Give us some more time to save Saab

by

The above head line comes from ttela.se and I have reproduced the article below.

This is not just about Saab and bankers and money. Victor Muller made the right decision last Wednesday by putting into action the largest, best, and most creative dealmakers on the globe on this case.

This is no ordinary business deal to any of us. These icons of business understand that this is a special situation. This is indeed a sacred mission to all that are working on this around the clock 7 days a week and until this comes to swift conclusion.

What we all carry in our hearts as we work together through these nights, is the worry of an unnecessary demise and failure of Saab.

We imagine the day when the 4000 dedicated hard working men and women drive home from Saab for the final time, the thoughts that fill their minds and broken hearts as they try to put together the words before they face their anxiously awaiting partners, their loved ones, “that it’s over, and Saab has failed, they have lost their jobs, it’s over” and at a time when there are no jobs in Sweden or Europe. And the worry and sleepless nights begin for these families.

Assuming there are 4 people in a family, this directly devastates 16,000 people of the 45,000 that live, work and play in this beautiful village Trollhattan built by 3 generations of proud Saab families and employees.

No promises here, but this effort is worthy of, and calls for, all players that make up the mandala around Saab for a short period of time and space and value preservation to allow us to optimize the opportunity for the seemingly unlikely success of saving Saab.

So I want to address the key entities that make up this mandala: the Swedish authority, creditors who are owed and deserve payment, the employees of Saab, suppliers, banks and regulators, to please allow for a period of days, not weeks, of calm. So that we can assess and work on scenarios and deal structures under the premise of a stabilized Saab.

This will work in the interest of everyone involved especially creditors, suppliers, employees, and banks, because if Saab fails or succeeds we all know that we collectively did the best we could with what we have.

I urge the Swedish authority and regulators and the very deserving supplies and creditors to ask themselves what they lose if they allow for a number of days of calm, and also consider the damage they will do prematurely and at the expense of the very worthy process we are deeply involved in now.

And let it be on their conscious if they don’t allow the time, space, energy and value preservation it will take for this to come to an intelligent conclusion and have even a chance of a fully funded, viable, productive Saab.

No promises here, no speculation. I represent with my own voice the request to allow us the days to get this done right.

Mark Resnick, Endeavor Advisory Group

Thank you to Audun in comments for spotting this.

127 thoughts on “Give us some more time to save Saab”

    • Wow! indeed.

      In my opinion he has made a fool of himself and has done nothing to help Saab.

      The wording is childish, he got the number of employees wrong, Trollhattan is a town not a village and most importantly an open letter is not the way to address the important stakeholders (Swedish authorities, creditors etc.). Taking all these errors into account I can imagine that this guy did not run this text pass Saab. I can imagine he will have some explaining to do.

  3. Emotional and sounding as from the heart – but, wait! Isn`t he praising his own organisation “largest, best and most creative dealmakers” . I agree wholeheartedly with his sentiments, but the bottom line is – there`s no cash on the table yet!

  4. That´s what I missed the whole time. Saab should be left alone to do their job, with out this media mess. Finally there is someone who claims this publicly. Very good statement !

    • In the Swedish article they have asked him some additional questions. He said it would take up to 10 days, so either this or next week.

    • Gaaaah!!!

      You´re not alone…

      But I do my best to keep up a positive attitude amongst critics:

      “- Of cause SAAB will survive!”

      And I also convince some friends to join in Trollhättan 1 october!! Se ya there, fanatics 😉

    • My sentiments exactly. More or less posted the same a week or 2 ago somewhere else.

      My heart can’t take much more of this anymore. At SOC I was asked how I was dealing with this being on the Sales end. My answer was at this point just not paying attention to all the negative press(can’t do it anymore) and waiting for a POSITIVE outcome for Saab. It will come…..

      VM, my prayers and support are with you……

  7. Well looks like our roller-coaster ride is again heading downhill, lets just hope it picks up enough speed to make it over the next hump…!

  9. All seems a bit desperate and publicity seeking to me, it also means that apart from some dodgy share based finance VM failed in his efforts to raise some proper short term funding.

