 sticker, and it's down to $35,542. That's 23% off! I've bought a suit for 23% off, maybe a toaster.... but a Turbo X?

From me:

If anyone's interested in picking up an X at a bargain price (or a Lynx Yellow convertible), shoot me an email and I'll put you in touch with John. He's on the US East Coast, but I'm sure he'll help out anyone. Ask for the extra special SU discount :-)

I got an email in my inbox about a week later from a guy named Mark, which I passed on to JohnC, the dealer who originally wrote to me. I hadn't thought any more about it.

June 11, 2009:

From JohnC:

Thanks for putting Mark O in contact with me, he's now the proud owner of our last Turbo X :-)

Here he is lining up for takeoff!

Congratulations to both Mark and JohnC on the deal.

These cars need good homes. I'm pleased to see another X making it's way to a caring owner.

Djup Strupe's been busy.

These are apparently some 9-5 mules, though they look quite Buick-ish to me at the front (which is probably the point of the dressups.)

I like the black wheels on the 9-3 to the left!

And finally, a Saab 9-3x TTiD looking very sweet in red.

My thanks to Djup Strupe and his long lens!!!!

It's been a long time since GM announced they were going to sell Saab. We've analysed every possibility six ways from Sunday and I'm pleased to say that I think it's almost over.

Or....it's only just beginning. I guess it depends on how you look at it.

My guess is that Saab and GM Europe are sitting down somewhere right now with the final three bidders and they'll have signatures on paper by the end of this week. Maybe we'll know at that time and maybe we won't, but I think they'll get it done.

The final three, as we've learned about them, are Renco, Koenigsegg and the latecomers from the US, Merbanco.

I thought I'd whip up a final pro vs con on these bidders. These points are just the few details we've been able to glean and my own opinions. I'm sure the opinions of others will vary, which is what comments are for.

------

Renco

Pro:

• Money, and presumably plenty of it, even if Ira Rennert lost a chunk in Bernie Madoff's scheme.
• Experience, and once again, plenty of it. Rennert's been involved in business for 50 years now; much of it international, plenty of it industrial and some of it directly in the automotive sector.

Con:

• An environmental record that's almost as dirty as La Oroya, the Peruvian city where he runs his lead smelter. In Renco's favour is the fact that it's cleaner than when he bought it in the late 1990s. Against is the fact that he's temporarily shuttering the plant in preference to finishing the cleanup he promised he'd complete by October this year.
• More environmental questions with regards to another of his companies, US Magesium, which was accused of dumping waste in a lake in Utah. Renco put US-Mag into bankruptcy instead of paying the almost $1billion fine. US-Mag has cleaned up since and received awards for doing so, but the original actions and steps taken to avoid responsibility leave questions.
• The two incidents above would be a marketing black hole for Saab if the Swedish press were to pursue them.
• A questionable business record concerned with junk bonds and pension funds.

------

Koenigsegg

Pro:

• That picture isn't enough? Do I have to say more?
• OK, tying up with Koenigsegg would be a marketing dream come true. Both are Swedish, both have a heritage of individuality. Just the name 'Koenigsegg' in a Saab review instead of the usual reference to GM and platform sharing would be worth sales in itself.
• The possibility for technological tie-ins could also be very worthwhile.

Con:

• Experience: Saab will need to cover the backoffice experience that they'll lose when they separate from GM. That experience is the global trading stuff that GM took care of. It's unlikely that Koenigsegg can cover this.
• Scale: this goes with experience. K-Segg make 20 cars a year. Saab are hoping to make 200,000 a year in a few years time. Will the powers that be let Saab's managers be Saab's managers? Bard Eker's recent comments about the number of engineers needed in a car company were a worry.
• Finance: Can a company that makes 20 cars a year - even at one million Euros per vehicle - muster up the financial resources to take this on?

------

Merbanco

Pro:

• Players that we've been able to identify appear to have a solid background involving manufacturing, technology, finance and global business.
• Identified experience with long term ventures
• Cited by Djup Strupe as being a good fit and long-term thinkers.
• Likely a front for pockets that are deep enough to and heads that are wise enough to help Saab through the challenges that are to come.

Con:

• The unknown nature of the people behind the point men for Merbanco. We can take it for granted that they're serious about turning Saab around, but until you know, then you just don't know. Countering that, they've come this far, been knocked back once and come again, so one would have to assume they're pretty committed to this.

------

I'd like to echo the thoughts and hopes of a few in comments and suggest that if Merbanco and Koenigsegg could get into a room and put together a joint venture of some sort, then that might be the absolute best outcome that we could hope for.

Merbanco's experience and funding along with Koenigsegg's appeal could take Saab one heck of a long way if you ask me.

I hope that's a possibility.

Failing that, from what I know I'd be happy to house my horses in Merbanco's stable (that's a little Wyoming cowboy talk for y'all).

What matters most is that Saab get the best possible buyer. One that will let management get on with the job of re-establishing this company and allowing Saab to get its message out, and it's cars into the hands of new drivers.

That's what it's all about - an open road and an inspiring car to drive.

And now, a message from our sponsor.....

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------

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--

Click to enlarge - that's a massive 35% off list prices on service items.

Click here to visit SaabUSA Parts

Just in case you missed this entry a few days ago, James wrote a heartfelt open letter to the people of Trollhattan - the people who make the cars that we all love and enjoy.

