Saab On Hold Again, And Other Underreported News

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

Our friends at Saabsunited are slacking off. They used to have cameras trained on the Saab plant in Trollhättan that allowed them to (prematurely) report the return of the workers to the idling plant. Now they had to learn out of the press that the plant will remain closed for a few more weeks. From Reuters all the way to Car and Van Weeks, they all report that Saab workers will stay at home for another two weeks, or thereabouts. The negotiatations with the darned suppliers are ongoing. What else is new? Well, Saabsunited was able to provide the news that the news are true, and that “no definite date for a production restart has been set.” To make up for the temporary breakdown of communication, Saabsunited was allowed to listen-in on a conference call with American suppliers. However, they “can’t reveal specifics.” So why listen in at all? I know, the matter is getting old and tedious, but while we are at it …

Previously, Saabsunited was more on the ball. For instance, they had found the good news in Chinacartimes that Pangda has finished its due diligence process with Saab (that was quick.) What they forgot to say was that Chinacartimes unearthed a niggling little detail:

“It’s a procedure for Chinese companies to conduct due diligence if they want to acquire or partner with foreign companies, and then they are allowed to submit to the regulator an application for opening a joint venture.

However, the application should be submitted by Youngman Automobile, said Pang Qinghua. He has urged Youngman Automobile’s chairman Pang Qingnian to file the application as soon as possible.”

Well, lets hope that both submit their application. All parties involved in a joint venture need to be approved by the Chinese government. Because Pangda and Youngman want to hold interests both in the joint venture as well as in Saab, they better submit those papers. Remember how Hummer got shot down? It never was shot down. The government claimed they received an incomplete application, and then they never received a complete one.

After that secret conference call, Victor Muller reminded Saabsunited of “a previously announced fact that has been underreported – that Youngman has been preselected to make a deal with Saab by the NDRC.” Ok, so let’s do our reporting duty. “Preselected” is the wrong word. Youngman was first to hand in their application (which waits to be updated with the due diligence report and whatever else the Chinese government needs).

When other companies such as Hawtai applied to the NDRC for permission to do a deal with Saab, the NDRC did not deny the application either. The NDRC reminded Hawtai and any other suitors that Youngman had handed in their application first, and according to Chinese rules, no other application can be considered by the government while the first application is pending, ni tingdong ma? With that out of the way, the NDRC can now take its time with Youngman.

Tip to Saabsunited: There is another article up on Chinacartimes. Likewise underreported. It is titled “Are Youngman the best bet for Saab?” It has words such as

“Youngman’s negotiating policy seems to revolve around thewaiting for them to be half dead, half alive’”

and

“SAIC waited until MG-Rover was cold and very dead before moving into scrape the corpse clean and they launched the Roewe brand two years later. Could Youngman be stalling for time to repeat SAIC’s tactics?”

Required reading. And while we recommend articles from China, here is another one. Underreported again.

Bertel Schmitt
Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

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 6 comments
  • SVX pearlie SVX pearlie on Jun 20, 2011

    “Youngman’s negotiating policy seems to revolve around the ‘waiting for them to be half dead, half alive’” IOW, Youngman is waiting to Saab to sell the name, tooling and IP as a going-out-of-business sale, but NOT any of the overpriced labor in Sweden. See? Smart!

    • See 1 previous
    • Sen Moloney Sen Moloney on Jun 21, 2011

      As far as I am aware, the Saab brand name belongs to Saab AB. During the liquidation of Saab back in late 2009 early 2010 Eric Geers was quoted as saying that General Motors could not sell the Saab brand name because the Saab name never belonged to GM. But rather Saab AB and Scania AB. I think that Scania has more the rights to the Saab Griffin logo more then anything and Saab AB holds the rights to the name. If Saab Automobile was to go out of business there would be no name to sell and the Saab brand name would default back to Saab AB. I believe this was also one of the reasons that Spyker's original name change plan (Saab-Spyker) didn't come to be and thus we have Swedish Automobile.

  • Pig_Iron Pig_Iron on Jun 20, 2011

    “SAIC waited until MG-Rover was cold and very dead before moving into scrape the corpse clean and they launched the Roewe brand two years later. Could Youngman be stalling for time to repeat SAIC’s tactics?” I think this is the plan. No one else will save my beloved SAAB at this point - GM destroyed the brand, left it with too much baggage, and made it damaged goods. I pray I'm wrong, but I don't see how SAAB can survive to the autumn, unless it morphs into and design and prove-out house with some niche/specialty manufacturing on the side. I still think it would be a good fit with VAG. I don't know a soul who bought a Volvo since the Chinese took over.

    • See 1 previous
    • Sen Moloney Sen Moloney on Jun 21, 2011

      @SVX pearlie Ok, credit? Yes GM threw Saab a lifeline in 1989 when they bought 50% of the automotive division. But put them on life support is exactly what they did. GM starved Saab of resources and yet expected it to be able to compete with BMW and Audi. The GM 900/OG 9-3 was built on an old Opel platform from the 80's, that's hardly an investment. The only time GM actually invested wisley in Saab was with the introduction of the OG 9-5 and the 2002 9-3 both which contributed to sales climbing to record highs form Saab in 2003. Saab had a replacement for the 9-5 ready to go in 2005, but GM decided against it. Similar to this Saab also had the 9-3X ready for production at the same time as the launch of the 9-3 SportCombi in 2006, but GM declared that the platform the 9-3 rode on would not get AWD thus cancelling the 9-3X only to back flip 3 years later. No, GM's brilliant idea on how to turn Saab into a profitable company was to rebadge cars that should have been of lesser quality, a la 9-2X and 9-7, instead of letting Saab develop their own veichles. Saab was meant to be GM's luxury brand, anybody with half a brain can figure out that a luxury brand requires investment in order to remain competitive, not just life support. Saab should have been one of the top priorities, but because it wasn't American and because it was a make do brand that GM bought because they missed out on the brand they really wanted (Volvo I believe), GM just didn't invest, and that is where they went wrong. Argue all you want, but the fact of the matter is, Saab was never a top priority for GM, merely an after thought, and that is why they failed.

  • EBFlex China can F right off.
  • MrIcky And tbh, this is why I don't mind a little subsidization of our battery industry. If the American or at least free trade companies don't get some sort of good start, they'll never be able to float long enough to become competitive.
  • SCE to AUX Does the WTO have any teeth? Seems like countries just flail it at each other like a soft rubber stick for internal political purposes.
  • Peter You know we’ve entered the age of self driving vehicles When KIAs go from being stolen to rolling away by themselves.
  • Analoggrotto TTAC is full of drug addicts with short memories. Just beside this article is another very beautiful article about how the EV9 was internationally voted by a renowned board of automotive experts who are no doubt highly educated, wealthy and affluent; the best vehicle in entire world. That's planet earth for you numbskulls. Let me repeat: the best vehicle in the world is the Kia EV9. Voted, and sealed, and if you try to deny it Fanny Willis is ready to prosecute you; but she will send her boyfriend instead because she is busy.
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