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.
The second one is about Riksgälden (NDO) and EIB. The Swedish national debt office has paid back Saab’s EIB loan. Why have they done it now?
The prerequisite for the EIB to grant the loan to Saab Automobile was the Swedish government gave its guarantee to pay if the situation was such that it could not repay. When Saab went into bankruptcy Debt Office began the administrative procedure prior to the payment to the EIB.
The good thing about this is that no prospect owner of Saab will have to negotiate any matter with the EIB, which was quite complicated in 2011. The bad thing is, Saab Parts AB and Saab Tool AB where the collateral for that loan, which means that NDO could seek out its claims, splitting those two companies from Saab Automobile. But for the time being, they want to endorse the sale of the whole Saab Automobile as one packet.
The question of a sale is among the receivers. We are for a sale of the whole and have not had occasion to reconsider this view.
And after hearing many things about Brightwell, now is time for Youngman once again.
According to ttela.se Youngman will be in Stockholm on monday to meet the receivers. This time not only Rachel Pang coming to Sweden, her father pang Quingnian is also coming to Sweden, which shows that this meeting is more important for Youngman this time.
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I don’t want to be arrogant, but I want to say something about the Turkish press. I remember the articles in the Russian press saying that Saab did belong to Mr. Antonov, and articles in the Chinese press saying that Youngman owned the phoenix platform. China and Russia are proud nations and the national press did exaggerate some aspects of the Saab deals. Well I’m getting the impression that the Turkish press is also being a little bit too optimistic about Brightwell and Saab.
All I can think of when I hear Mahindra, is how incredible today’s Jaguars are! Indian ownership might be the essential thing for Saab, but Youngman has been committed for a longer period of time, even pre-investing, that does matter when concluding a deal.
Brightwell? Well, I really hope they know what they’re doing, they need the money and the “Griffin dedication”..
Brightwell is certainly quite enthusiastic about the whole thing…
All of today’s incredible Jaguars were developed under Ford (as were all of today’s Volvos). We have yet to see a ground up Jaguar developed by Tata. Let’s see how it does (despite my tone, I think it’ll go just fine). Just saying…
Swade is a great Saab guy.
Swade is a great guy generally.
Swade is great. Period.
Ivo
Turks are also a proud nation.
In fact I like Turkish people, and if BW got the deal, congrats, I will continue buying Saabs under Turkish flag.
But IMHO BW is no match against YM, YM not only has big money backed by local Chinese banks and funds, and they have a huge home market for Saabs.
There are thousands Turkish people living in Sweden and if you count the Turkish Kurds (who might or might not consider them self Turkish) they are 100.000+ and its’s not a bad thing if this group of people also got all nationalistic about their choice of car.
And to make it clear:
YM buying Saab is the MOST smart thing to do, it is a great investment into a great brand, in long term it is a very good investment.
I wish YM very good luck.
青年必胜,马到成功,龙年大吉,加油!
+1
Unless you’re one who put money into the most recent of Saab’s products, the 9-5 and 9-4 both of which will certainly disappear with Chinese ownership. Youngman is better than being broken up, certainly, but I have to root for an alternative that might just allow the 9-5 and 9-4 to continue. If Youngman does buy Saab, the could win me over by putting money at least to support parts and warranty for existing owners.
Youngman is my sentimental favorite, however, will his bid be held in limbo for 3 months by the NDRC like some reports say? I wonder if the receivers could accept a bid like that, no matter how good. I sure wish YM could have a prearranged NDRC approval.
This type of snippets is great, thanks Red J! 🙂
It will be an interesting week!
Is this developing into yet another roller coaster ride???
I start to feel excited for this possible turnaround, that maybe, just maybe there will be “Saab” cars again rolling out of a factory somewhere…Three weighty and seemingly genuinely interested parties that possibly could develop Saab, GM free…
So, I am finding my F5 for the nest weeks Saab news…
I certainly keep all available fingers crossed for a happy ending….and a new beginning!
Well since Saab has fallen off the roller coaster tracks … once they are put back on the rails: the only direction to go is up!
A new beginning is on the horizon: Griffin Up folks!
You are right Red J. The Turkish Press is almost eveyday making up some news about MH and Saab. Some of them are real some totally crap, as you have written optimistic. But in previous posts what i have written about the latests news are summaries all from the interviews with BH CEO first hand and some tweets he tweeted.
I think B.H., Youngman and Mahindra, should form a conglomerate or company, and buy Saab, with each putting up 33 1/3%.
They would then be able to invest more. That would be the ideal thing, but of course it would never work out.
Well, a joint-venture could, in theory, work out quite well for everyone but I also doubt they could co-operate on an equal basis, also given the enormous cultural differences. Moreover, there is always GM lurking in the shadows, refusing to co-operate on the 9-5/9-4X issues because of, they say, the potential threat to their markets in China. And possibly India as well, even though they are only selling Chevywoos there and virtually no Buicks, Opels or other GM brands that would/could compete with the NG 9-5…).
Ivo
GM is not owned by the US Govt., they are just very large share holders, GM has paid some portion of what they owe, but have not and probably never will be held accountable for us the Taxpayers that GM still owes multiple $BILLIONS! GM is wholly run by a Cult of Non Humans!-(This purely speculation)
I’m a taxpayer, and I very happy on how this investment has paid off to date. One million jobs saved. Sweden needs to think like Obama did. If your job was ( is ) on the line, would you have objected to a govt. loan? By the way, GM is run by human beings, not space aliens. Lets cut the hate speech down, remember, you are dishing your countrymen, not beings from another planet.
More jobs were lost than you know, entire companies have failed=SAAB, towns have died-(Pontiac MI, Flint MI, etc.) because of GM, and this is pure truth and not hate nor am I dissing my countrymen- GM owes about $6 Billion and that is also fact, part of that is my $, which by the way was not handed to me for pure charity!!! It was earned!
I have the same feelings you do about buying GM in the future. I involuntarily gave money to them a couple years ago—-I doubt that I will now voluntarily give them more. But I guess if I worked there, had a family to feed—-I would have gone along with the heist. Sure, it’s charity from your neighbors, who couldn’t afford it themselves—-I guess that’s true—-but because of the way it was disguised, the guilt would be tempered a bit.
GM has totally degenerated now that they’re partially run by the present US Administration..My opinion only
Mahindra + Youngman= SAAB
Give the chinese an entry to India, and give the Indians an opening to china and use Saab to enter the rest of the world.
Add Saab technology, neutral development center in trollhattan.
Add a western premium branding, with Asian investments.
That’s what I call a business plan
Hey guys I was wondering if Youngman owns the Phoenix platform. I thought I read on here that they didn’t yet I see a few stories online that say that they have. If there’s been an article on here that explains it could you please send me a link? Thanks.
No, they don’t. What they bought is the right (license) to use the Phoenix platform to build cars on. The platform itself is still the intellectual property of Saab and included in the sale of the bankrupt company. The stories you allude to originate in China and are more like wishful thinking.
Ivo