Throughout all the GM years, through all the bad press about Saab being GM's "Swedish loss-making car unit" you went to work at the Saab factory and did your best. YOU, the factory worker, the engine builder, the dash assembler, engineer... still desired to design and produce fun to drive, safe and reliable cars.....

....In closing allow me to say "Thank you" for building a safe, fun to drive car to haul myself, my wife and our three Shetland Sheepdogs in, we very much enjoy each and every flight!

Very soon the black clouds will disappear and a brighter day will shine on Trollhattan and Saab!

Best of luck to my new friends in Trollhattan!

A lot of readers echoed James' sentiments and I was pleased to publish them as they reflect my own feelings toward the people and the city of Trollhattan. I've been there, toured the city, the factory and met a number of the people - and I love the place.

What I wanted to share here in case people missed it the response from a couple of Saab people who read the letter.

Lundin went to the trouble of printing it and posting it at the Saab factory:

That's it to the right of the 9-3 poster.

These words accompanied the posting:

Thanks for you kind words. Today you contributed to a brighter future for Saab and made the difference for some workers here in Trollhättan.

And then there were these comments, from Emil:

Thank you James. I'm one of the engineers at the Trollhättan plant, each day wondering as I take off from home whether the radio news will announce a new owner. Rest assured that the current turmoil isn't getting to us though. Bucketloads of cool things are emanating from our workstations each day, and although production is low at the moment, even larger loads of shiny, new Saabs are coming off the line on the other side of the road.

Thanks for your kind words and thanks to those other commenters too, it's always nice to know what you do is appreciated.

Does anyone know of another car company where this sort of thing happens? Maybe some of the small producers have the ability to be in touch and share some sentiments between customers and workers.

I just feel it's part of the special atmosphere that surrounds Saab cars and the very real relationships that people share with them.

Group hug, everyone. Group hug.

After several optimistic quotes from the Swedish political establishment, it seems that the removal of Fiat from the list of potential owners for Saab has soured the mood of both Industry Minister, Maud Olofsson and even the Prime Minister, Fredrik Reinfeldt.

A quote from a recent news report:

"The problem with the car industry lies in the overproduction of cars that nobody wants to buy," he said. "Well, I must tell you: when a ship is sinking my main aim is to save the sailors - not the ship."

I'd like to reply with a respectful, short note to the Prime Minister.

------

Mr Reinfeldt,

Your comments with respect to the car industry have been noted and I understand your sentiments. Vehicle sales all over the world have fallen dramatically so your opinion on oversupply is warranted.

But is it also shortsighted?

Times will get better. People will start buying cars and other goods again. And it might be sooner than you think.

I don't need to tell you how important the vehicle manufacturing sector is to Sweden's economy. It's a major store for scientific and engineering excellence as well as being a major source of employment and taxation income. It builds communities.

And I'm sure I don't need to tell you that Saab are not a reason for that oversupply. They aim to sell probably 200,000 vehicles when they get back on their feet again. The 2009 market for automobiles, even in these depressed times, is estimated to be 9.5 million vehicles in the US alone, and even more than that in China. Saab's capacity is a drop in this ocean and they make fuel efficient, smaller vehicles rather than fuel-draining land yachts.

But more than that, Saab have a vehicle philosophy that is right for the time that we live in. Expertise in alternative fuels, for example. Saab led all of Europe in alternative fuel vehicle sales before the current crisis hit. They don't have a hybrid vehicle yet, but the word circulating is that they are very close to hybrid technology that will compete very well with the established players. They'll also sell that technology to GM, bringing in valuable export dollars.

Saab have a lot of potential. Their expertise in turbocharging technology and subsequent ability to 'rightsize' their vehicles is the right philosophy for the right time. They have a long track record of being environmental leaders in the automotive sector with decisions such as vehicle materials recycling, CFC-free air conditioning, BioPower technology. They are safety leaders, not to mention great Swedish ambassadors.

Saab have the right plan to build a successful automotive company again. All they need is the chance to implement it. To do that, they would benefit from your support.

Regards,

Steven Wade
www.saabsunited.com

I noted this a day or so ago, but neglected to write about it.

It's appeared in a number of reports, almost as a footnote, but it's something significant in my eyes. The report I've just seen it in is the TTELA report on Merbanco's inclusion in Saab ownership discussions.

The Googletrans:

Financial Times, which leans on two anonymous sources familiar with the sales process, also reveals that GM is willing to retain a small part of Saab, less than ten percent.

The sources describe the change in ownership as "very complex and unconventional". This is an arrangement in which GM may be a small purchase price, but ensures that get paid more in the future if the new owner being able to Saab for a profit.

I don't want to be too knee-jerk about this, but......

There's a new edition of Autocar on the news stands and if you're in the UK, you might want to check out the Saab stuff contained therein.

I've received some info from them, which I'm guessing is in the magazine, for reproduction here for the benefit of those who won't be able to rock up to their news stand and pick one up.

The info relates mostly to the Saab 9-4x and 9-5 interiors, as well as the segments Saab seeing these fit into. I know the 2010 Saab 9-5 is the one we're all really waiting to see, but I tend to agree with the point below, that the 9-4x is going to be a much more significant player than what many of us give it credit for.

My thanks to the guys at Autocar for the insights here.

------

Now the mag is out, I can say that the interior of the 9-4x concept is pretty much the interior of the 9-5. The real car has black switches on the centre console (rather than silver) and some of the switchgear detail by the shift lever has been tweaked.