    • Or could it be just putting all pieces what VM has gathered, in a way together? I quess paperwork is pretty complicated if there are several investors. Well right now I´m starting to do speculation, just what there is no point to do now… “Wait and see” would be better 🙂

      • @ klypp – I have worked in Private Equity for 2 years and in Corporate Finance for 5 and a half years, and I have to say that the wording on that letter is a bit too much for what is normal in Corporate Finance types. Besides the fact of a public letter of this sort, published on a newspaper, not being exactly the norm, expressions like “largest, best, and most creative dealmakers on the globe” (when Endeavor was founded in 2011); “This is indeed a sacred mission”; and “to please allow for a period of days, not weeks, of calm. So that we can assess and work on scenarios and deal structures under the premise of a stabilized Saab” (big shot Corporate Finance guy and he can’t work under the pressure of having a deal closed by yesterday? Can’t work out a scenario where some dealers leave and have, or not, to be replaced?) make me worry about where exactly this is going…

        He may be successful and for the sake of SAAB’s employees, contractors and suppliers I hope he is, but the wording of this letter, the whole stance of publishing these types of letters… It all makes me a bit =/

    • I don’t know what a proper funding is, but I know that McLaren is quite happy about the money a well off man from Singapore has invested in the company, why has to be different for Saab?

      Governments don’t have money, companies neither, so it’s only the private money that is over, and if the Endeavor Advisory Group can convince some private persons that investing in Saab is worth while, it makes this funding a proper funding to me.

      • No doubt about what you said if they can find investors. But McLaren is an exotic supercar maker that turns heads and gathers public attention in a way a SAAB does not and rich people seem to like that (for example, the Kuwaitis – at least i believe they were Kuwaitis – investing in Aston Martin)… It’s a prestige thing.

        Also, and re-reading that letter… Does the sentence “I represent with my own voice the request to allow us the days to get this done right.” mean that a creditor or some creditors may be about to request that SAAB be placed into some kind of bankruptcy and/or liquidation procedures? It is possible to do so here in Portugal, but I am not familiar with Swedish procedures.

          • di.se reports that the enforcement agency has so far secured 1,5 MSEK from SAAB accounts that will be part of the 8 million already up for payment. In two weeks 43 million is due and further down the line an additional 120 million registered at the EA.

            They mention the approx 100 MSEK that should be in some account somewhere due to be payed out as salaries. And the EA say when they find that money they will grab it. I thought that was not allowed, but I have realised it is allowed.

            However Pedro, I would say that the sentence “I represent with my own voice the request to allow us the days to get this done right.” is a plea to the EA to keep their hands off.

            I would be surprised if salaries are paid out on Thursday. Either there is no cash, or the EA will have grabbed it.

          • @ Sadim – I am not familiar with the enforcement agency’s way of working as I do not live/work in Sweden, but I’m interested to know how it works: the enforcement agency has access to bank registries in this type of situation, or do they do something like what auditors do when confirming client and supplier balances, i.e, sent letters to all the banks asking for whatever SAAB’s position is? And do they then effectively take posession of the money, or do they somehow identify those accounts and SAAB is forced to use the money to pay what is due?

          • @Pedro August 23, 2011 at 12:19

            Your suggestion that they send “letters to all the banks asking for whatever SAAB’s position is? And do they then effectively take posession of the money, ….” is the correct MO.

            Of course it would make life easier if SAAB were to declare what accounts they have and what is in them. However, my feeling is this has not been done, and the EA is a “bit miffed” over this non-cooperation.

  10. I don’t believe for a second that Mark Resnick wrote that. I am convinced this has been drafted by SAAB’s PR department so as to possibly hold off suppliers from filing further claims at the Enforcement Agency. Muller knows his words “The cash will soon be there” have been used once too many times, so what to do….?

    – Well, let’s bring in a new namne to say the same old things.

    This Endevaor Agency have a very high opinion of themselves http://www.endeavoradvisorygroup.com/our-team.aspx . Their Advisory Board “is second to none.” I guess that means they got the best people around 😉 However, none of them seem to have received a Nobel prize…. yet.

