Meeting this morning
July 27, 2011 in Uncategorized
We have heard from different sources this morning that a meeting is or has been held with the management of Saab and the unions. What is being discussed we will not speculate on at this time.
You are browsing the archive for 2011 July.
by TimR
by Jeff
Press Release: Saab delays wages for white-collar employees
July 26, 2011 in News
Zeewolde, The Netherlands, 26 July 2011 – Swedish Automobile N.V. (Swan) announces that Saab Automobile AB (Saab Automobile) has delayed payment of the wages to its white-collar employees as some of the funds that were committed by investors were not paid in time to effect such salary payments. Saab Automobile is taking all necessary actions to collect these funds and continues discussions with various parties to obtain additional short-term funding so that the payments can be made.
Swan will update the market of any new developments.
Obviously, this is bad news but given the day to day liquidity issues at Saab that we’re well familiar with, this isn’t necessarily huge news. I’m not trying to downplay this move, but it’s seems less severe than the last wage delay, and it shows that the executives are taking responsibility and the hardest hit first. The news that Youngman, Pang Da, and Saab will be meeting this week to inject new liquidity into Saab (covered in the next article) is welcome news which we all hope pans out. The second to last sentence of the press release seems to confirm that.
by Jeff
Reports indicate Saab will build cars in Tianjin, China *UPDATE: Youngman May Make New Investment*
July 26, 2011 in News
According to China Car Times, Saab will set up shop with partner Youngman in Tianjin, a city near Beijing. It is also the site of Great Wall Motor’s new plant, serves as a major automotive import hub, and is home to many major Chinese suppliers.
CCT mentions that they’ve heard reports that Saab sent a team of engineers to Youngman and found that their existing production lines (which a commenter mentions in the same article are elsewhere in the Guizhou to Shangdong provinces) can easily handle the additional 150,000 vehicles a year when they’re brought online. They say that the plant would be operational in 2 years at the earliest, and that they would need to import cars in the meantime. I’m sure the workers in Trollhattan would be more than happy to ramp up production to cover the difference if Pang Da is placing orders for tens of thousands of Saabs.
by TimR
Enforcement Agency Procedure
July 25, 2011 in News
The swedish enforcement agency has said to DN (original article here) that the procedure for them now is to look at Saab’s bank accounts to check if there is any cash available. If not they will claim the amounts in hardware from Saab.
The largest debt out of the 104 cases is a total of 44 million SEK from IAC, is NOT one of the cases now being looked at!
by TimR
Enforcement agency acts at 15:00 CET
July 25, 2011 in News
At 15:00 the swedish enforcement agency will have taken a decision about the 40 cases they have received from different suppliers regarding unpaid invoices to Saab. The agency will inform the suppliers and Saab about its verdict. Read the rest of this entry →
by TimR
Bankruptcy demand – withdrawn!
July 25, 2011 in News
This morning SweParts together with its CEO Lars Thunberg withdrew the demand for bankruptcy of Saab Tools due to unpaid invoices. According to TTELA, Saab and SweParts have agreed upon a payment plan thus eliminating the need for the demand. Read the rest of this entry →
by TimR
Hirsch upgrades – door handles
July 25, 2011 in Hirsch
One of the most important items but probably also, one of the most neglected, are the inner door handles. Not a lot of people pay much attention to them when looking at the car, but to be honest compared to most things in the car, they are one of the things you use most! Read the rest of this entry →
by TimR
Salaries have been paid
July 25, 2011 in News
This is the headline of some Swedish newspapers! That Saab has paid the salaries to their employees this month.
by TimR
Enforcement agency decides upon Saab cases monday morning…
July 24, 2011 in News
Tomorrow is an important day for Saab. Approximately 40 cases filed by suppliers to the enforcement agency will tomorrow be decided upon. Saab has the right to fight these claims, that could buy some time and some cases might be denied, but at the end it is up to the agency to decide if the claims are valid or not. Tomorrow the agency also starts an investigation to find out if there there is any money in Saab’s accounts and into the value of Saab in terms of hardware that can be taken from Saab and sold on a private market in order to pay the invoices that are now in question.
This is the scenario, which Carl-Henrik wrote about earlier this week in the post “Media: What might happen next week?” Read the rest of this entry →
by TimR
Saab in Slovenia, more good news!
July 24, 2011 in News
More good news because a few days ago we received this e-mail from Marko in Slovenia! Which I must say that I was very happy to read!
Just about three weeks ago I was playing with an idea to perhaps change my ageing Corolla with something new, preferably something that would be fun to drive and safe, something with a soul – yes, a Saab. To see how viable my automotive dreams were, I went to a local dealership in Ljubljana, Avtohiša Moste, just to find it closed for months. I consider myself a fairly well informed Saab fan, so you can imagine, the kind of surprise this was to me.
Thinking of Swade’s famous »Keep calm and carry on«, it was obviously time for a plan B, that is to sit behind a wheel and head for a second Slovenian dealership in Maribor, some 120 km away…and it paid off. After some checking on available cars and milling through several options, it turned out a stock black 9-3 TTID SS was just within my reach. And we made a deal.
Read the rest of this entry →
by ValS
SAAB 9-5NG: Belarus Edition
July 24, 2011 in Saabology
Let’s turn to some positive news at this difficult time.
You may know that SAAB is not officially presented in most of CIS countries. However SAAB is a well known brand in these countries and there are many people who own and drive Saabs.
My friend AndyAero from Minsk (Belarus) is an experienced Saabdriver and fan. He owns a 9000 Aero and until recently a Turbo X that he sold to get this one
by TimR
Faster than Veyron
July 24, 2011 in News
A US supercar manufacturer is aiming to reclaim the mantle of world’s fastest car from the 430km/h-plus Bugatti Veyron Super Sport with a new 1000kW supercar.
by TimR
From Russia with love
July 24, 2011 in Editorial
A few days ago we received these very nice photos from one of our dedicated readers, Talija Draga.
by Carl-Henrik
Swedish Radio P4 West: Hope for Saab!?
July 24, 2011 in News
While the last days has been a rollercoaster around Saab (we all remember Friday), Swedish Radio (SR) P4 West have published a news-report yeasterday (Saturday) at their site with an interview with Lars Carlström, Antonov’s spokesperson in Sweden. Link here: http://sverigesradio.se/sida/artikel.aspx?programid=125&artikel=4614178
The headline is “New hope for Saab” and focus on the situation with the EIB-loan. With that loan taken over by private banks there is no need for Saab to have the EIB-approval for Antonov as an owner.
by TimR
SU License plate frames, deliveries update!
July 24, 2011 in News
I am very sorry that the deliveries have been very slow up until now, we received the shipment from our suppliers almost two weeks ago but we still haven’t had time to send out many frames yet. It’s been difficult to handle a full-time job, SU and and the troubles at Saab lately at the same time. We should get the second part of our shipment from the supplier on monday for Europe and the US frames should arrive very soon as well! Most of the frames in Europe should be shipped out by the end of the week!