This is the most detailed interior shot we have, though it's unknown if it features all the materials mentioned here. This is from a Saab 9-4x test vehicle. SW

On the production 9-5 Vector, the blue plastic dash finish on the concept is replaced by a deep blue tinted translucent plastic. (On) the back of moulding is a grid of tiny moulded squares (which you've already mentioned) which show through to the front under direct light.

The 9-4x concept steering wheel and stalks are production 9-5 as far as I remember. The production 9-4X also gets the same interior, give or take a few pieces.

--

Your readers made some interesting comments about the gap between the 9-5 and new 9-3. Saab is aware of the size of the 9-5 and made it clear it was being pitched as a flagship. However, the 9-4X is seen as sitting in that A4/3-series slot

According to the research they gave me, Saab buyers are more likely to have children in the household than other premium badge owners. They also said that the X3/Q5 was the 'fastest growing premium segment' at the moment. It's also a pretty global type of car, unlike the compact estate which doesn't sell in the US.

There's quite a strong argument that the 9-4X is the best way for Saab to compete globally in the A4/3-series segment, especially as Saab is going to purchase finished 'turn key' cars in dollars from GM's factory (which could deliver keen profit margins in Europe).

--

The other thing - confused in our report - is the three levels of suspension to be offered on the 9-5. Standard is McPherson strut and a four-link rear. You can also opt for the Hyper Strut front end which Bergstrom says is more rigid, so offering better steering and better NVH results. However, Saab will also offer the more sophisticated AWD rear axle without 4x4.

I'm not sure if Hyper Strut is standard on the 4x4 chassis.

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This is all very encouraging news, particularly concerning the interiors of the vehicles. I remember being very taken by the 9-4x concept interior last year in Detroit, so to hear that a similar level of finish is being built into the production 9-4x and 9-5 is great news.

I should also mention here the Djup Strup info I got about the 9-5 interior last week, which very much backs up what Autocar have reported here:

The cars they showed me -- 9-5 sedan + wagon + 9-4 -- didn't have interiors, but they did have a separate 9-5 interior set up alongside, and it had the same ice-like dashboard that you mention: dark blue I would say, studded with tiny bits coloured icy blue, quite gleamy and interesting. In shape it was, they said, an L shape dashboard and it felt very wrapped around the driver, almost two bays, one for the driver, one for the passenger (I exaggerate but you know what I mean)....... It also had a head up display, to project the indicators on the windscreen, as a top of the range thing, but I expect you already knew that, leather wrapped steering wheel etc.

Good stuff!

I'm really looking forward to driving the 9-4x. I don't know why as I'm not a SUV type at all (ok, crossover) but there's something about it that's appealing to me right now.

Autocar have a special bit on Saab in their print pubication this week. UK readers might want to check that one out as I know that Hilton Holloway has recently visited Sweden in person so there should be some juicy stuff in there, in addition to the 9-5 stuff they published earlier in the week.

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News reports started swirling again about Beijing Automotive being interested in Saab. This was thanks to a (big publication out of China) Gasgoo report that mentions the following:

Beijing Automotive Industry Corp (BAIC), the local partner of Germany's Daimler in China, may bid for General Motors' Saab unit after its attempt to acquire Opel looks unlikely to succeed

BAIC were one of the original three suitors for Saab a few weeks ago, but seemed to lose interest when they put in a last-minute bid for Opel. I haven't heard anything of them since that time from any sources.

My take: This is weeks-old news and personally, I'll not spend any more time with it. It's just one paper dredging up some old news and a bunch of others following.

One of the Dagens papers in Sweden has a far more interesting (and as far as I can see, accurate) story saying that Saab people are now in Switzerland and in final discussions with their three real potential buyers: Renco, Koenigsegg and Merbanco.

I'd love to be a fly on the wall in that room!!

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And with that meeting in mind, Autocar has published a story online stating that Koenigsegg, in a partnership of some type with the Swedish government, will be the winning bidders for Saab.

I'm quite unsure about this, especially given Maud Olofsson's recent mumblings, and the PM's as well. I can't see the government taking any risk with Saab other than loan guarantees to the right bidder.

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The US house of reps has just passed the cash for clunkers legislation.

From Autoblog:

.....if your car gets 18 mpg or less and you trade in for a new vehicle the achieves at least 22 mpg, you receive a $3,500 voucher, or $4,500 if the mileage of the new vehicle is 10 mpg higher than your previous heap. SUV, pickup truck and minivan buyers are eligible for a $3,500 voucher if their vehicle gets at least two mpg higher than their trade-in and $4,500 if the vehicle gets five mpg more than their older model. The vehicle has to have been insured for the last year and there is no trade-in value beyond the voucher. The program is also available for leases. Dealers are required to provide proof that the vehicle (1984 MY or later) has been crushed or shredded, and the government estimates that around 25 million vehicles are eligible.

So if you've got an old(ish) clunker Chevy out in the back yard, this might be the time to cash it in for a new Saab.

There are plenty of good incentives around.

How abouts a little visual feast to divert your mind from all this news?

How abouts a little Hirsch action? TTiD Hirsch action, to be specific.

Belgian website Auto55 did a recent review of the Saab 9-3 TTiD SportCombi as modified by Saab own factory tuners, Hirsch Performance.