    And Mr Resnick’s personal CV would ideally have more information concerning his actual track-record of funding companies like SAAB. But I guess that is asking a lot since Endeavor was founded in 2011.

    Interesting to see that Resnick lives in Boulder (COL) and Lidköping http://www.linkedin.com/pub/mark-resnick/4/2a1/24 . I wonder what his connection to the latter is? Swedish wife….?

    • An interesting note from Mr. Resnick’s public LinkedIn profile: ” If your company needs $40m to $1.5B in debt or equity funding and you have a seasoned management team and strong EBITDA margins, we will get you funded in under 6 weeks.”

      • Wow, that is indeed world shocking: “If you make a lot of money, we can re-finance you.”

        Have never seen that before 🙂

        Maybe we could check if the CEO’s of e.g. Goldman Sachs, or any other serious business banking CEO, has similar sign off’s in his linkedin profile.

        Well Victor, you know what to do now. Get a seasoned management team up there and start making money…

        On the other hand, it would really be an achievement to refinance a company that is as deep in trouble as SAAB is, in two weeks.

        • My thoughts exactly! 😉
          And my 2nd thought was: “Wow! SAAB has strong EBITDA now? SAAB must have very incompetent Working Capital management, then, to burn so much money as not to be able to pay suppliers…”

  11. Beware of the tea-leaves. They are not, and have never been, a good source for credible news.
    Incredible news, on the other hand can always be found there. 😉

      • My comment was not directed specifically at you. I just wanted to warn about the dangers of too much guessing. There has been a lot of guessing the last few days, and any news – good or bad – has been twisted this way and that. Often leading to bad news, bad temper and ill-founded comments.

        I like this quote from Gene Kranz: “Let’s not make things worse by guessing“.

  12. A question to ROBINM:

    Did you receive the letter in English or in Swedish, and from whom? Why the reference to the ttela headline?

  13. I have done some research into the names Mark Resnick and David Khalilzad + some of the companies they have founded / worked for. There is VERY little information to be found. Very little indeed. Virtually nothing ever published in media.

    This tells me these guys are not even close to being “the largest, best, and most creative dealmakers on the globe”.

    I would go along with “creative”, but not in the sence they originally have in mind. I would caution anybody to have any great hopes for any serious cash coming out of this trail.

      • Not easy to find companies with a seasoned management team and strong EBITDA margins that need financing. From what appears to be a start-up.

        These companies can go to “the market” and get money on normal terms with reputable partners.

        • It’s way cheaper to replace the person in charge of monitoring/managing their Working Capital than to fire an advisory firm if you have strong EBITDA and still need money (unless that money is for investing – but SAAB is not even producing, so the rest is a mute point).

          Of course these guys apparently have good connections (or should have since names like Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, etc appear on their CVs on Endeavor’s website), but a proven track record is essential in these things.

      • I think what we have here is another large load of Bovine Excrement, TimR if i were you I would start work on the Obituary, here’s hoping you don’t need it but I see the Fat Lady is back waiting in the wings and is working on her breathing exercises!

        • It’s like you didn’t even read the letter. How hard is it to shut your trap for a few days and give them some space? Seriously man, tasteless.

          • Jeff I have read the letter, I just cant believe that anybody serious would want it published in the way it has been, you might send something less emotive to those creditors who have asked the Enforcement Agency to collect trying to get them to hold of for a week or two, but despite all the laudable sentiments expressed it seems very unprofessional !

        • GrumpyGriffin,
          It’s like you can’t wait, like a kid. And that’s very juvenile; and you speak of unprofessional.

          Think about this: Must it be said? Must it be said now? Must it be said by me? Some of you guys stumble over each other to be the first shooting down a post here. Get a life.

    • Don’t you guys ever get headaches?

      I am personally not pinning anything on anybody, and I don’t care speculating over the credibility and track record of anyone.
      If there’s money they will show, independently of your findings and the track record of Endeavour.
      If not, we will also find out.

