by Trued
December 29, 2011 in News
According to TT news desk The Debt office has given more time to the bankruptcy attorneys to reach a deal. If that does not happen they the Debt office can force a swift sale of Saab Parts AB. Or the government can take over as active owners and start sell spare parts…
by TimR
December 29, 2011 in News
19th of december, 10 days ago Saab announced its bankruptcy. Youngman knew about it before anyone of us and they must have had a serious plan even prior to the bankruptcy to state a course of action in case it would happen.
So what I wonder is now, are Youngman really serious about Saab? Were they ever really serious about Saab or were they just out to gain technology for a few bucks and then dump the rest? Or are they being blocked by other factors?
TTELA has tried to get in touch with their representative in Sweden without success and so far no rumors or bits of information have been leaked that Youngman would have come up with some kind of concrete plan to do anything with Saab.
In dagens industry Semcon’s CEO states that he does not believe in a restart of Saab, he explained it as GM putting up a minefield around Saab by blocking all kinds of technology rights and that building up a new production line with a new product would cost billions of SEK and would take several years which again leads to what Youngman want or can buy and what the receivers want to sell. Youngman probably only want or can buy the technology and the receivers want to sell a complete package…
So far a lot of other companies, some small players, some big ones have shown interest in Saab, even I have sent the receivers and e-mail about purchasing some parts, what it is you’ll know in due time! The latest rumor that came flying around yesterday was that Skoda was one of the interested parties, no comments from anyone to confirm this though…
One thing is certain, if they were to buy it we would not see cars with a griffin on it coming off the production line. But in all honesty, having spent the better part of my day yesterday writing a cv together with my dad, I don’t care! As long as these fine people have a job I don’t even care if they would build toilets in the factory… they would probably be the best toilets in the world =)
by Trued
December 28, 2011 in News
I just read this article in trusted Svenska Dagbladet (SvD) http://www.svd.se/naringsliv/nya-saab-agare-kan-fa-garantibesvar_6737153.svd
Peter Hallberg who SU has talked to before X-mas is now saying that he and his Saab Dealers organization plans to take Saab Part AB to court. He argues that Saab Parts has broken an agreement.
Lennart Ståhl at Saab Parts AB sees the issue differently.
SU urge the two parties Hallberg and Ståhl to talk to the bankruptcy attorneys right away.
Question from a reader concerning warranties.
I got a letter dated 2011-12-20 from Andreas Björkegren at Saab Försäkring, part of IF, largest insurance company in Scandinavia.
He states: ” There is in other words NO reason for anxiety over your insurance, it will run just as normal/usual”.
by TimR
December 28, 2011 in SAAB Automobile AB
Today I have spent the better part of the day to discuss and write a CV together with my father. He has worked at SAAB for 35,5 years and has not really had the need to write one. Last time I used a CV was about 3,5 years ago when I applied to the airline that I currently work for so naturally I helped out in any way I can.
About 4000 CV’s are currently being written at different locations in Trollhättan right now and I think that there are many well educated people here on SaabsUnited who could help out with this task.
Here is the basic concept I have used:
1. First impression – Name, title, contact details and of course a photo
2. Ambitions – What do you want to work with.
3. Experience – What kind of experience do you have that enables you to work with number 2.
4. References – What kind of people can confirm that you are able to work with number 2.
It is a simple basic layout which can be built upon. Of course experience should also include education and work experience. Having a reference is extremely important.
What kind of advice do you readers have for the employees when they are going to write a cv, here is your chance to help out!
by TimR
December 28, 2011 in SAAB Automobile AB
More information at the Saab Insolvency website:
Check here: http://www.delphi.se/saabenglish
by TimR
December 28, 2011 in News
The dealership union in Sweden are considering legal actions against the Saab company Saab Parts. In a letter the dealership-organization explains the the following:
“The issue is warranty problems for Saab-owners.
The Swedish Saab dealerships are considering legal action against Saab Automoible’s company Saab Parts AB which is providing spare parts as well as dealing with after-market warranties. The reason for this legal action is that Saab Parts no longer according to themselves are willing to cover new-car warranty for the Saab customers.