I think this is a nice little visual reminder of what we're all cheering for: a stonkingly good, fun and practical every day car. I don't think it gets any better.

Click to enlarge:

The internet has made the world an astoundingly small place, hasn't it?

Providing you can trust everything you read (which you should be able to from the Securities Exchange Commission), we have these interesting details that readers have dug up and placed in comments.

This gives us a good background as to who some of the people associated with Merbanco are.

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UPDATE: from Henry Strupe (Djup Strupe's american brother)

What we've dug up here is useful as a sketch, but that's pretty much all it is. An outline. The substance to this lies in the people behind the scenes, for which Merbanco is acting as a front office.

His words:

Merbanco is nothing but a playform to source. Deals are always in an entity created for the specific deal.

Merbanco is a mule.

So whilst what we know is valuable and reassuring, it's also incomplete.

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Christopher A. Johnston has been President and Chief Executive Officer of Merbanco, Inc. ("Merbanco"), a merchant banking company, since 1991 (see "CERTAIN FMP TRANSACTIONS"), and President and Chief Executive Officer and director of FMP since its organization in 1996. He also served as President of Republic Realty Mortgage Co. from 1992 to 1995. He is a citizen of the United States and his principal occupation and employment is as President of Merbanco, Incorporated. He is a director and President of Acquisition Corp. Christopher A. Johnston is the son of Richard P. Johnston and brother of David E. Johnston.

Richard P. Johnston has been Chairman of the Board of Merbanco since 1991 (see "CERTAIN FMP TRANSACTIONS"), served as Chairman of the Board of Republic Realty Mortgage Co., a commercial mortgage company, from 1992 to 1995, was Managing Director of Hamilton Robinson & Co., an investment advisory company, from 1991 to 1994, and has been Chairman of the Board and director of FMP since its organization in 1996. Mr. Johnston is a founder and a director of AGCO Corporation (AG: NYSE), a farm implement manufacturer and distributor, a director of Myers Industries, Inc. (MYE: AMEX) a plastic and rubber products manufacturer, a director of Results Radio LLC, a radio broadcasting company, and Hotels Online.com, an internet service provider for hotels. Richard P. Johnston is the father of Christopher A. Johnston and David E. Johnston.

The SEC information says that Richard Johnston is a co-founder and director of AGCO. This doesn't appear to be current. More recent information also in comments indicates as follows:

Mr. Richard P. Johnston serves as Director of Myers since 1992. He Currently a private equity investor; Chairman of the Board of Royal Associates, a holding company based in Jackson Hole, Wyoming; Director of Results Radio, Inc., Sonoma, California; formerly served as Founder and Director of AGCO, Inc. (NYSE), Duluth, Georgia, a manufacturer and distributor of agricultural equipment.

David E. Johnston - information removed as it doesn't seem relevant to proceedings here.

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As mentioned in comments, the AGCO connection, although no longer current, is a significant one. AGCO are a huge, global company involved in the manufacture and distribution of agricultural equipment and it appears that one of the Merbanco players was part of the formation of this company.

From their website:

AGCO is one of the world's largest manufacturers and distributors of agricultural equipment. Our brands are sold in more than 140 countries and are led by these four core global brands:

• Massey Ferguson
• Valtra
• Challenger
• Fendt

Technical diversity, multiple brands, and global distribution strength are the keys to AGCO's growth strategy. Major market share positions in key agricultural markets of the world have been achieved by our strong focus on customer service, leading edge technology and an independent dealer network of more than 3,000 full service dealers - the largest distribution network in the industry.

AGCO's innovative products continuously receive recognition and awards at international exhibitions, but our most coveted award is the recognition of our wide-range of products by farmers and dealers across the globe.

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Remember that Merbanco appears to be a merchant banking operation and from these descriptions it seems that father (Richard) and son (Christopher) are involved in Merbanco.

It's likely not just them, however, with clients or contacts in the background that are part of the deal.

The good news is that this background involves

• plenty of experience
• global experience
• financial experience
• manufacturing experience
• long-term development of a significant manufacturing company

.....and there's no bitter aftertaste.

If this is what it appears to be then I think we've found a buyer for Saab just about anyone can support.

I hope they go well. Very well.

I don't think this was/is much of a worry, but it's news. And unlike the last story, it's current, too *blush*

As I understand it, Saab's 'composition' proposal has to be agreed to by 75% of their creditors.

Dagens Industri has done a quick whip around and envisage no problems prior to the deadline for agreement on June 17.

ctm has the highlights for us:

• Time for creditor meeting on Wednesday next week.
• More than half have agreed on writing down debts and getting only 25%.
• To pass the meeting next week, at least 75% have to agree.
• The paper did an informal check and didn't find any opposed.
• "We supply Saab with parts, make money on that, and don't want to put Saab into bankruptcy. What would we gain by doing that?" is one reply.
• Only the Swedish Tax Agency, representing the State's claims, is opposed. They want to see an owner first.

I guess the need to see the new owner means that the decision is unlikely to be delayed beyond that point.

Whether we'll know the outcome by then is another matter.

It's good to hear another milestone in this process is likely to be passed without incident.

UPDATE:

I got this link in my inbox, see, and thought "now there's someone I'd like to hear from at the moment". So off I went with the translator, without looking at the date.

Though if you haven't read it yet, please feel free to go ahead. It's good to see where things are heading. Kjell ac Bergstrom and his team are the Aces up Saab's sleeve in this whole reconstruction thing.