      • Oh BTW:

        What you are implying is that everything is smokescreens, mirrors and fraud.
        Why don’t just say that is your opinion and kick all the argumentation?
        You take up a lot of space with “Much ado about Nothing”

        • +1. Here here! Honestly guys, shut the hell up Who cares if Endevour or whoever have a ‘world beating’ track record. I don’t care if they sit in their offices doing the lottery! If they, or anyone else comes up with the money what does it matter FFS! Just go hibernate for a few days and see what happens. If it comes off then Saab survive a while longer and we get to celebrate the continuation of a great brand. If not, then we get to be sad and celebrate the passing of a great brand, either way let them do what they need to do without shooting it down every single time!

          Griffin Up! Cuore Sportivo!

  14. Pedro:

    I have worked in Private Equity for 2 years and in Corporate Finance for 5 and a half years, and I have to say that the wording on that letter is a bit too much for what is normal in Corporate Finance types

    Ahh, so you are really good at this!

    I read from your post that Endeavour is not the right company to trust, they’re doing it all wrong, and besides it cannot be done after all.
    Makes me wonder why VM didn’t trust you to do the job???

    I also wonder who is really “desperate and publicity seeking”, as Grumpy put it, around here….

    • I have a job, one that is paying me quite well and one in which I am actually having fun! So you don’t need to be concerned with my job situation. I do appreciate your concern, though; it warms my heart to know you’re so concerned with my career 🙂

      • Well, Pedro, since you seem to be quite good at what you do, why don’t you apply your talents to do something about improving the economic situation of Portugal? I gather it could use some expert input right now. The additional advantage for us would be your absence from SU as I don’t see any real added value in continuing your self-glorifying contributions here, not even where the humor content is concerned, even though you seem inclined to think otherwise.

        Ivo

      • I have a job, one that is paying me quite well and one in which I am actually having fun! So you don’t need to be concerned with my job situation.

        so you must be on vacation now, given the number of posts in the few past days 🙂

        More seriolsly now, I think that unless you’ve been working on “C” level position on the Private Banking and Investment insititution , you’re comments and your ‘I KNOW IT ALL” attitude is … well, to put it gently , not so valuable as you might think.

        Mid level banking clerk do generally day to day operations , and not negotiating deals or getting access to sensitive information, so I think you should hold your horses for now and get back to your life, if you have any.

  15. I hope his command of investment banking is Greer than his command of English.

    That letter is amateur hour. Can you imagine Goldman Sachs , or any other major wall street bank putting something like that out?

    • Well, that would be quite interesting – to learn that SAAB Automobile AB doesn’t trust a Swedish bank with it’s liquid assets.

      We will see….

        • Again since I am not familiar with the procedure, I pose a question to you, to Sadim or to whoever can provide an answer: can’t the DEA enforce a full disclosure of a company’s accounts, even those outside of Sweden? What I mean is these accounts have to be reflected in a company’s balance sheet even if they are outside of Sweden, so wouldn’t that fall into the DEA’s attributions?

          Just asking, as (again) I do not know how the Swedish procedure works.

  17. This past weekend I got to see the new 9-5 Sport Combi at the 2011 North American Saab Owners Convention in Parsippany, New Jersey. Saab MUST survive because I WANT THIS CAR!! Unbelievable lines and is, IMHO, the most luxurious Saab ever built. Long live Saab!

  18. How about shutting a few of those know-it-all-betters up for a while? They are are really starting to piss me off with their quasi-superior ‘it’s all bullsh!t’ comments. Empirically, they may get proven right with the benefit of hindsight but right now I so don’t need this kind of patronizing attitude.

    If you are such experts on corporate re-financing as well as public relations and as Saab-minded as you profess to be, why don’t you use it in a more positive way by putting your knowledge at the disposal of Saab? Why dont you try and put forward something constructive in your comments for once? God knows the brand can use some of that right now. What it doesn’t need, though, are sneering comments about anything related to the company.

    Please go and deify yourselves somewhere else.

    Ivo

    • What an excellent post ivo.

      Over the last few weeks I too have been completely cheesed off by posters that profess they have:
      a) A crystal ball
      b) The ability to run a large, fiancially troubled company
      c) Corporate finance expertise greater than the Saab mangement or their advisors

      Add to that the conspiracy theories, what could be libelous comments about VM and in some cases an almost palpable desire for him and the company to fail and I just can’t understand why these people are here.

