News Archives - Page 7 of 10

Press Release: Swedish Automobile Update On Additional Short-Term Funding

Trollhättan, Sweden: Swedish Automobile N.V. (Swedish Automobile, formerly Spyker Cars N.V.) announces that a Chinese company placed an order to purchase 582 Saab vehicles with a total value of EUR 13 million from Saab Automobile AB (Saab Automobile) and the full pre-payment is expected to be received this week, providing Saab Automobile with short-term funding to pay the wages to its employees and make partial supplier payments.

Swedish Automobile and Saab Automobile continue their discussions with several parties to secure additional short-term funding to restart production. There can, however, be no assurance that these discussions will be successful or that additional short-term funding will be obtained. Discussions on the sale and lease-back of the real estate of Saab Automobile are ongoing.

Victor Muller, CEO of Saab Automobile and Swedish Automobile said: “I am pleased to announce this agreement, as it secures part of the necessary short-term funding for Saab Automobile and allows us to pay our employees’ wages before the end of this month. The management of Saab Automobile is deeply committed to the company and its employees. I respect the decision of the union members to resign from the board of Saab Automobile. We very much regret the current cash shortage which is causing undeserved hardship to all and we are working relentlessly to resolve the current situation. We hope to secure additional short-term funding, necessary to reach agreement with all of our suppliers to restart production, soon.

Mr. Vladimir Antonov’s interest in participating as an investor/financier in Swedish Automobile remains unwavering, but he is still awaiting a decision on his clearance from parties at interest following the Swedish National Debt Office (NDO) recommendation to clear him over 8 weeks ago. Once clearance has been obtained, Mr. Antonov can provide much needed financing and/or capital to Swedish Automobile/Saab Automobile at this critical time. We are pushing hard to obtain this vital clearance as soon as practically possible”

Swedish Automobile will update the market of any new developments.

Swedish Automobile Press release – 23 June 2011

Zeewolde, The Netherlands, 23 June 2011 – Swedish Automobile N.V. (Swedish Automobile, formerly Spyker Cars N.V.) announces that Saab Automobile AB (Saab Automobile) will be unable to pay the wages to employees as it has not yet obtained the necessary short-term funding. Swedish Automobile and Saab Automobile are in discussions with various parties to obtain short-term funding, including via the sale and lease-back of the real estate of Saab that was announced previously, and with their financiers in connection with current financing arrangements. These discussions are ongoing. There can however be no assurance that these discussions will be successful or that the necessary funding will be obtained.

Saab Automobile has ongoing negotiations with suppliers in reaching agreement on the terms of payments in order to resume an orderly inflow of parts and components.

Swedish Automobile will update the market of any new developments.

Saab’s Magnus Hansson – Rising Star

He’s probably going to kill me for writing this up publicly 🙂

I’m very, very pleased to pass on that Saab’s Director for the Nordic Region, Magnus Hansson, has received a Rising Star Award from Automotive News Europe.

Automotive News Europe is delighted to announced its first winners of the Rising Stars — a new annual award that honors mid- and upper-level managers who are likely to become CEOs or executive board members in the future. ANE will honor the 2011 Rising Stars, and their mentors, at a gala dinner in Cologne, Germany, June 29.

This is fantastic news. I don’t want to sound like I’m sucking up here, but back when I was writing about Saab independently, I had fantastic communications with Magnus and always thought that big things would come his way. Having the chance to work in the same building with the man has only confirmed this. He’s been a steady hand in Saab’s home market during a difficult period, much like a guy who used to walk the same corridors until recently, Jan-Ake Jonsson.

Congratulations, mate! Some well deserved recognition for you and your team.

Saab ANA Win journalists’ Green Award for Tri-Fuel Saab 9-3

On Monday, a group called Gröna Bilister (Swedish Association of Green Motorists) presented a list of the 41 cars that reached the final of their Best Environmental Car award.

A satisfied Joachim Lind from ANA, the Saab dealership in Trollhattan, is seen at right posing with the car that was the first choice amongst a jury of journalists involved with the award.