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Auto Motor and Sport have done an interview with GM Powertrain Sweden chief, Kjell ac Bergstrom.

I met Mr Bergstrom in Sweden back in 2007 and was fascinated by the brief conversation I had with him. Let's just say that I'd like to have taken his personal car for a ride. He's been described to me by various parties as both a genius and a mad-man, two characteristics that often go together. Let's just say that under his oversight, Saab could have a lot of interesting things in the pipeline.

Swedes will want to go through to the original Swedish version at AMS. Here's the Googletrans for the rest of us.

--

"Ethanol fuel is a dream!"
Pär Brandt - 2008-06-03 19:26

Swedish engineers at GM Powertrain Sweden have the major responsibility for developing the technologies of the future of General Motors. New, turbo-charged engines, ethanol is the "right size" is just one example. Kjell AC Bergström, manager of GM Powertrain Sweden, talks in an interview about what we can expect in the future.

General Motors is a big family that spans the entire world and with thousands of engineers who develop new models and new technologies. GM has previously found it difficult to 'understand' the Saab brand - but now it has become much better - however, it has not had any problems to realize what good engineers there are in Trollhättan and Södertälje.

GM Powertrain Sweden is an important group of General Motors. It develops advanced technology for a variety of car models, including the upcoming Saab 9-4X and the new-generation 9-5 and 9-3. We had an opportunity to sit down and talk with the head of GM Powertrain Sweden, Kjell AC Bergström, and got a little hunch about what we can expect in the near future.

auto motor & sport, ams: What product groups do you work on at GM Powertrain Sweden to develop for GM?

Kjell AC Bergström (KB): We essentially have our hand on three areas: DCT (drive-by double coupling), "charging" (supercharger with turbo and / or compressor) and "control" (control system with a global architecture for the entire GM).

ams: That sounds ambitious! Who decides the priority of jobs?

KB: I am responsible, receive assignments and report directly to the heads at Detroit. Financially, we receive funds from a "pot" that all producers contribute to in return for each make of car to choose freely from all the technical solutions and components. Furthermore, we have a fund that finances new technology, which GM calls the "ATW", Advanced Technology Workgroup. The heads of Saab in Trollhättan will affect not my department's work, although we obviously listening and performing tasks. It is Detroit that has the last word.

The Financial Times put a name to the mysterious western US bidder today and that name is Merbanco. They haven't been available for direct comment yet and like all other outlets covering the Saab story, I'm trying.

Until then, I have tapped some sources. Let's call him *Djup Strupe's american brother, Henry.

What I've been able to find out about Merbanco is as follows:

You probably won't have heard the individual names behind Merbanco before, but you'll be familiar with some of the brand names they've worked with.

I can't mention them here but they're names involved in global business, with manufacturing and technology. This is some really wide ranging experience dating back over 30 years with involvement in automotive, agricultural, finance and legal - and it's all very wide-ranging in geographical terms.

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UPDATE: Can confirm that Merbanco were one of the original parties to place a bid on Saab. They're not any sort of late entrant but have toured the premises and have been watching developments since their initial bid was declined by Deutsche Bank.

UPDATE II: Can confirm that FT.com has it right. Merbanco is the returning player involved in the process.

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As has been mentioned here at SU before, Saab are going to be missing some important components once they separate from GM.

Saab will be a company that sells products globally, but many of the global business operations people that worked for Saab before have moved on and these operations have been provided by GM.

Think in terms of capital markets, currencies, long range business planning etc. Expertise in all this stuff is a necessity for a global manufacturing business. To put it in simple terms, what Saab might be missing in the back office is something that could be Merbanco's forte.

If they're coming in with the idea of providing the missing pieces (funding, support, business expertise) and allowing the Swedes do what they do best (design and build cars), then this could be a very nice match indeed.

It's these areas of expertise that were of concern in my piece about Koenigsegg last week. Koenigsegg is a marketers dream but questions about their finance and expertise in big business still linger. I could definitely live with a Koenigsegg takeover, but this Merbanco offering is tantalising because it could allow Saab to be Saab.

That's a pretty important thing.

I'm not getting carried away just yet with all this. A merchant bank from a tax haven state could be a recipe for strip and flip as well. But if they've managed to get access to the table again at this late stage (and not to forget Henry Strupe's description, above) then I'd say they've convinced the right people that they've got the right motives.

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UPDATE III: Can confirm from un-named sources that Merbanco are definitely seen as a good fit for the organsiation. They have a long-term outlook and an emphasis on management support.

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* Djup Strupe is a fictional name used to protect sensitive sources. The name means Deep Throat in Swedish. Therefore his cousin Henry is also fictional but real at the same time.

Thanks to Ted in comments, I've managed to track down an article at the Financial Times which puts a name to that mystery western US bidder that I mentioned last week.

Three groups have entered bids for Saab, General Motors' insolvent Swedish car brand, and GM will choose a preferred bidder by the end of this week in a spin-off it will largely finance itself.

Koenigsegg, the Swedish supercar maker; Renco, a private holding that bought and turned around the maker of Humvee military vehicles, and a third group of investors from the US state of Wyoming have expressed interest in Saab, according to two people briefed on the sale.

GM has invited the three groups to meet for talks this week, ahead of the planned signing of a memorandum of understanding with one or more of them, according to one of the two people, who requested anonymity because details of the sale are confidential. Koenigsegg and Saab declined to comment, and Renco was unavailable for comment on Monday.....