      TimR – IMHO it should be mandatory for posters to show some respect for the company and it’s employees. Some people are treating this site as if it some sort of public service paid for out of their taxes and that they can just spout whatever venomous rubbish they like. It’s almost like a microcosm of the ‘me me me’ society that we now live in where people think they have rights without responsibility.

      A quick story to illustrate how moaning doesn’t make you ‘the man who can’ – the other week we were in France and were returning to the car after siteseeing. I only knew one way back using landmarks and buildings but it was a bit of a long and circuitous drag after a long day. My son commented on this and questioned my ability to find the car. I calmly said “no problem you are in charge now – lead the way”. The complaints stopped immediately as he realised that he had no idea which way to go when actually put in the hot seat.

      SteveW

      • To me your post is yet another top-dog directive that indicates that use of a crystal ball is fine if it somehow portrays an optimistic view. Or that a post that hails Viktor Muller as an entrepreneurail wizzard is true and therefore much appreciated. Or that a post that voices an unrealistic opinion concerning financial solutions is just what is needed.

        Why can one not be allowed to be critical?

        I respect all employees at SAAB with the exception of some of the top management, that I consider are doing things that are not good and at the wrong time. I respect all the hard work being put into R&D and production in Trollhättan. I respect all SU-posters, even if I don’t agree with all. If I have ever posted a comment that was disrespectful to any SU-member, I apologize.

        But I still can’t understand why I should be ashamed for being critical of steps taken by top management. Why must you always see critiscism as bad? In my mind much of the critiscizm shown here is due to concern.

        I hope ivo’s suggestion of “shutting a few of those know-it-all-betters up for a while” is a linguistic mistake, because to actively try to close down expression of certain people’s views is something most people normally find abhorrent.

        • I would just like to add an example of what I see as bad management: yesterday Ms Gunilla Gustavs was asked about this months’s salaries and replied:

          “-The plan is to pay out salaries.”, indicating they would be paid out.

          Today a press-release is issued saying “Salaries will NOT be paid out” as planned because “investors have not blah, blah, blah……

          If instead of saying “we plan to pay salaries as normal” Ms Gustavs had said something like “With the past months in mind we will not make any comment on that”, she would still have some credibility. Now, in my mind, she has none left. Nor has her boss.

          The Mike Resnick letter must have been submitted when management knew there were going to be no slaries this week . To soften the blow…? Or what? This is poor crisis-management, but VERY VERY sad for the folks in Trollhättan.

          • Ms Gunilla Gustavs said “-The plan is to pay out salaries.”.
            From todays press release: “there is a risk of delayed payment of August wages”

          • Can I humbly remind everybody that a plan is a plan. Not reality.
            I plan to be home by 18.00 this evening, but I don’t really know when I’ll be home. It might be later. Or sooner.
            The plan was to sell x amount of cars during the winter, but they didn’t. Does that make anyone a lier?

            Remember that ms Gustavs, Mr Muller, Mr Brunius and the others might not be able to be as forthcoming as they could. What if they were, and Saab loses a financier?

            Beware of the tea-leaves! 🙂

          • @Hans H August 23, 2011 at 14:15

            To use the word “plan” as you do to excuse SAAB as you are doing is a bit off-putting, I think. To pay out salaries is on a different level as compared to a “plan”. Salaries are part of an agreement, not part of a “plan”.

            If paying out salaries at SAAB are now seen as a “plan” or maybe an “ambition”, employees are in deep trouble. And anyone trying to excuse this change of attitude is not helping the employees at all.

        • Well, you asked for it, Sadim (et al).

          Nope, it was no linguistic aberration. Being critical is fine, if constructive, as far as I’m concerned. Negative sentiments from the heart are also fine, given the situation Saab is in and the emotions this generates in people who care about the brand. But your -and some others’- postings are structurally negative and generally lack any measure, however small, of a positive outlook on the future. Nothing Saab -or anyone connected to Saab- does or says is ever less than bad or an evil conspiracy if what you write is a yardstick to go by.

