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This has just come in. It’s appearing at Allmotor in Sweden, with a rough translation via ctm.
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“The Swedish government will determine Saab’s fate”
The Swedish government has Saab’s fate in their hands. This according to Carl-Peter Forster at a press conference with Swedish journalists in Detroit on Sunday.
On the question of government aid will determine Saab’s future he answers:
- “Yes. We have new products that we have to pay the tools for. They are ready to about 60-70 percent, but they must be paid in 2009 and 2010. On top of this we have the development of the new Saab 9-3. We can not do that on our own,” he says.
He describes the negotiations with the Swedish government as open and fruitful.
A decision can come in the next few months, no later than end of March.
He rejects the assertion that GM failed to find a buyer for Saab. “You can not see it that way, we have not chased a buyer for Saab. It is not possible in its current state, even if we had a proposal some time ago,” he says.
“First, we need a business plan that demonstrates that Saab has a future as a viable manufacturer. That is what the Swedish government asks for and that is what we will deliver,” says Carl-Peter Forster.
The government aid can be targeted as guarantees for loans raised in the European Investment Bank. But whatever measures the government decides on, it does not want to become shareholders in Saab. That has been made clear several time by the Maud Olofsson, Minister for Enterprise and Energy.
“Yes, the signals are very clear, the government does not want to own any car manufacturer,”says Carl-Peter Forster, who do not think it is particularly strange to ask the government for help. It is not just in Sweden this has been done, but also in Germany, the U.S., and other countries.
“Extraordinary circumstances require extraordinary actions,” he says.
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ctm – are you getting my emails? Three sent this morning.
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22 responses so far ↓
1 Kroum
// Jan 12, 2009 at 9:15 am
Is it just me, or is this starting to look more and more like a management and workers buyout backed by the Swedish government?
2 zippy
// Jan 12, 2009 at 10:10 am
Kroum, I guess we will know soon enough. I get the feeling that GM doesnt really want to let go of Saab and just wants some kind of guarantee from the Swedish government.
Hows the Turbo X?
3 Markac
// Jan 12, 2009 at 10:24 am
Zippy: God help Saab if GM doesn’t let go of it.
It’ll be going down with the rest of the Titanic.
4 Kroum
// Jan 12, 2009 at 10:33 am
Personally, I think GM upper management appreciates Saab in a strange way. Unfortunately, they’ve got more important kids to raise and in the current situation, letting the Swede go looks like the best solutions for both parties.
The plus side of a management/workers buyout is that Saab will be almost-completely independent of outside interferences and will be able to focus on its core values and let the engineers drive the train, ahem, plane, for a bit.
The worrisome part about this scenario is that without a positive cashflow and stable long-term financing the whole exercise may be in vain. At the end of the day you need money in the bank to pay the salaries of those awesome engineers and fund the development of their wicked innovations. And I am afraid money-management is where Saab has consistently failed in its 60-year history. Time to break the rule, perhaps?
Zippy, the Turbo X is an amazing automobile. Equipped with a set of nice Yokohama W Drives, it is virtually indestructible in winter driving conditions. We had an early winter here in Toronto this year – to my delight, believe it or not. Nothing like the pure pleasure of smoking every and all fancy car on the road when an icy bend approached – I go in steady, a downshift at the most. Everyone else slams on the brakes, slows down, etc.
It’s as hot as a Swedish blonde.
Okay, I am a show-off, admit it, but having 335xi’s for breakfast and Carerra 4S’s for supper is quite (ful)filling.
5 DMR
// Jan 12, 2009 at 10:52 am
The New York Times hit the nail on the head:
http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/11/saab-turns-to-a-legend-for-more-9-5-sales/?hp
It attributes the fall in sales to the two car lineup and to quote from it:
” It attracts customers that don’t consider other G.M. brands, said Mr. Vester, and it is the center of excellence at General Motors for turbocharging, ethanol fuels and has contributed expertise on turning front-wheel drive cars into all-wheel drive.”
6 ctm
// Jan 12, 2009 at 11:16 am
Swade, got them now and replied. Stupid spam filter.
7 SaabKen
// Jan 12, 2009 at 5:00 pm
I think this “near-death” experience for GM, and SAAB, will be good for all (assuming both survives). If GM chooses to keep SAAB, I am hopeful they will have learned from this whole crisis to really nurture the brand and do all the “right” things it hasn’t done in the past 19 years.
And SAAB too has lots to learn from all of this. I’m sure it hasn’t been exactly the “easiest” child to raise in the GM family. And there must have been times in the past when SAAB’s own stubborness and complacency (ie: sticking with only FWD through the 90s while Audi, BMW and Volvo added AWD to their lineups) led to its own failures while GM would have allowed for opportunities.
My $0.25
8 Arild
// Jan 12, 2009 at 7:08 pm
So Rick Wagoner says that plans for the sale of the Saab unit are “moving along” and Carl-Peter Forster says “we have not chased a buyer for Saab”. And these knuckleheads want to be taken seriously?
I wish they could find a buyer. Someone who is trustworthy and has integrity. Someone with insight and clear vision for Saab. Someone with financial sense.
9 Joe Lobo
// Jan 12, 2009 at 7:08 pm
One will never know precisely how much indeed GM contributed to the many shortcomings and short sights as the ones that SaabKen points out. From the history that Swade has presented, the AWD approach was long led by Saab well before GM turned in the scene and it was scrapped as they found out that A was already going to deliver (or developing) their own AWD options. This has been a massive miscalculation. In business you can not be driven through emotions and your own personal stance. The recent handling of the whole new 9-3 08 release range in particular the supply of the XWD has been another major fiasco that has been orchestrated by Saab. I doubt that GM would have been intervening on this alone to be blamed for this one too. What I do blame GM totally is in the distribution/dealership model that has been imposed in the market as it has destroyed the independents. This is suicidal.