....The third group, private investors who trade as Merbanco, could not be reached for comment on Monday.

Merbanco do not have a website as far as I can tell, but I have some leads and hope they'll be willing to talk a little about their plans for Saab.

So far we have worries in terms of Renco's record and worries in terms of Koenigsegg's scale and finance. If these guys were as liked as sources last week said they were, then now's a good time to say why and sell your message.

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UPDATE: I've tried a few different contacts and have managed to compile some info, but it seems Merbanco have gone to the mattresses. We'll see what pans out overnight (US time)

Remember, they haven't confirmed this to FT.com as yet, so we're all chasing our tails a little on this one.

The geography fits, though, and as a few have noted in comments, there's a fair bit of money in tax-friendly Wyoming.

On one hand, you have the sale of a brand like Hummer, which attracts little interest because the vehicles contain no desireable elements and it gets sold to some corner-store outfit that no-one can trace.

On the other hand, you have the sale of Saab, which whilst it's making us all crazy with the time it's taking, is progressing slowly because there IS genuine interest from some serious players.

And here's one reason why, and it's also written about as a reason why Saab people are patient and optimistic about a sale being done the right way.

This story appears in Ny-Teknik, the Swedish publication for tech types. My thanks to Olav and Thomas, who both sent in links for this one.

Here's the Googletrans:

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Hybrid technology - Saab's trump card

GM is now going in a controlled bankruptcy is no threat to the Saab or the sale of Saab. The reason is that GM must have technology from Saab in the future.

Hybrid technology and security expertise is Saab's trump card in the final negotiations with GM and a new owner. This makes the Saab people do not feel concerned even when the GM is now going in a controlled bankruptcy.

- If GM will live on after a reorganization is dependent on technology from Saab, Saab spokeswoman says Gunilla Gustafs.

GM may therefore be a series of agreements on future cooperation and development in exchange for, among other waiver Saab debts of several billion for a sale.

- It's about safety and especially on hybrid technology of various kinds from Saab that GM has in their product plans. Saab has really skilled technicians who have developed special skills that are of interest to GM in the future, "says Gunilla Gustafs.

Saab engineers have, inter alia, had principal responsibility for development of hybrid technology in Europe, and helped with a range of technologies including GMS American hybrids.

It is these agreements, together with the fact that GM actually want to get rid of Saab, which will in Trollhättan looks pretty cool on what is currently happening in Washington.

A prerequisite for the Saab will be able to comply with its reorganization plan is that GM canceled the debts of ten billion. In addition, GM supply Saab with the tools to manufacture the new 9-5 in Sweden.

- In theory, in a "worst case", would GM, or a bankruptcy trustee be able to say that the promises do not apply anymore. But neither we nor the companies are speculators on Saab has received no indications that it may happen, "says Gunilla Gustafs.

There's only one person I can think of who could get me to say a kind word about Cadillac - that would be my Dad, and he passed away 24 years ago.

So instead of trying to manufacture a kind word about GM's pet, I'll simply direct you to Automobiles Deluxe and let you watch 7 minutes of Caddy-kindness for yourselves.

Why would I do this?

For starters, I know that some people - even here - still maintain a respect for Cadillac, what they might have represented in the past and the renaissance they've undergone in the last few years. If that's you, then here's something grand.

Secondly, the video's been made by an old friend of Trollhattan Saab and SU, Gunnar Heinrich. He's the too-smooth man in the jacket asking the questions.

And third, like every video that Gunnar and his ADL posse makes, this one's superb to watch (even if it is about Cadillac)

Renco-watch:

Doe Run Peru - the smelter operated by Renco and one of the primary reasons I'm concerned about them as an owner of Saab - is closing down for 90 days. This is due to ongoing uncertainty with regards to Renco's inability to adhere to cleanup provisions, as well as weak commodity prices.

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Further to James' great letter of thanks to the people of Trollhattan, AFP have a story today about the impact that Saab's difficult year is having on the locals there.

It's a good read.

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If you like your Swedish metal in both flavours - Saab and Volvo, then you should ckeck out the images at the following links:

Jeff attended a Saab/Volvo event at Redondo beach in southern California. There were heaps of great cars (including Walter Wong's Sideways convertible) and just as many great people in attendance. Thanks for the heads-up, Jeff.

Also, there's a folio of photos at Flickr that have been taken at both the Saab and Volvo museums. I've never seen the Volvo museum before, so it's an interesting walk through the other Swede's past.

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Some alarming openness from Fritz Henderson when it comes to the sale of Hummer:

[Comment From Todd Lassa ]

How did a Chinese company with no prior history or experience in personal vehicle production snag the Hummer division? And can you comment on reports that the Opel-Magna deal isn't final?

Fritz Henderson: with regard to hummer, the potential buyer sichuan tenzhong offered the best overall alternative, and we did not have broad portfolio of other buyers!

Of course, the Hummer deal is far from done just yet. Apparently the Chinese government isn't all that happy with the idea and may veto the transaction, though I find it strange that this company could bid at all without the Chinese government's say-so.

h/t to Autoprophet

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The Chrysler/Fiat deal is also hitting a snag today, with a group of creditors appealing to the US Supreme Court in a bid to stall or even cancel the transaction. They are claiming that the deal is an improper use of TARP funds, which were earmarked for troubled assets of a different kind (mostly bad mortgages, IIRC).

