CLEPA believes in the New Plan
December 15, 2011 in News
Care of our favorite auto journalist, Simon Warburton from Just Auto, Lars Holmqvist, CEO of European supplier body CLEPA, opened up about the recent developments. He estimates up to €700m (US$910m) could be made available for a production restart if the plan we’ve been covering for a few weeks now can be implemented., if plans by Chinese manufacturer Youngman and an unnamed Chinese investor bear fruit.
“That means [they - Youngman] will provide EUR200m and a financial investor will provide EUR500m – that will be enough to restart and give Saab a chance,” said Holmqvist. “Youngman has already spent a lot of money, if nothing else to protect the investment they have already made.”
He noted that even he was doubtful about Muller’s ability to work this deal out, and was impressed by his tenacity even when faced with enormous personal loss.
“We have been up and down listening to Victor Muller,” he said. “On Friday I was quite pessimistic and on Friday night he [Muller] sent a copy of the statement slip that the money had been sent by Youngman. Then, on Monday, he was pressed by people around him to file for bankruptcy. They were afraid they would be personally personally responsible for debts [remember Larsson stepped down]. But he refused and he was right because the money arrived and he got a respite again. Another rabbit hopped up from the hat – I knew what was going on, but I did not think it was going to be in time.”
CLEPA has a lot on the line, as Holmqvist told Warburton of Just Auto, “If the Court says we don’t believe, then you know what the consequences are for us, we lose a lot of money [€150m]…We will support any attempt to try to restart Saab. We are just waiting for the green light.”
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On a side note, there’s a lot more news to cover and we have a lot of articles in the works, it’s been a busy week for all of us, thanks for standing by for our coverage. Please continue to send us articles by email, we appreciate your patience.
turbokalle said on December 15, 2011
Off topic guys, but I just want to thank you all for your hard work. It is much appritiated!
No 9 said on December 15, 2011
+1
paulsaero said on December 15, 2011
+93
Tilley said on December 15, 2011
+9000
Aero1 said on December 15, 2011
+9000 Aero
GerritN said on December 15, 2011
Running out of digits, but yes, thanks very much.
I feel especially bad since I’m just looking for recent news. I’m afraid that the in-depth pieces (like for Hirsch and Maptun) didn’t get the attention they deserved while the SU crew has worked hard to get those published too.
till72 said on December 15, 2011
As long as those pieces could ease everybody’s mind a bit they’ve done their job, so don’t worry.
Bruce C said on December 16, 2011
+95, it’s impossible to express enough appreciation to all you of the SU crew for your continued enthusiasm and careful reporting in such a high-stress situation! We’re all looking forward to visiting SU just for the enthusiast pieces like Hirsch & Maptun — maybe you can re-publish them when production resumes……
paulsaero said on December 15, 2011
This sounds like very good news. F5 key reinforced for Monday!
SaabKen said on December 16, 2011
Paul, you need a SS keyboard
http://www.ateg.de/data/system/file.php?id=757
reindeer said on December 15, 2011
+1
michaelb said on December 15, 2011
Believes, visions and promises are fine, but not any more relevant. The only thing that matters, is hard cash on the accounts and salaries for November and December as well as outstanding bills since the start of reconstruction paid. Clear, short deadlines for hard unrevocable commitments and payments are necessary on Monday, and no blue sky business plan ideas. Otherwise it is over, and somebody else will pick up the pieces.
ivo 71 said on December 15, 2011
You really are a barrel full of sunshine, aren’t you, Michael
Ivo
Timeshifter said on December 15, 2011
+1
Jeff said on December 15, 2011
I just love his optimism and vision of the big picture, Ivo
.
Ronnie_Rad said on December 15, 2011
My sentiments exactly.
Talladegan said on December 15, 2011
Gosh really Michael? I don’t think any of us had realised so thanks for clearing that up.
Aero1 said on December 15, 2011
Saab has always been a half full kind of company, never half empty! Cheer up! SAAB will be around a long long time- Watch Out GM!
Angelo V. said on December 16, 2011
One of these times, one of the doom-sayers is going to be right. Sure, they’ve been wrong the first 1000 or more times—-I wish I had a dollar for every “Saab is now dead” blurb these people come here and write, religiously it seems. But I guess if they keep it up long enough, one of them, on the 50th try—-will be able to say “I told you so.” Until then, enjoy your Saabs people and look to the future. This sounds like positive news to me, but what do I know?
ivo 71 said on December 16, 2011
Come on guys, don’t bury Michael yet, he isn’t one of the please-go-away doom merchants and does have some pretty good analyses and comments to his name here. Most of his stuff is quite good but it’s that pessimistic (some may call it realistic…) professorial tone that sometimes kinda detracts from the quality of the content. But this one imho shows a real bad sense of timing. That’s what prompted my ironic, well, maybe even slightly sardonic comment.
Ivo
Ivo
Angelo V. said on December 16, 2011
I was most intriqued by the idea that someone might need to pick up the pieces. I wonder if picking up the pieces means that the Saab name would survive on new cars?
Angelo V. said on December 16, 2011
And could Geely be the one to pick up those pieces if there are pieces to pick up?
dog green said on December 16, 2011
Maybe , maybe not. If you read Chinese press (Swedish press are not writing about it) rumors says that Geely is in financial trouble. In case those rumors are true I would guess that they have enough already.
Angelo V. said on December 16, 2011
Dog: That being the case, there might be a package deal available: Saab and Volvo to the same buyer, cheap. Sort of like Hyundai/Kia, but Swedish—-it would be a monopoly of Swedish car brands. You’d literally own the competition. I’d slot Saab below Volvo for pricing along the model range and at some point, probably sell in the same showrooms.
sandycapp said on December 15, 2011
A bit OT. Well, I hope it’s gonna be ok. Took my 9-5 into Reading SAAB today, for winter boots to be fitted. They had a NG 9-5 saloon in the showroom. WOW. Good thing it wasn’t an estate, or I might have come away with a bit more than 4 new tyres!!!!
zippy said on December 15, 2011
Peter, Sweden said on December 15, 2011
It really was a long time ago since SU was a place with this many happy smileys
It’s slowly starting to look like we’re in for a really merry Christmas… Fingers crossed!
SaabKen said on December 16, 2011
[hums] “It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas …… ”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRyWHsTgyMU
3cyl said on December 16, 2011
SAAB will need a lot more than $900k to succeed. Perhaps large corporations will risk that much just to keep their options open. On the other hand, $900k is significant enough to make one think that the investors/lenders believe there is a viable plan for the future, so some optimism is warranted.
dog green said on December 16, 2011
Nice to see that Holmqvist now are supporting SAAB and the attempts to come up with solutions to the current situation. He is an important partner in the process to turnaround the trust in the SAAB brand to both suppliers and customers.