They (Saab Parts AB) have informed us that they will no longer pay any for any warranty-issues performed by dealerships included in Saabs warranty obligations since the mother-company, Saab Automobile AB, has been placed in bankruptcy according to Peter Hallberg, CEO of the dealership-organziation.
by TimR
December 28, 2011 in News
According to sources to SaabsUnited a delegation from Turkey visited Trollhättan and Saab yesterday and will according to Dagens Industri visit Saab and Trollhättan again soon. This delegation comes from one of the companies which have showed interest in buying parts of Saab or its technology.
Which this Turkish company is or what their intentions are is still unclear. If they will have the capability to use that technology is also unclear. What is clear though is that the first employees visited the unemployment agency this morning and today had to start applying for a new job. The unemployment agency has divided up the employees into groups and will process each group on different days for the next two weeks at least. The task of finding a job for about 4000 people in a city which already has about 15% unemployment is a difficult task.
Another issue that is deeply troubled is that employees who had company leasing cars from Saab now has to return these cars. A couple of people have chosen to buy the car but most will just return it and try to find something fitting their economy. ANA, the main dealership in Trollhättan is currently having a big clearance sale since they right now have too many cars in stock. A lot of people are taking this opportunity to make a deal on an older used car as they need to return their leasing car.
Very few people in Trollhättan actually believe that there will be cars produced at the Saab factory again…
by TimR
December 28, 2011 in SAAB Automobile AB
Just a small correction to one of our previous articles. I found out today that in fact nobody at Saab has been laid off. Everyone has just been suspended from work, however everyone still has a duty to show up for work if called upon!…
by TimR
December 28, 2011 in Saabology
Thats exactly what I have as I visit Trollhättan now in the post-bankruptcy days. I was here during the announcement and a few days afterwards as well, but headed out to work during the x-mas holidays. I returned to Trollhättan yesterday afternoon to meet up with some friends but I didn’t really get it then. After spending a lot of time at ANA (the dealership in Trollhättan) and other places in the town I get this sort of strange vibe about how people feel…
There is a lot of anger around, a lot of frustration, almost a sense of fear but also vanity. People say things they normally don’t say, the blame people they normally wouldn’t blame, they aim their anger at what ever comes around. Even though its not in plain sight, it certainly is there… An almost pure hatred towards GM is felt amongst a lot of people. Some act upon it against others who happen to drive GM cars but otherwise work with Saab or issues surrounding Saab. Words like “how the hell can you drive such a car after what GM did to Saab” has been spoken out towards people…
I sense that some people are looking for an enemy or someone to blame. I must admit, I feel it too…
I visited a cafe in the evening with some friends, we were three in the group and the place was pretty packed. A waitress managed to get us a four seat table and started to prepare it for us when two guys swooped in and took the table. I asked if they happen to be four and that this table was meant for us, he told me that they were in fact four but after about 30 min nobody else had showed up, when we left after about an hour there were still only two of them. He lied to me, such a stupid and idiotic thing really got all the feelings I had inside to want to come out and make him a target for all my anger and sadness.
I didn’t act upon those feelings, I kept them inside… Even if I really wanted to go over there and tell him off, to teach him a lesson in how to behave…
We got another table, not as good but good enough… But such a small stupid thing like this can make people say and do things they normally wouldn’t. In normal circumstances I would never have thought twice about it, I’m not that kind of a person but today is different… today it feels like very one have strange feelings inside…
But in the end, is there really a point in blaming someone? something? Did the workers at Opel, Chevrolet or any other GM brand have anything to do with the decision of the GM management. Most certainly the answer is NO. They probably had no idea about what was going on, they were simply getting up early each day, going to do a job to the best of their abilities… just like everyone else…
It’s easy to blame people, its more difficult not to… I will try to bury my feelings inside of me… forever…
by Rune
December 27, 2011 in Troll Stuff
I apologize for the rather stark lack of English in the following clip, but plenty of nice archive footage to be seen.
by Swade
December 27, 2011 in Events
Hi all,
I just wanted to take a quick opportunity to highlight the work being done by people around the world in organising Saab support meetings on the weekend of the 14th and 15th January next year.