If they are successful, it'll definitely have a huge bearing on GM's bankruptcy process.

Thanks None!

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And finally, Autoblog are showing a video where Sir Sterling Moss gives a tour around his London home.

Sir Sterling is, of course, the brother to the late Pat Moss and thereby the brother-in-law of Mr Saab, Erik Carlsson.

It's definitely worth a watch as the house is full of 1970s cool gadgetry and a modern racy elevator as well.

James (aka 74Stingray) shot me an email with this idea: that he'd like to write a letter just to let the people of Trollhattan know just how much enjoyment he's received from his car, which they built in the Saab factory there.

I'd had a similar idea in mind but hadn't got around to addressing it, but the more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea of Someone other than me passing on these sentiments.

One, I think the people of Trollhattan know how much I love the place and the superb work they do. And two, James' 9-3SC is his first Saab and I liked the idea of someone being moved enough by their first encounter with Saab to want to write about it in this manner.

So - to the good people in the good city of Trollhattan: this one's for you....

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Open Letter to Saab Employees: Thank you for having made, and continuing to make, fine automobiles.

In all the hustle and bustle of the automotive industry with GM and Chrysler filing bankruptcy, Opel, Fiat, Renco and Geely... all the big names are mentioned, the dollar amounts are thrown around, but the key part is often forgotten.... The assembly line workers in Trollhattan.

Throughout all the GM years, through all the bad press about Saab being GM's "Swedish loss-making car unit" you went to work at the Saab factory and did your best. YOU, the factory worker, the engine builder, the dash assembler, engineer... still desired to design and produce fun to drive, safe and reliable cars.

For 10 years I have worked and maintained Ejection Seats for the Pennsylvania Air National Guard here in the United States.... But due to the "Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC)" of 2005, I will be out of work in a few months as my unit gets forced to close. But each and every day I still produce expertly maintained and safe ejection seats. I feel a dedication to my career as you do, to produce quality each and every day on the job. You have no end date, you go to work not knowing if an end date will come.... but still you produce beautiful, safe and downright fun to drive automobiles.

Honestly, I never thought I would buy a Saab until I test drove and bought a "Certified pre-owned" 2006 Sportcombi in February 2009. The looks of the car grabbed me, the rush of the turbo power refused to let me go. Since then I have fallen in love with the car and the Saab brand.

Each morning I read Saab news on "saabsunited" and eagerly await the 9-3X's arrival in the US. I speak highly of my "combi" to fellow car enthusiasts here at work as they have Hondas, Nissans, Audis ect. They love to brag about how reliable their cars are. When they drone on about their cars I ask "But do you get excited to drive it?" and I always get the same response: they look at me strangely..... You see, I love driving my Saab. I drive it as much as I can and enjoy each mile I log on it.

In closing allow me to say "Thank you" for building a safe, fun to drive car to haul myself, my wife and our three Shetland Sheepdogs in, we very much enjoy each and every flight!

Very soon the black clouds will disappear and a brighter day will shine on Trollhattan and Saab!

Best of luck to my new friends in Trollhattan!

James
(74stingray)

This is a new insight....

Gulfnews (of all papers) has a story I haven't seen anywhere else about Saab being sold and in that story they mention the following:

The second potential bidder, Renco Group of US investor Ira Rennert, is heavily opposed by Sweden's unions, the sources say, given that any deal would raise suspicions about a short-time financial investor trying to dismember the carmaker in a bid to sell its profitable parts, such as Saab's renowned turbo technology.

Whilst Saab claim that all potential suitors have seen and committed to their business plan, and have professed a long term interest in Saab, the unions obviously aren't buying it.

This has been a concern for a number of people on this site as well, though it hasn't figured as prominently as Renco's environmental record. I guess it's par for the course when it comes to companies that specialise in investment rather than specialise in cars. Renco, despite having several companies under their wing that deliver hard goods, are seen in this light.

I've had a few interesting things come in over the last few days that I'd like to share here. We'll attribute them to Djup Strupe, shall we?

First of all, there's some clearer photos of the cars that have been shown to prospective company owners and more recently, some journos, in Saab's showroom of the future at the Saab Museum in Trollhattan.

All have car covers on them, but there's still some details to be had from looking them over.

First, the Saab 9-4x.

I don't know what's coming over me (must be the swineflu taking over) but I'm feeling quite enthused about this vehicle and am very antsy about the fact that it seems ready to go, but won't be seen for the best part of another year.

If it drives as well as I think it will, and is priced as competitively as what I think it should be (Caddy SRX starts at $33K in the US) then this could be a real bonus for Saab.

And then there's the 9-5 sedan and wagon.

You can see through the cover here that the headlight trim is indeed quite thin compared to the current Dame Edna look, which should be a little more comforting to some.

Those rims look interesting too.

And the wagon seems to have some very good lines, including side-rear windows that are very reminiscent of the current 9-5 wagon. That's a good thing.

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Knowing that one recent visitor was heading for a visit, I asked if they could pay attention to the interior materials.

The response:

The cars they showed me -- 9-5 sedan + wagon + 9-4 -- didn't have interiors, but they did have a separate 9-5 interior set up alongside, and it had the same ice-like dashboard that you mention: dark blue I would say, studded with tiny bits coloured icy blue, quite gleamy and interesting. In shape it was, they said, an L shape dashboard and it felt very wrapped around the driver, almost two bays, one for the driver, one for the passenger (I exaggerate but you know what I mean)....... It also had a head up display, to project the indicators on the windscreen, as a top of the range thing, but I expect you already knew that, leather wrapped steering wheel etc.

