Tomorrow, Pangda Will Walk The Line In Trollhttan
“Based on the information we have, it looks like we will start up production tomorrow,” Saab spokeswoman Gunilla Gustavs told Reuters today. That’s called a double hedge in the propaganda business.
But based on the information TTAC has, it looks like production will indeed take place on Friday. On Friday, an important visitor will come to Trollhättan: Pangda Chief Executive Pang Qinghua, with entourage. Today, Pang is in Stockholm for a chit-chat with Enterprise Minister Maud Olofsson and the Swedish debt office. Their goodwill is needed to admit Pangda as an investor in Saab. And the Minister has a busy schedule …
On Tuesday, Minister Olofsson gave an audience to Vladimir Antonov. He might as well have stayed at home. According to The Local, Olofsson was noncommittal to the max after the meeting. “It was a good meeting. Always good to meet people about which so much has been written,” Maud Olofsson said, perfecting the art of false praise.
In the end, she told Antonov that as much as she would want to help him, her hands are tied, “we are waiting on GM and EIB.” That earned Olofsson the title “Ms. Awfulson” and “unable to organise a p*ss-up in a brewery” in The Local’s comment section.
Let’s see what gems will emerge from today’s meeting with Pangda. Ms Awfulson’s representative Hakan Lindberg already downplayed the meeting as “kind of courtesy call. It will probably be a fairly short meeting.” Olofsson’s press secretary Johanna Martin reiterated the “courtesy call. ”
Tomorrow, Saab’s new Chinese partners will be in Trollhättan, and it will be important that the lines are running – if only for a day. Don’t want to leave a bad first impression.
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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It will be the same car coming down the line 100 times which Saab had previously secretly take all the parts off it to feed it down the line again and again. Once the Pangda Chinese realise this they will probably run away screaming from Trollhatten as quickly as Hawtai did as even Antonov's money can't fix this money hole.
"Once again, accusations of bias serve only to conceal an intellectual bankruptcy, a disdain for open, honest discussion and a bunker mentality that does neither Saab, nor the public any favors" Can I quote you on that in relation to your story about the ownership of SaabsUnited? Nice formulation of what you tried to do in that piece ;-)