10 riku1100s
// Jan 12, 2009 at 10:37 pm
Cannot really see any good reason for Swedish Govt. to pay for the 9-5 tooling if it’s to be built in Germany. Again, could it be that the production is moved to Trollhattan ?
It’s also interesting that Forster mentions the development of the new 9-3. If they were giving up on Saab that surely would be a case of no interest ?
Much of what Forster says sounds pretty realistic to me – unlike most of the comments by GM USA.
11 ck1x
// Jan 13, 2009 at 12:30 am
I think the consideration from the Swedish government might end up being if there are no interested parties in buying either company. Then both Saab and Volvo should think about a merger. Streamline both companies line-ups and focus on growing the over all preception of the brands and global sales volume. Consolidate some manufacturing space and expound upon what both companies do very well! Which is to excell in the R&D department. Saab or Volvo don’t sell as many cars as the other players, true. But both companies come up with very innovative techniques that are being whored around by both GM & Ford at the moment.
12 Kevin miller
// Jan 13, 2009 at 1:48 am
Being on the ground in Detroit trying to chase this story is incredibly frustrating. GM isn’t saying anything in their conferences. Forster spoke with Swedish journos only. Grrr! Where are the rumored Swedish gov’t officials? Where is communication with press from the rest of the world?
13 MarkS
// Jan 13, 2009 at 1:53 am
I’m just hoping and praying Saab can break free of GM soon, and that production of the 9-5 comes back to Sweden where it belongs. I’m still furious from an earlier post which included comments from Bob Lutz (not that his ramblings were a surprise to me). Does anyone remember Mr. Lutz jumping on stage with Michael Mauer after the unveiling of the 9-X back in 2001? Remember how he went on and on about the 9-X representing Saab’s next evolutionary step, or words to that effect? Bob conducted a similar pep rally after the unveiling of the 9-3X. But shortly thereafter, Michael Mauer’s concepts (and the designer himself) were out the window, and Mr. Lutz and his GM cronies were selling us on the virtues of re-badged Subaru’s and Trailblazers. They insulted our intelligence even further by referencing these abominations as the Saabiest Saabs ever and squashed Saab’s hatchback design just as the rest of the world was beginning to embrace the concept. I’d say his credibility took a serious nose dive at this point. When Mr. Lutz whines about Saab’s lack of growth, does he expect to be taken seriously?? GM has mined Saab for all it’s worth while starving it nearly to death, and for this we’re supposed to be grateful? There’s a universal gesture to convey my feelings about this but I’m not sure how to convey it in this post.
I think you can well imagine.
14 Markac
// Jan 13, 2009 at 2:17 am
MarkS: Is this the gesture?
15 MarkS
// Jan 13, 2009 at 4:54 am
Markac – Looks like you’ve nailed it!
16 Ying
// Jan 13, 2009 at 5:26 am
Allow me to do the same gesture to GM.
17 Johnny
// Jan 13, 2009 at 5:45 am
According to one of the main news programmes (”Rapport”) from the national Swedish TV broadcaster SVT, part of the GM/Saab restructuring plan to get emergency loans from the Swedish government is to “bring all development work of future models to Sweden”. Furthermore, Saab wants to bring home the production of the 9-3 Convertible from Austria, and the next generation 9-5.
SVT also claims that GM is willing to invest billions in the reconstruction of Saab, as long as the Swedish government agrees to support with financial backing from the SEK 28 billion package.
This really sounds extremely drastic to me – move “all future development work”, PLUS the next-gen 9-5 production, PLUS the current 9-3 convertible production? Surely there must be a catch somewhere?
On the other hand, automotorsport.se reports from the Detroit show that a certain Mr Lutz cannot see a future for Saab under the GM umbrella: “I love the brand. But GM will not keep Saab, that’s for sure.”
Well, whatever comes out of this circus in the end, I won’t be surprised!
18 saabyurk
// Jan 13, 2009 at 5:54 am
MarkS: “Does anyone remember Mr. Lutz jumping on stage with Michael Mauer”
Yes, I remember. I remember how excited I was at the time, looking forward to the production of those vehicles. Now it’s just become a bad dream/nightmare. Yes, let me add many more of those gestures.
19 SaabKen
// Jan 13, 2009 at 6:05 am
Johnny,
I think Old “Maximum Bob”
http://jalopnik.com/cars/news/maximum-bob-lutz-born-from-jets-169024.php
must be forgetting his meds these days ….
20 ctm
// Jan 13, 2009 at 6:37 am
We all know what this mean if Saab moves everything back to Sweden, don’t we? The 9-4X probably scrapped, while the 9-5 goes in to production. And then they start on the next project (the 9-3) to be released around 2013. All to keep the good old Saab tradition of releasing one new car every five year on average while maintaing a ten year life cycle… So after the pics of the 9-5 in February, prepare to wait another four year for news of the next non-concept car…
21 MarkS
// Jan 13, 2009 at 12:22 pm
ctm – Saab used to produce cars with enough character and outstanding design attributes to last a 10+ year evolutionary cycle. They need to bring such designs to light once again (and I wouldn’t count the 9-4X as one such concept)! Saab used to announce MEANINGFUL technological enhancements to its models every year, not just the latest re-skins of second rate designs. For instance, the 1985 900 turbo looked much like the 1984 turbo on the outside, but think of the differences under the skin! The ‘85 featured the new 16 valve turbo engine and some major technological improvements over its predecessor. These were hardware advancements with substance, worth getting excited over!
22 MarkS
// Jan 13, 2009 at 12:28 pm
Saabyurk – I can relate! I was really excited about Saab’s future back in 2001….just before my dreams were shattered! But there’s still hope my friends…..