Saabstermath: Of Vultures And Phoenixes
If you are worried that you may have to live without daily episodes of the Saab Soap, now that the company is bankrupt, worry no more. Or in the words of Saabsunited: “never ever give up!” The show will go on.
Today, Automotive news China [sub] reports:
“Zhejiang Youngman Lotus Automobile Co. says it has purchased Saab Automobile’s Phoenix architecture despite its failure to acquire the automaker itself. Youngman already has set up a company in Sweden to develop new models based on the architecture, said Rachel Pang, Youngman’s spokeswoman and daughter of Youngman President Pang Qingnian.”
The trouble is, nobody in Sweden or elsewhere has heard about it.
“Don’t believe any report that shows up. The media is desperately looking for things to write about and comes up with, to say the least, strange news. Like with the rumours about Phoenix being sold to Youngman seperately we will try to figure out the truth behind it and keep you updated ad good as possible.”
To me, the story comes as expected. A few days ago, I predicted:
“I wouldn’t be surprised if a license for the PhoeniX platform won’t suddenly show up at Youngman, pledged as security for some of the money that had been paid. Then, GM will say that Phoenix IP is mostly theirs, and there will be a protracted and messy lawsuit.”
Whoever thinks the Chinese paid a few million out of the goodness of their hearts is gravely mistaken. The way we (and other Swedish media) understand the deal is that there was a loan, with the Phoenix platform pledged as collateral. Youngman most likely takes the position that the loan was defaulted upon, and the collateral is theirs. This can be a long, expensive, and messy lawsuit until this is sorted out, and in a bankruptcy, who has the nerves and money for that?
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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My wish(es) for 2012: That auto "journalists" and bloggers will stop with the practice of typing an unfounded/unprofessional comment just to strike it out. It's not clever, and it's sooooooo been done to death. Also, again to auto writers: Please be mindful that the words and "writing" style you use are straight up copied by kids typing on VW and Honda message boards. If I see the word "agricultural" one more time, as typed by a 26 year old kid living in his parents basement, as an excuse to not by a 2.5 VW vs a 2.0T VW, I will scream. As if said child will ever buy a new car anyway.... So, for 2012, "agricultural" is out of the lexicon, right? Agreed? Good! Happy New Year! :)
I read on other sites that it's Pangda that had acquired (or at least interested in) the Phoenix platform. Looks like absent actual news, the media are reporting rampant speculations as facts.