The following is an article from Dagens Industri.
ctm’s been kind enough to manage a proper translation for us, so you don’t have to struggle through one of my Google translations.
Thanks!
——
White collar union at Saab: “Fiat the best option”
The engineers union at Saab Automobile are head over heels happy about Fiat’s interest in the company.
– “Of them we know of, Fiat is clearly the best option as the new owner of Saab. We have very good experience in working with Fiat,” says union representative Håkan Danielsson.
Håkan Danielsson works as head of product development in aerodynamics and has experience of several collaborations between Saab and Fiat.
In the early 1980s the companies together developed Saab 9000, Fiat Croma, and Lancia Thema. In the early 2000 they developed a common platform for premium cars together with the Lancia, part of the Fiat group.
– “Although we have different philosophies about technology, it has always been easy to resolve conflicts and problems with Fiat,” says Håkan Danielsson.
He is positive despite the fact that Saab never could use the new platform. Work stopped, but Lancia went on and used it.
– “The reason was that our owner GM then broke with Fiat and gave the platform to them. There was not any problems with cooperation,” says Håkan Danielsson.
Is Fiat a better option than Chinese companies like Geely, Changan or Cherry?
– “Clearly Fiat is more interesting. The cultural difference between us and the Chinese is too large, and they do not have the management capacity required,” says Håkan Danielsson.
He does not hesitates at a choice between Fiat and some venture capital companies or investment companies.
– “An automotive company like Fiat are more in for the long haul than most venture capital firms, and that is needed to succeed in the automotive industry,” he says.
Compared with the cooperation with the GM-owned Opel since 1990, a collaboration with Fiat will be a boost, according to Håkan Danielsson.
– “Opel themselves want to stray into the premium market, and many engineers at Opel thinks that cooperation with Saab was unnecessary. That has stopped and delayed several projects for Saab,” he says, and stresses that the new four-wheel drive Saab 9-3X was stopped by GM and was delayed by the reason.
– “It will become easier with Fiat,” says Håkan Danielsson.
——
It’s a little hard for me to continue on a “No-to-Fiat” platform when you hear stuff like this from the guys who do much of the hard work in making Saabs great.
But I still find it hard to believe that they’ll be working on Saabs in two years time if Fiat are successful in implementing their full plans.
Comments are closed.