Fouriertransform is a state-owned venture capital company that aims at stengthening the automotive cluster in Sweden. We came across them when we heared about Lean Nova Engineering where quite a few Saab engineers found a new job. On another note they are bidding for Saabs production facilities to use them for future automotive projects in Sweden.
The overall purpose of Fouriertransform is to be part of a rescue plan for the region if all other things should fail and for now to keep the engineers in the region. Obviously they are not too fond of the Volvo bid as we can read at di.se:
“The transfer of equipment and expertise from Saab in Sweden to China will not be helpful for the Trollhättan region”, says Per Nordberg, CEO of Fourier transform, to Di.
The state-owned company is also interested in buying parts of Saab.
Per Nordberg appeals to the administrators to try to archieve a complete sale with production at Trollhättan.
This stands in line with the statement we heared last friday when the government officials visited trollhättan and said the supportive funds shall benefit the region even if a deal for Saab is done and the factory runs again. Not that SweGov has done enough over the past two years but things like these show that there are at least a few things happening that make Trollhättan attractive to the potential buyers. Maybe they have learned?
So they know Geely’s plan would be to ship the equipment to China?
We can safely put any SAAB/Volvo dreams to rest then.
That’s the only thing that makes sense. Volvo don’t need much equipment in Göteborg, but when they are building a new factory or two in China, SAAB’s equipment would surely come in handy.
Indeed, no chance with Volvo, obviously too much unwanted Chinese involvement. Eventually I would prefer a Swedish/European solution with the longstanding Saab know-how. Fouriertransform and yet unknown partners ? And all this with a high technical and environment-friendly level ? THIS would be a new Saab and a strong marketing position.
Okay – I want to correct what I posted about China. What I meant is not about the Chinese people, but Chinese Companies. I know from experience what happens in China with Corporations and I will leave it at that.
I have friends from China, I count them as some of the most honest and loyal friends that anyone could have!
Governments, or should I never learn
Sorry, this time I`ll try to hit the correct keys!
Governments, or should I say politicians, never learn – see the actions of the UK Government re any engineering.
+1: it also gives me a creepy feeling to read that Fourier Transform is a State owned venture capital company.
Now they are bidding on pieces o Saab while they want to keep the engineers at work in the region of Trollhättan. That is of course a good initiative but why the hell did they not do react earlier when the whole Saab companyu could have been saved with not that much extra money ( I mean in April 2011).
Then the whole government in Sweden did not do anything nor did the opposition do enough to wake up the politicians at power.
And now, when it is too late to save Saab; they start bidding on pieces while they want to secure the work in that part of Sweden.
I agree 100% with you TonymacUK; politicians, at least the majority, are a bunch of big mouth without any strategy.