When we had the Saab Support Convoys in 2010, they were held over three separate weekends. It’s great to see everyone jumping on board early to make sure the main weekend, the 14/15th of January, will be a busy day in the Saab calendar.
If you’ve been keeping up with the news, you might be aware that investors are taking the opportunity to look at Saab, both as a going concern and for its technology. As written by Ttela, Victor Muller is still in there fighting for the company’s future as well.
Saab was bought whilst in liquidation back in 2010 and you should be assured that it can happen again.
With that in mind, here’s a list of the locations where Saab support meetings are currently being organised. It’s great to see people getting on board. If you want to show your community’s support for the brand, then get your friends together and register at outside-saab.com or via the email address below.
Word is that events are also being organised in China and Switzerland. Details still to come.
Kudos to the Mad Dutchies for acting as information central for these meetings. Please make sure you make their job as easy as possible by getting your meeting together as soon as you can, and posting your information to outsidesaab-at-gmail.com
Cheers.
by TimR
December 26, 2011 in SaabsUnited Related
This is the question many have asked and we have all discussed this extensively, what are we supposed to do now?
I have texted with Victor this x-mas, he certainly has not given up on Saab, he spent almost all the time working on how to restart Saab. I pointed out that we at SaabsUnited will not give up on a possible restart until Victor gives up, his answer was that he will not give up either! So this means that we, The Saab fans have a job to do!, and that job starts right now, with asking as many people as possible to join in our cause on the 14th and 15th of January! After that we need to support our dealers to the best of our abilities, just by showing up once in a while is very important for them!
We will continue to report accurate news only which we can confirm to 100%. The news about youngman buying the phoenix platform is one of the news that are NOT true, so if there are any news out there, check SaabsUntied first, we might have written about it several days before you see it, if not, send us an e-mail because we are probably the only media in the world right now who are able to confirm in news are true or not!
by Rune
December 26, 2011 in Editorial
Mike Aukerman left the following in comments on Dec 24th 23:59. At the end I have embedded the Christmas Saab ad from a couple of years ago. Enjoy!
Every Swede up in Sweden liked Saab a lot.
But the G-Minch, who lived far west of Sweden, Did NOT!
The G-Minch hated Saab! The whole Saab way!
Now, please don’t ask why. No one can say.
It could be, perhaps, that their shoes were too tight.
It could be their head wasn’t screwed on quite right.
But I think that the most likely reason of all
May have been that their brain was two sizes too small.
Read the rest of this entry →
by Rune
December 25, 2011 in News
In an interview with TTela, Lars Holmqvist the CEO of CLEPA explains that Sweden, unlike Germany and Italy, does not offer much compensation for businesses struggling under a recession.
“I followed closely the last deals made with Saab and it should not have had a negative impact on GM had they accepted it. What GM did was paltry.”
The Swedish government has set up an educational package to help former employees qualify for other types of jobs. “Everybody knows it will not generate many new jobs. It would be better if they would offer something of real value. In Gernmany and Italy, the state offer short-time compensations, which means the state will pay 50% or more for a couple of years.”
This would help ensure that the bankruptcy estate would increase significantly in value.
“If Magna or some other company would take over, this would significantly boost their chances. But I have difficulties believing this could happen, given the current administration’s politics”
by TimR
December 25, 2011 in Events, SaabsUnited Related
I bet most of you have seen that you can buy “We are many, we are SAAB” stickers from our SU store, thanx to Till, we’ve managed to get a really low production price on the sticker and thanx to our own Mr RobinM who is doing the amazing job of handling all the invoices and shipping them out to everyone we are also keeping the handling costs down to a minimum. The stickers are going out at an almost break-even price… lots and lots of people have already placed an order and I know that Robin certainly didn’t get any time off this x-mas, but he is too in love with Saab so he doesn’t mind =)
We want these stickers to be seen everywhere and we’ve got lots of them, 24’000 stickers have been printed in total!
We urge every dealer and Saab Club to get in touch with us and we’ll arrange a way so that you guys can get a big shipment of them that are to distributed and used on the various meetings… please contact us at shop@saabsunited.se for more details on how we plan to spread the word!
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