Very, very interesting.......

Woodz sent me a link to a story at Lancaster Online, about a guy named Brandon Hollinger who has turned what looks like it should have been a parts car into a fully functioning electric vehicle.

Not the tidiest looking Saab, eh? Well, this is actually the good one. Hollinger bought a pair of Saab 96s - one to use and one for bits - and having never previously built anything in his life, proceeded to turn his 'keeper' Saab 96 into a rechargeable electric car.

This is Hollinger with the engine bay of his 96. V4 "out", batteries and 96-volt electric motor "in". Yes, a 96-volt motor for a 96. Poetic.

Of course, what I like about this story is that it's not only a Saab being featured (which is good), but it's a Saab guy being featured. As you can see in the still shot from the video, below, Brandon also owns a Saab 900 Turbo, which still runs on dino-juice.

The full story, with pictures and video, is available here.

Thanks WooDz!

Hilton Holloway from Autocar.co.uk has just spent a little time over in Trollhattan and he's posted a pretty decent writeup of Saab's future plans on the site.

It's the lead story at the moment, so it's great to see Saab getting this sort of positive press.

The CGI image they're using is apparently the closest we've seen yet to the real thing (and that's not the artist telling me that - it's a contact at Saab).

Link: Saab 9-5 and future plans at Autocar

The dot points:

• 9-5 vs Insignia - longer wheelbase and unique styling inside and out.
• Standard and premium suspension offerings. Engines from little diesel to 2.8V6 petrol.
• Another facelift of the 9-3 before a new one comes along, based on modified Delta II architecture (this will be the 'smaller car' they're referring to in current adverts)
• A model of the proposed next 9-3 has been shown to prospective buyers (though I've heard - just quietly - that it's not too Saaby)
• Saab plan to design future cars in-house, using off-the-shelf parts they'll be able to purchase from multiple suppliers. Think small boxed Lego set vs access to huge tubs of Lego pieces.
• Engine development deals to be done with various suppliers.

It's a very good read and well worth your 5 minutes or so.

So.........I probably overpaid for the MX-5 - a little.

I gave it a pretty thorough test drive a few weeks ago, but not long enough to get it to tell me what it told me today. As it turns out, the clutch gets a bit jiggery in first and reverse when the car is warmed up, so I might have to shell out for that quite soon.

It also ran a little hotter than expected. I got off the boat this morning and hit 110 on the highway, which is the posted speed limit here, and it nearly overheated. I slowed down to 80 to cruise to the next town, topped up the water and eventually the car was able to run at a temp that made me comfortable at 100.

The radiator fan is cutting in OK, so I'm going to put a new thermostat in tomorrow, flush the cooling system and take it for another spin.

I'm not unhappy or disappointed. Not at all. I'll call that overpayment the price I had to pay to secure the only "smurf blue" one for sale in decent shape, with a hard-top and in a convenient location.

It's been great fun already and will be a blast to play with. Hopefully I'll get some better photos tomorrow, too.

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As yet, I haven't grown a snout.

I'm still eating like a pig, though.

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So what do you think is the particular project being undertaken here?

The answer is after the jump......

RE-Posted

This is the biggest entry of the day, so I thought I'd re-post it back to the top of the site. Subsequent entries continue below

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I've been collecting bits of information for the last few days about various players in this Saab sale process. I think we're at a point now where I need to put some of them on paper.

These are the collected tips from several Djup Strupes (that's swedish for Deep Throat) who are well placed to know.

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Bidder re-emerging

I don't have a name for the consortium that's trying to get back in the bidding process, but I have managed to get a few details.

The bidder has been reported to me as a consortium based in the western United States. They're reported to be very serious players with a long term outlook and a genuine interest in developing Saab. The group was reportedly extremely well received by the team at Saab but their initial bid was seen as too low by Deutsche Bank, who are working on behalf of GM to find a buyer for Saab (more on that in a moment).

There is not much more that I can say about this group except that they are trying to get back in the game. Whether they have been successful in that, and whether they are the only ones trying to get back, I also don't know.

With a description like that, though, I'd like to see them get back amongst the fray.

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Koenigsegg concerns

Something that popped up in comments here got me crunching some numbers today. Combine the results with some Djup Strupe whispers and it's got me to the point of being concerned about Koenigsegg's bid for Saab.

Koenigsegg reportedly sold around 20 vehicles last year. At a price between 750,000 and 1mil Euros per car, that means a ballpark figure of up to 20million Euros in revenue, at most, from automotive sales.

I'm not sure what other revenue streams K-Segg might have; maybe they do engineering work for others and I guess they might have some servicing revenue with an intense customer service focus, but at most you're looking at revenues of less than 30million Euros in total.

My concerns are not whether Koenigsegg can scale up and take supervision of a mass producer. They only build a handful of cars at a time, but their construction method is one that is designed to be upscaled. And Saab management would still be Saab management.

My concerns, even with Bard Eker on board, are that their combined businesses just don't make enough money for them to be adequately financing this bid. They must be the pretty face fronting for (a lot of) other people's money.

The most worrying part is the Djup Strupe whispers that came through this week - that they might be having some trouble getting that money together.