Trollhattan Saab has changed!
The site you're viewing now is the original Trollhattan Saab weblog, though it's now an archive only and no new material is posted here. As of February 2009, all new material is posted at our new site - Saabs United.
Please join us at Saabs United and get your daily Saab fix from Saab sources all around the world.

Thanks to all of those who kept everyone so up to date while I was sleeping. These time zones can be a monumental PITA, but that’s how it is, I guess.

A summary of the day’s events, then:

——

It’s quite clear that the Swedish government will not take an ownership stake in Saab. What’s still unclear is the level to which they’ll support manufacturing and the way Saab might look if things are to continue on into the future.

Carl-Peter Forster:

“If we have an autonomous or quasi-autonomous company [that is] well funded, the pressure to sell it is not that evident,” Foster said, adding that “all options are on the table.”

——

Most of the talk today seemed to be about this potential heightened state of autonomy, a situation that would be absolutely ideal for creating conditions where Saab could actually start to really develop.

While Saab Automobile Managing Director Jan-Åke Jonsson, who SvD meets in the Saab stand, confirmed that Saab is now distancing itself from GM – after all these years of strugge to integrate wihtin GM.

- It also means that we have greater autonomy, he says.

Jan-Åke Jonsson mentions that Tata Motors, which in March bought the Jaguar and Land Rover by Ford, were then forced to write more than 60 service contracts with Ford on various partnerships.

——

Most of the really interesting news is coming from Sweden rather than from Detroit:

The government is now negotiating with General Motors on a total restoration of Saab Automobile. If pre -negotiations go well, the Swedish Government prepared to inject 28 billion SEK to the crisis in the automobile industry.

The requirement for car manufacturers to get the money is that money stays in Sweden, and that profit plans are presented and the companies announce any sales.

According to Swedish News (Rapport) Saab, which currently has the greatest need for
money, wants all development for new car models in Sweden.

Also Saab wants to produce a convertible model and the new 9-5 in Trollhattan, which today are made in Austria and the new model of 9-5, to be produced in Germany.

- “Saab could meet the requirements for rescue loan in connection with the restructuring,” said Secretary of State Jöran Hägglund.

GM is prepared to inject money to a reorganization of Saab Automobile in exchange for the Swedish Government money support

Now that’s a scenario I’d like to see!

——

More from the Swedish press and not in comments. This one’s from CTM,

GM and Ford promises government full transparency

The Swedish government was a welcome guest at the auto show in Detroit. “A completely different humility than we saw a year ago,” said Jöran Hägglund, State Secretary to the Minister for Enterprise and Energy, after having met the top management of the US car manufacturers who owns Saab and Volvo.

But then he brought a bag of SEK 28 billion to the negotiations.

“Money talks,” as Jöran Hägglund said at an international press conference.

The Swedish government is prepared to support the Swedish automotive industry. But like the U.S. government, it requires that the money must stay in its own country and that the companies must show that they have a viable future.

Jöran Hägglund was satisfied with the discussions he had with the top management of Ford and Volvo, and General Motors and Saab Automobile.

- “They have promised us a direct and precise information on the review carried out on the two companies. If they advance to the next step and start a selling process, then we will be fully informed about it,” he told TT.

That was one of the things he wanted to sort out during the meetings.

- “Shall we enter some sort of cooperation, we must know what happens in long term,” he says.

Both Swedish car manufacturers are discussing projects worth several billion in loans from European Investment Bank (EIB) and guaranteed by the Swedish government. According to Jöran Hägglund, Volvo has come further along than the Saab with its wish list – this despite the fact that Saab is more trouble.

- “Two months from now, there must be some sort of formal agreement on the package,” says Saab Jan Åke Jonsson.

Jöran Hägglund do not want to give any timetable, other than that applications to the EIB must be submitted in early March.

- “Saab’s dilemma is the level of integration with GM. It makes everything more complicated. But Saab is moving in the right direction, so we believe it is worth continuing the discussions.”

GM management is clear. Without money from the Swedish government, Saab’s future is uncertain. The problem is that neither of the two new models that are planned for the coming year are to be built in Sweden. Only the Saab 9-3 will be built in Trollhättan. It is unclear when the current model may have a successor. Jöran Hägglund confirms that some of the projects in which the Swedish aid money can be used is related to the new 9-3.

Volvo Cars can prove more easily than Saab that the aid money does not disappear to the American owners.

- “Our cash flow is presented each quarter. It is possible to see that the money stays in Sweden,” says Stephen Odell, CEO Volvo Cars.

Jöran Hägglund think that the atmosphere at the meetings have been good.

- “But I can not fail to note that when the operation goes well they turn themselves with pleasure to the shareholders, and when it goes bad they turn themselves to the taxpayers,” he says.