#sweden

According to media reports and TTAC, all kinds of high-powered parties are interested in sucking the last bone marrow out of the corpse of bankrupt Saab. China’s Youngman supposedly is ready to plunk down a billion Euro (or $1.3 billion) for the carcass. In Turkey, Brightwell Holdings “will make a bid very shortly, there’s no question,” as Brightwell board member Zamier Ahmen told Bloomberg. The trouble is: Nobody is bidding.

Want a piece of “quirky” history? While the good folks at the Church of the One True Saab still have dreams of white knights, Saab’s heritage is being auctioned off. This caught the attention of Bringatrailer.com (“The best vintage and classic cars for sale online.”) In a lengthy piece, the organ for trailer trash collector’s online hub salivates over “the entire collection of 100+ cars belonging to the Saab Heritage Museum in Trollhaettan, Sweden” to the liquidator.

There was ample hand-wringing when Volvo announced the death of their iconic station wagon in North America. While enthusiasts mourned the death of a cult classic, Volvo also announced a plug-in hybrid version of their V60 wagon, powered by a diesel engine and a hybrid drivetrain. Naturally, this vehicle was not destined for sale in North America.

The non-available V60 plug-in constituted the ultimate slap in the face for the Volvo faithful. Here was the newest generation of Volvo wagon (as opposed to the warmed over XC70 offered recently) with an environmental bent and the Euro-cachet of a diesel engine – but where was it? As Jamie Kitman of Automobile magazine rightfully pointed out, their core buyer is “green” but refusing to import such a vehicle may not be “lunacy”, because the Swedes have something more suited for American tastes – the same hybrid goodness, packaged as a gasoline-powered crossover.

Yesterday, the alleged enthusiast blog did play its usual “if we would tell you, they would shoot us” about a possible suitor from India:

“We are not allowed to reveal the identity of the company yet, but we are allowed to reveal some facts about it. They are of course based in India but acts on a world-wide basis with much more than 100’000 employees worldwide. They are a multi-billion dollar company, that work on multiple fields such as energy, logistics, real estate and of course within the aerospace and automotive industry.”

Thinking of cashing in on Saab’s misfortunes? Contemplating your own bankruptcy deal, where you can buy a brand new (well, nicely aged on the dealer lot) Saab for pennies on the dollar? Think again. Edmunds.com Senior Consumer Advice Editor Philip Reed says you will be in for a nasty surprise:

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.

After delegations of Pangda and Youngman had travelled to Trollhättan to inspect the factory, one returning Chinese traveler mentioned to a contact of mine that the factory is great, but it’s in the wrong place. In Sweden, workers would earn way too much and go home early, contrary to the Chinese worker, who would have a much higher work ethic for less money, the traveler opined. If all goes well (for the Chinese,) the Trollhättan factory will come to China. Usually well informed Sveriges Radio reports that Youngman is interested in buying the Saab assets in a bankruptcy sale.

Updated with Victor Muller’s press conference.

Sweden’s Aftonbladet reports that Victor Muller filed for bankruptcy of Saab this morning at the court in Vänersborg.

Dagens Industri writes that with Saab having declared bankruptcy itself, the matter will be resolved quickly. A bankruptcy order is expected during the day.

Tomorrow is he day when the court in Vänersborg will decide whether to lift creditors’ protection, thereby throwing Saab to the circling wolves. Even a bankrupt Saab wold have a slim chance of survival. However, there is a higher court that holds Saab’s fate in its hands. That court sits in Detroit and is called GM. That court has spoken. The verdict is:

No.

Yesterday was a very tumultuous day in a tumultuous year at Saab. As it has become customary, the hectic became strongest when money was due. On Monday, payroll and social security taxes had to be paid in Sweden, and the government wants to see cash, not idle promises. That’s what created rumors of bankruptcy. It also caused Martin Larsson to step down from the board, in an apparent attempt to avoid liability.

Later in the day, the red knight from China rode to the rescue: The mysterious €3.3 million are now allegedly on their way from China, honestly now. Sweden’s Dagens Industri heard “from an industry source” that the money is now coming, to be used to pay the taxes. According to DI, “The money from Youngman had already been paid on Friday, but was stuck in the Chinese banking system and was therefore delayed.”

We had told you that you better have all your paperwork ready to expedite a bank wire from China.

Swedens’ Dagens Industri has it from “several independent sources” that Victor Muller is ready to throw in the towel, and that Saab-owner Swedish Automobile NV will declare bankruptcy this afternoon at the court in Vänersborg. Dagens Industri has not reached Muller.

Actually, we shouldn’t even mention Saab before the court in Vänersborg renders its verdict on Dec 16. The court will decide whether it follows the suggestion of the court appointed administrator Guy Lofalk to lift the creditors protection on Saab. But it’s a slow newsday, and Saab is always good for a story. No, we don’t mean the €3,322,993.13 allegedly transferred by Youngman. No, we are not referring to the latest round of hamfisted censorship at Saab’s enthusiast site. We are talking about a story that is making the rounds on websites that specialize on the activities of the Russian mob. They insist that Saab’s darling Antonov “has been involved in a number of financial scams before.” The mobster tracking site Rumafia says:“A few years ago Antonov moved almost all Snoras’ liquid assets, $400-500 million worth, to foreign accounts. He disguised the fraud under a series of loans which the bank allocated to front companies with no real asset backing.”Hmmm. No real asset backing?

December 16 is the day Saab’s fate will be decided. Court appointed administrator Guy Lofalk, who yesterday was ready to pull the plug, pulled it today. Currently, Saab is under creditor protection. However, Lofalk asked the Vänersborg District Court to lift the protection, opening the door to final bankruptcy. In a statement cited by Reuters, Lofalk said:

“Since the required funding has not been received and the stated schedule not been kept, the (Saab) companies lack the ability to pay upcoming liabilities.”

Lofalk also named General Motors’ unwillingness to approve proposed deals. GM had driven what looks like the final nail in the coffin, by denying the deal that was proposed a few days ago:

The Church of The True Saab reports rather breathlessly that a YADTFSS (yet another deal to finally save Saab) has been found. The organ that prides itself to have knowledge of insider information (which it usually never releases) relies on Sweden’s TTELA, which says (translation courtesy Church of The True Saab : )

Saab’s supposed saviors in China have not sent any money (not that this is surprising). Saab’s other savior Vladimir Antonov is out on bail, had to surrender his passport and report with the coppers in West London three times a week. Which adds new revs on Saab swirling down the drain.