Saab Employees: Save Our Company!
Courtesy of saabsunited.com comes this letter from Saab’s Swedish employees to General Motors.
[the following section was originally written in English]
To our owners, General Motors
We at Saab have lived with our brand and our cars for more than 60 years. It is a brand that accommodates great passion. Ever since the beginning in 1947, when engineers from the aircraft industry were lying on the floor outlining the body lines of the first prototype, we have been bearing the stamp of new thinking, desire for continuous improvement, willpower and commitment.
We call that “the Saab Spirit”, and during the last year it has been more evident than ever. We have not given up. In times of extreme uncertainty we have delivered and created new prerequisites for our company, and we have built a new vision where to bring our brand and our products. We believe in our future. We know we have the ability.
Trust us. Don’t count Saab out. Allow us to bring our roots into the future. It is not only important to us, but also to our 1.5 million customers around the world and all of those people passionate about our cars and our brand.
[the following section has been electronically translated from Swedish prior to being sent to Saabsunited]
There are more than a trace
Now it has gone a few days ago Koenigsegg Group announced that they withdraw from Saab purchase. The first disappointment and shock has subsided and now work hard to find new solutions. Time is limited, but it is true that a number of interested parties have made contact.
“I want all employees to feel that we are doing our utmost to row ashore with this. We are very aware that time is limited. Over the weekend, we will continue to work intensively to create the best conditions. We expect clearance from GM next week, “says Saab’s CEO Jan Ake Jonsson.
This was also something he brokered the Future Forum, in Trollhattan last night, when he spoke to about 300 people from industry in Trollhättan and the surrounding area.
EIB Eva Srejber clarifies the site realtid.se the EIB loan is targeted to Saab and not to the Koenigsegg Group. Therefore, freezing is not included because of the defection. The article on realtid.se says Eva Srejber: “The ownership change is not unusual for us, when we make such an analysis of the new owners”, and believes that the bank will do a new analysis of the future owners when the picture becomes clearer.
Saab Enthusiasts around the world are now showing their support for Saab. Site www.rescue-saab.com has 17,066 supporters signed up and now calls on all those who figured to send a picture of themselves to make a giant photo mosaic to show GM how many people are behind Saab.
More by Edward Niedermeyer
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"...we are doing out utmost to row ashore with this." Nice piece of surreal electronic translation. Maybe automotive advertising and marketing copy should be be written in Swedish and translated electronically. Couldn't hurt.
Realistically, I doubt a good case will be made by next week to the GM Board to keep things running in Trollhatten. Of course, I'm not certain the decisions haven't already been made, and this is just a ceremonial exercise. However, despite the catcalls from the armchair automotive analyst crowd, there are quite a few folks outside of the TTAC bubble who are hoping for something better. They've indeed put their money into the brand, not only buying recent models but keeping other ones from the 80s back into the 60s running. And despite the cars always having flaws that come from being cars, they still like them. "So Saab employees, how many of you raised a stink about this mistreatment of customers back when you still had some? How many of you putting your badges on the line to push back against the absurd 9-7 product decision? Finally, how many of you thought naming a car after the dread nine-to-five workday was a great marketing move?" I suppose (given all that's been written on TTAC) something similar could be asked of GM employees in lots of places? Detroit? But given past GM decisions earlier in the decade such as to cancel at least one new 9-5 (which would have made the upcoming 2010 model the third new version instead of the 2nd) for cost cutting reasons, it doesn't take much to realize these questions had only answers in Detroit, not Sweden.