Saab Soap, The Endgame: Antonov Wants War!

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

In the Saab soap, it looks like Vladimir Antonov does no longer want to be invited back. Swedish Aftonbladet reports that “Vladimir Antonov is pissed” (at least that’s Google’s translation for “Vladimir Antonov är förbannad”) and is looking into legal action against Sweden’s Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, Finance Minister Anders Bork and Maud Olofsson, Minister for Enterprise and Energy.

And while Vlad the Impaler is at it, he also wants to sue the Swedish government as a whole and the management of the European Investment Bank EIB. He feels cheated and says the Swedish government is double dealing.

“We are totally unsympathetic to this,” said Johanna Martin, Press Secretary of Maud Olofsson, when Aftonbladet asked for a comment. The EIB had no comment at all.

The chances of Mr. Antonov to prevail in a court in Stockholm or Luxembourg are pretty slim. It might get more interesting if he asks his pal Putin to sail a submarine up the Göta Älv and to shell the city.


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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  • CurtInFalcon CurtInFalcon on Jul 29, 2011

    Antonov may sue whomever he pleases. However, if for some reason he becomes a major Saab owner, he will need the cooperation of the Swedish government and possibly the EIB whenever Saab decides to make a major transaction. He will be burning numerous bridges on his way to court.

  • Seanx37 Seanx37 on Jul 29, 2011

    We are sure going to miss SAAB in a week or two when they are gone. We need to find something else to talk about.

    • Herb Herb on Jul 29, 2011

      Great idea! How about: - The future of small car companies? - On the chances and risks of "minority car" producers? - Will VW (or Tata) buy them all? And then? - Why the new Morgan 3 Wheeler (http://www.morgan3wheeler.co.uk/home.html) won't/should be produced at the empty Saab factories.

  • Fred diesel Fred diesel on Jul 29, 2011

    Maybe it will take Swedes, SaabAuto, Russia and Russians to debunk the "German auto-superiority myth". Where is the Russian auto industry anyway? Why copy machine tools and go thru the engineering when they can be bought for relative cheap? PLEASE. Somebody. Saved the world from GASM, before its too late.

    • See 1 previous
    • Stroker49 Stroker49 on Jul 30, 2011

      @Sam P Maybe if you are north American! According to most europeans good american cars does not exists. They are as expensive here as premium european cars, the spare parts are at least as expensive. Here in Europe German cars are considered to be very reliable and of good quality. Most Asian cars also. People are starting to buy Chevvys here, when they now know they are coming from Korea! So I drive American! With the reputation American cars have here the depreciation is enormous. A brand new Cadillac STS costed 79000 USD 2005! I picked that up with 25000 mi and in very good (as new) condition for less than a used VW Passat, I do the service myself and buys the filters etcetera from USA (oilfilter from the USA 7 USD, in Europe 27 USD!)

  • Eldard Eldard on Jul 30, 2011

    Silly Russian and Chinese rich folks don't know how to invest their money. Kinda like BMW, Daimler-Benz, Ford and GM when they all went on a shopping spree for inferior British, Swedish and American makes. We all know how that turned out. lol

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