SaabsUnited.com

Last night, I covered some initial reports from the Spyker Shareholder meeting held yesterday in Zeewolde. There were more reports that came through both in comments and in other news sources that I’d like to bring to the front page here.
Here are some of the issues……
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Spyker must become profitable
Spyker Cars itself has to be profitable when Saab has become profitable, if not… they might sell Spyker. “I am not keen “to sell my own baby, but Spyker soon have to become profitable,” added Muller. The CEO says that if Saab is profitable, Spyker should be if it would not qualify herself for sale. Muller has always said that Saab will be profitable again in 2012.
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Corporate name change to Saab Spyker
Spyker Cars NV still wants to add Saab to their company-name, but there are still some legal issues to solve with regard to this.
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Breakeven
Saab’s break-even is currently 105,000 vehicles. Management hopes to lower that number to 85,000 vehicles.
The company expects to produce over 50,000 vehicles this year, growing towards 100,000 vehicles next year and profitability, as per the business plan, in 2012.
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Stock listing
Victor Muller still has plans to list the company’s stock somewhere other than in Amsterdam, where it’s currently listed. Investigations are still underway, he said, but a listing in London is a tedious operation.
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Spyker production to double
Spyker expect to produce 75 vehicles this year, compared with just 31 in 2009. Dagens Industri, in their usual way, called this statement ‘dazzling’.
2009 saw Spyker move production from Holland to England as well as the Saab purchase. 2010 will see a more co-ordinated production facility and wider distribution (eventually) so making 75 cars really isn’t that much of a stretch.
What Spyker need to do is find customers for them all, which should be a lot easier with the publicity they’ve had this year and a wider distribution network.
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A smaller Saab car
“The Saab 9-2 is clearly on the forefront of our priorities,” Muller said during a news briefing after the shareholders’ meeting, adding the market data in support of producing such a car was “irresistible”.
However, Muller made clear that to add such a car to its line-up, Saab would need substantial new capital and also a partner with whom to design and produce the car. He said the model would also have to stand out sharply from the other cars in the segment.
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Sources:
RobertP via comments.
Article 1 at fd.nl
Article 2 at fd.nl
Reuters

Spyker have held a General Shareholder Meeting in Holland and according to the Telegraaf newspaper, all seems to have gone well.

You can get a copy of the meeting agenda and notes from the Spyker Cars website (pdf).

A Googletrans from Telegraaf:

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ZEEWOLDE (AFN) – The production of the Swedish car maker Saab is going according to plan. Factory orders have risen since the takeover by the Dutch Spyker Cars in February. That said CEO Jan-Ake Jonsson, Saab’s general meeting on Thursday Spyker.

Spyker CEO Victor Muller said he intends to decide the summer on whether to maintain the listing on the Amsterdam stock exchange. He would like listings in Stockholm and London, where the share is expected to be more then traded in Amsterdam.

Saab aims for this year on sales of 50,000 cars. Production should amount to 53,800 pieces, said Jonsson. The objective of, inter alia the introduction of new models. The Saab 9-5 can now be ordered, but only in late May formally marketed.

2011

Early 2011, the 9-4X track and in 2012, the 9-3. Saab also looking at developing a new compact car, the 9-1.

Saab wants its main plant in Trollhättan Sweden back to the production and sale of pre-crisis level of about 100,000 to 125,000 units per year, including the 9-4X will be built in Mexico.

Muller said that Spyker still think about the production of an SUV, but that no decisions have been made. “We therefore have no fixed commitments with third parties”said Muller.

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All sounds OK to me.

It’s my understanding that a press release should be forthcoming from this soon as well. I’ll probably be asleep by then, so please keep one another informed. I believe there may be a statement in that release pertaining to and clarifying the Saab GB episode that sent the Swedish press into a fit earlier this week.

I made enquiries about it and heard that that may be the case, but I don’t want to pre-empt the statement by releasing what I understand will be said about the issue. I will say, however, that it’s pretty much how I summed it up earlier this week – it’s a different entity and Saab Automobile’s operations are not affected by the pooling of the rest of Spyker Cars NV’s resources.

Thanks to Jos for the Telegraaf link.