          Only rarely do I glimpse any factual support for what you write. If I do, it’s highly selective, hardly ever objective and, as far as I can judge, only included to support your own views. To me, your comments are solely intended to showcase your superior insights and intellectual prominence.

          As far as I’m concerned, your posts don’t add much, if any, value to the subjects discussed here. What they are, imho again, is destructive and damaging to the normally friendly and congenial atmosphere on this blog. Being critical is, of course, inherent to anyone’s right of free expression. But being destructive only and thus poisoning the pleasant environment that used to be the standard here crosses the limits of said free expression. It’s a bit like school. If you pose the teacher smart-ass questions all the time, a time comes when you’ll get kicked out of the class. It doesn’t matter if your questions or remarks are highly inelligent or not, you are disrupting the purpose of the thing: education. The idea here is to get factually informed about all things Saab and to discuss those developments with an open mind and heart. What you are doing is something else, by design and by effect. Hence my suggestion to the moderation team to shut you up for a while or to you to find another, perhaps less concerned and emotionally vulnerable podium where you can impress readers with whatever you consider intelligent contributions. A few crocodile tears after someone tells you that you really are out of line don’t change my opinion a bit.

          Clear enough?

          Ivo

          • Thank you, Ivo. that was quite well-written.

            I’m sure you feel better now, ‘Cause that was a lot of air seeping out of you. I guess you will be excused for being a bit off-topic and hope the same generosity will be shown towards me. In response to your verbal flatulence I will turn to the good book for a quote and since you turn out to be an even greater Mr Know-all than I am, I suggest you “go forth and multiply”.

          • Hmm…I thought he made some good points.

            I would have used a shorter version, as I am becoming an old man that do not feel to much for the lengthy discussions

            But since you are quoting the Bible, I would like to quote someone else:

            “One often contradicts an opinion when what is uncongenial is really the tone in which it was conveyed” Nietzsche.

          • Thank you, Sadim, for your compliment. And also for providing support to my criticisms so promptly. By the way, just go on here like this and you will certainly see a multiplication of comments similar to mine. Perhaps less verbose (or long-winded, to make it fit your choice of description) than mine but probably more down-to-earth. Or, perhaps even more fitting, hitting the nail on the head harder.

            And I do appreciate your suggestion. I will certainly follow the second 50% of it but, at the same time, would urge you to use it as a guideline yourself. The first half, particularly.

            Ivo

          • Excellent and well reasoned. I really wish someone would stop allowing people who are here for only destructive purposes to continue here. There are those like GrumpyGriffin who really aren’t being levelheaded in my opinion but I do know they care about Saab so while get frustrated at what is said from such people at times I certainly do not want to see them leave this site. Sadim, leeloo, and boeboe however should be shown the door.

        • Hi Sadim
          Top-Dog directive uh? Where did that come from? 🙂
          Where does my post say that a crystal ball is OK if it’s positive?
          Where do I say VM is an entrepeneural wizard? It’s the spouting off as if the posters are uber intelligent and have all the answers and the implication that the people doing the job are idiots or even criminal that P£$$£$ me off. Note I have no connection with Saab.

          You say “I respect all employees at SAAB with the exception of some of the top management, that I consider are doing things that are not good and at the wrong time.”

          I reckon this is “walk a mile in therir shoes” sort of thing. You can’t possibly know the rational behind decisions that have been made, hindsight is a very easy thing. Also how would you like to be judged and reviled before you’ve even finished a job?

          Just a thought – patients with a positive attitude get better quicker. Cynicism and negativity never helps anybody or anything.

          Regards
          SteveW

      • I don’t really care who are using crystal balls.

        What I care about when seeing your comments is that you are passing judgement on Saabs management indicating lies, fraud and general misinformation without other backing than speculation and opinion.
        That is just generally annoying.

    • Ivo +1000. From an outsiders point of view (it feels strange writing that), the doomsaying prognostication that’s rearing its head more and more in comments here is wearing down what used to be a site that took a more sober look at things and kept hold of real and tangible hopes, and reasons why the company could and should be surviving.

