Chinese Saab Story, Updated

I’ve been prowling the autoblogosphere today re: the Saab SAIC deal. Besides the obvious concerns about fear of production and technology moving out of Sweden, comments and speculations are mainly positive. The unions are happy, says Chairman of the United Metalworkers, Paul Åkerlund. “Lovely to be done with this discussion, now its time to look forward.” The Chairman of the union, Annette Hellgren, is similarly copacetic. “There are always question around Chinese owners, as with our neighbor in Gothenburg (Volvo), but with this deal, we don’t have to worry – that feels good.” In their opinion, we’re talking Chinese money, access to the Chinese Market, and no Chinese interference with management or product development. (Minor stake in Koenigsegg Group, remember?) As the old Swedish aphorism says, “Döm ej allt du ser, Tro ej allt du hör, Gör ej allt du kan, Säg ej allt du vet, Förtär ej allt du har, Låt ingen veta vad du har i hjärtat eller pungen.” Make the jump for the translation and more news . . .

“Do not judge all you see, do not believe all you hear, do not do all you can, do not say all you know, do not eat all you have, let no one know what you have in your heart or in your wallet.”

Speaking of wallets . . .

In an interview to Aftenposten, investor Bård Eker expressed joy and relief, but also frustration with slow bureaucratic processes. They’re in a hurry alright; “we’re talking hours and days, not weeks and months.”

So the only real concern is whether the deal will go through or not. A Memorandum of Understanding is not a legally binding contract; it isn’t good enough to secure that crucial loan from European Investment Bank (EIB).

According to e24.se, if Saab receives EIB loans, the new company will be kept on a tight leash. Research, development and innovation, namely intellectual property rights such as patents, must be owned and conducted by an entity within the EU. In addition, “most [of this work] must be conducted in Europe,” said EIB Vice Manager Eva Srejber.

According to Trollhättan-area’s local news site ttela.se, Amnesty International stated a cause for concern to Koenigsegg, demanding a similar work force policy in an eventual assembly factory in China as there is in Trollhättan.

“We take no stand for or against Swedish establishments dealing with non-democratic countries. But we think that any business that enters into a partnership with China should be familiar with how things looks like in the Chinese industry,” Amnesty International press secretary Elisabeth Löfgren said. “Companies should not operate with double standards. Compliance with the Swedish labor law in Sweden should not be lower in the foreign operations and by its subcontractors. Saab is in a huge mess. But it is nevertheless important that there are set demands to Koenigsegg in this respect.”