SaabsUnited.com

Automotive News feature an article asking if the 9-4x could be rebadged under another GM brand as it is such a great vehicle. While I can understand that they liked it on their test drive I’d hate to see it rebadged. That thought came up as the image of a 9-4x with a German GG number plate surfaced a while ago. But GM seems to be done with that issue if we believe a well known spokesman:

“Our plant in Mexico has already adjusted to the end of 9-4X production,” GM spokesman Jim Cain said today.

In the end this adds to the statements we heared before that GM won’t grant licenses for the cars based on their IP. Even if this quote is not totally clear I hope it also means that we won’t see the 9-4x rebadged as some Opel or Chevrolet crossover.

There was a link to an inautonews.com article dropped in comments. It is talking about difficulties for any Saab bid because a deal with Semcon is said to be in place regarding the sale of some parts of Saab. I think this needs some clarification (again).

As we already reported here a few days ago there was indeed a deal with Semcon intended but Hemfosa, who own part of the real estate in Saab refused to give their ok. Like us, they’d prefer to see Saab sold as a whole.

So nothing new in this report if you read SU. I just wanted to get to this before rumors based on this report start floating again.

Today the city council of Trollhättan got rid of all formalities and took the real and final decision to actually save the Saab cars museum. Only one party (folkpartiet) the liberals actually opposed the proposed plan.

The legendary brit program named Top Gear is preparing a tribute to Saab covering “over 50 years of Saab production” . And the production has contacted the legendary Saab Owners Club for helping them by providing cars .At this moment we can’t say nothing more . “Following the their approach to us a few weeks back we have now supplied almost all of the cars for 2 days of location filming.

However, although some of us were present even we do not know the full content of the film so it will be a bit of a surprise to all of us. It will, we are sure, contain some of the normal Top Gear humour so we don’t all expect to escape unscathed! We are assured that, overall, Saab will come out looking good.”

From Saablog-in

Not a lot of news came out of the information meeting with the bankruptcy administrators but some things have happened on the Saab Parts front.

A few days ago the EIB loan was paid off by the National Debt Office and now its been announced that the NDO will take over operations of Saab Parts and thus the company will become a government owned and operated company. The current board will be replaced. Saab Parts would still be part of a sale of Saab Automobile AB however if the administrators would fail with a complete sale, Saab Parts could become government owned for many years.

Saab Parts is a very profitable company so it would serve well to repay the debt for the former EIB Loan to the government.

Today at 09:00 CET the receivers will host a press conference.
Follow it here constantly written in swedish at:

http://sverigesradio.se/sida/artikel.aspx?programid=125&artikel=4937017

Please, don’t be to excited. The only thing I expect, is that they announce that the bidding process will start, and that many parties have expressed their intention to make a bid for Saab as a whole or for parts of Saab.

__________________________________________________

Tim taking over with live update:

- Administrators reveal that there are five interested parties in all of Saab and a number of interested parties who want to buy parts of Saab.

- Their identities are not open for comments

- So far no bids have been placed

- A buyer will probably only be presented once the deal is done

- The time-pressure is being felt, there is not a lot of money available to waste on time

- The administrators are open for bids from anyone, anytime. This time it is not just a matter of price but other factors are important as well

- The administrators only has a factory to sell and no licenses with GM are available, it is up to the buyer to deal with GM but the administrators can mediate the issue with GM

- However the administrators refuse to comment on whether they have spoken to GM or not

- A question was placed on why things are kept secret? the answer is due to commercial issues

- Not a lot came out of the press-conference, some question the reason for having it at all…

The press-conference is now over.

According to P4 West a delegation from Youngman is arriving in Sweden with a goal, to place a bid for Saab.

It’s been one and a half month since the Saab CEO Victor Muller stepped into the district court of Vänersborg and filed for the bankruptcy of Saab. And now, more than ever, the picture of potential buyers is becoming more and more clear.

According to the administrators, four, perhaps five are serious buyers and wants to buy the whole lot.

Among these, three have marked their interested publicly. Chinese Youngman, Turkish Brightwell Holdings and Manhindra from India. In addition to these there are also Swedish parties interested but who they are remains unclear.

Today staff from the management of Youngman will arrive in Stockholm, with a goal to place a bid for Saab during their stay.

Turkish Brightwell are also ready to place a bid as soon as the administrators are able to receive it. Mahindra have remained in Trollhättan and Sweden to try to catch up with the lead that Youngman currently has. The struggle is tough according to a source with great insight.
- It will be very exiting to see who in the end will be able to buy the remains of Saab.

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From just-auto.com:

Turkish private equity company Brightwell Holdings is to make an imminent statement on retaining skilled engineers at Saab, following the inking of a confidentiality agreement with the bankrupt automaker’s receivers.

Some 4,000 workers face redundancy in Saab’s home town of Trollhattan, but Brightwell appears anxious to retain a core element of skilled staff in order to restart the business.

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Today, ttela.se has published three interesting Saab-related articles. The first is an interview with Swade, as he spent the last week in Sweden to say farewell to friends and, this is my impression, to the Saab factory.
The article is well written, but the title is a little bit confusing.

“I have given up hope”

Because of that Swade has written a clarification on his own blog Swadeology.

And this is what he says about the title of this article.

This is not referring to Saab. People who read further into the article will see that I personally do not hold any great hopes of working for Saab again myself, which is the situation the headline should refer to.

I wanted to transport this clarification to Saabsunited, because he is a (the) very important person in the Saab community and I don’t want that people start spreading rumours about him here.

It looks like TTela has noticed the misunderstanding, and today they have updated the article with some footage of the interview.

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Picture taken from AMS no.3 2012, A well trained car spotter eye can see 4 NG 9-5´s the car that looks like it is in the front is most probably an inferior brand that is about to be overtaken and get a never before experience.

Our Saab friends at AMS Swedish editor, Mr. Gustaf Sjöholm has written 6 page story with pictures by Luigi di Pronto. It is about his experiences from taking part in the Stockholm to Trollhättan convoy, and of course about the meeting outside the SAAB plant. Some notable SU regulars are featured in both text and picture.
So You who can go and buy Your copy, the 2012 No. 3 Edition of AMS Auto Motor & Sport.

BIG Thank YOU AMS for the support!