      Regarding the “closing down of expression” mentioned elsewhere in this thread – freedom of expression is the right for you to put up a wall and write on it what you want. It’s not the right to share your thoughts on everyone else’s wall without due respect for their views, though the SU Crew allow you that (something that all should respect).

  19. I am not at all working in the field of finances and money business but I am a Saab-aficionado and it feels good if someone has emotion in that what is going on now. I do not care if this is professional or not, but I care that someone from the money-side realizes that Saab is not just a hall filled with robots and machines to produce faceless cars. That there is someone who feels that the whole story has something to do with emotions. We do not want this company to disappear…. because of nothing else than emotions. So, please, don’t argue on someone who tries to be open saying what he feels. Saab needs people with passion and the connection to bring up enough money. If you don’t like emotion, you might be better served by Kia or Chevrolet.
    Lets support Saab as much as we can and stop criticizing from thousands of miles away on things we might not even know.
    That’s it – I quit.

  22. Sadim, Doesnt have anything to do with trust but a strategy. The enforcement agency dont have the right to take money outside sweden.

  23. Aos- I hope you didn’t aim the last paragraphs of your comment towards Pedro: he sure as hell isn’t on a high horse now; if I have it correct, he’s putting what little input he can on the situation. And that’s what a comment is, isn’t it? It’s input. There’s no need to be rude, but if you found a reason, I guess I can be rude to you and tell you to shut up.

    And Ivo 71- THANK YOU! I was waiting for someone to jump in and say it…

    Grumpy- Your reputation on SU is decomposing faster than Bull Excrement, and you probably should stop trying to turn people’s attention to that…

    (I’m on mobile, so I can’t reply directly…)

    • KarlR, I don’t know if you or anybody else will see this, but there we are.

      VM has managed to pull off so far what many might have thought impossible – several months without production, yet still the salaries look more likely than not to be paid.

      Just look back to Rover, say; the moment the suppliers demanded cash-on-delivery, the game was up, and the company closed.

      There are many opinions as to whether VM & co should have anticipated this problem, head it off at the pass, or whatever. But I don’t think anybody can be in any doubt that to have kept things going this long post-shutdown has been pretty impressive.

      So I’d respectfully suggest that you keep your nay-saying to yourself, or perhaps find a local pub / bar in which to drown your sorrows. Criticising people for having achieved the impossible in the face of overwhelming odds is hardly very helpful, is it? I can’t think of any way, short of finding the necessary money, that VM could have operated ‘better’ over the last few months. If it does all go ‘pop’, there is a chance that regulators will have said that he should have closed Saab down many months ago. I, for one, am very happy that he did not do so, and tried everything to keep going.

      I’m sure that Saab employees, who have continued to draw their wages (albeit a bit late at times), continued to be able to put food on their tables, continued to see hope despite your opinions, would agree.

  25. OK, I will stay calm and carry on until the 2nd of September and then I will drink beer, either as a celebration or as “gravöl” (literally translated: “beer for the tomb”) :-/

  28. At this point, the Deal either happens and fixes these issues, or it does not happen.

    Commentary on the topic is really superfluous. We all know the stakes and the short time frame for the current problems to get fixed.

    Let’s see what happens. If Saab dies, there will be plenty of time to piss on the grave afterwards. Until then, it costs you nothing to be civil to those of us who persist in the belief that Saab still has a future.

  31. I must say that it seems that the tone here in SU, is starting to get very hard and negative.
    I thougt that this site was about to show support and passion for the brand Saab.

    As an employee at Saab, i feel sad that our salary maybe be delayed, but not unexpected. The most of us that work here knows that this could happen, but we want to work here. I belive that the mangement are doing all they can to solve this, and i dont belive that there is someone here that would do a better job.

    • Driving to work this morning, I sat beside a white 9-5. What a beautiful car!
      I hope you can start building them again pretty soon.

      Griffin Up!

    • I agree 100% to saabworker. I still want to work at SAAB. I will never give up like most of you here att SU seems to do. Nowadays i feel sad that all of you SAAB supporters start to give up. We employees is soon left alone with our faith.

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