SaabsUnited.com

• Future hurdles to setting up the Manufacturing Joint Venture (MJV) between Saab, Pang Da, and a Chinese domestic manufacturing partner include getting past the NDRC. However, Pang Da has suggested that they will be asking the NDRC themselves who they would recommend as a partner– casting doubts over the reports that suggest the NDRC would get in the way.
• No matter what happens with the future MJV, Saab’s focus continues to be securing short and medium term financing to ensure a smooth production in Trollhättan and continued development of the NG 9-3. The distribution agreement with Pang Da for Chinese importation of Saabs is a needed cash infusion, and sets the stage for future cooperation. In the meantime, Victor Muller recently suggested that his focus will return to Trollhättan and the EIB loan. “After the Pangda deal is implemented, my focus is going to be finding a new CEO and getting a commercial loan to take out the EIB,” Muller said. “We cannot be dependent on the government or the EIB for whatever we do with the company. We have been paralyzed, we cannot move left or right.”

No doubt the Chinese auto market is complex and difficult to navigate, certainly for a small automaker from Sweden. The deal between Swedish Automobile (formerly Spyker) and Pang Da has multiple arms, the first are solely based on distribution and sales. Pang Da as one of the largest dealership groups in China as we know already sells a number of brands. Several news reports filed over the weekend with more expected to come this week suggest that Saab’s future partnership to produce cars for the local Chinese market will meet resistance with China’s regulatory agencies. Two articles emerged in particular, one from Bloomberg and the other from Automotive News that cast doubt over the future of the MJV Saab and Pang Da intend to form. But should we even be worried about deals that were crafted to take place a year or two from now when there are much more pressing matters happening in Sweden now?

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