There were four separate juries involved in the awards – automotive journalists, environmental managers, families and retirees. These groups tested the cars on the STCC Göteborg City Racetrack in Gothenburg. The idea of having juries is that they represent different customer requirements in the Swedish market. Each group nominated a class winner. The motor journalist’s choice was a biogas variant of the Saab 9-3, called Trifuel, which also turned out to be the environmental managers’ third choice.

In order to be a finalist, it was required that the car should emit less than 120 g km CO2 life-cycle emissions, must have received five stars in EuroNCAP’s crash tests (four stars for electric vehicles) and must be available for delivery no later than August 31. Finalists ranged from small cars to family cars.

The Saab 9-3 Trifuel can run on either compressed natural gas, E85 ethanol fuel or regular gasoline. The vehicle is built by ANA Trollhättan from vehicles supplied by Saab as there is a local demand for biogas-powered cars within the municipality and Västra Götaland. Saab Sweden have been working with ANA on this project for some time because they see opportunities for biogas car outside Trollhättan.

The head of Saab Sweden, Magnus Hansson:

-We believe that ANA’s conversion of Saab cars for biogas cars is an interesting project and see a role for us to support the distribution outside Trollhättan. We have had a co-operation since the fall of 2010 and this will be assessed to see if and how we can move on.

An awards ceremony was held this week at Gustav Adolf’s Square. The award for the Best Environmental Car 2011 went to the car with the most total points from the different groups, namely, the VW Passat TSI EcoFuel, which run on gas and petrol.

The Saab 9-3 Trifuel ended up in third place in the overall standings. Second place was another Volkswagen, namely gas car VW Touran TSI EcoFuel. ANA’s President, Joachim Lind was on hand to receive the automotive journalists’ prize won by the Saab 9-3 Trifuel.

Press Release: Saab 9-5 Sedan earns Top Safety Pick 2011

The Saab 9-5 Sedan has earned the highest rating for crashworthiness in the United States. The “Top Safety Pick” is awarded by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS, www.iihs.org), a research and communications organization funded by auto insurers in the US.

IIHS performs full tests for front impact (offset) and side impact crashes. Seat/head restraints also undergo a simulated rear impact conducted on a sled to assess protection against whiplash injuries and the roof structure tested to assess vehicle rollover protection.

Vehicles are rated as “Good”, “Acceptable”, “Marginal” or “Poor” in the various categories. To receive the “Top Safety Pick” award, cars must achieve the highest rating in all four categories and should also be fitted with ESP®.

“We are very pleased with the 9-5’s performance. IIHS is an independent body and the results of their tests are easily accessible and objective information for car buyers. It is therefore important for us to achieve good results in this type of testing,” says Per Lenhoff, Head of Safety Development at Saab Automobile.

“Our main priority, however, will always be to protect real people in real accidents, not just to do well in crash tests. It’s the core of our Real-Life Safety philosophy,” continues Per Lenhoff.

Saab’s Real-Life Safety philosophy is based on the fact that no collision is ever the same. Saab safety engineers continuously study how Saab cars behave in real collisions on public roads. The results of these studies are the basis for continued development of both design and safety solutions in cars as well as of Saab’s in-house crash testing methods.

The Saab 9-5 Sedan has already received the highest rating, five stars, in the crash tests conducted by the European New Car Assessment Programme, EuroNCAP

Press Release: Saab Automobile, Spyker, Pang Da And Youngman Enter Into MOU On Distribution/Manufacturing Partnership For China And Equity Participation

Trollhättan, Sweden: Spyker Cars N.V. (Spyker) announces today that Spyker, Saab Automobile AB (Saab Automobile), Pang Da Automobile Trade Co., Ltd (Pang Da) and Zhejiang Youngman Lotus Automobile Co., Ltd. (Youngman) signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding (MOU). The MOU includes an equity participation in the total aggregate amount of about EUR 245 million as well as a strategic alliance consisting of a three partite distribution joint venture and a tripartite manufacturing joint venture for Saab-branded and child brand vehicles in China.

On 16 May 2011 Spyker and Saab Automobile signed a memorandum of understanding (the 16 May MOU) with Pang Da, China’s largest publicly traded automobile distributor with over 1,100 dealerships nationwide. That 16 May MOU included a strategic alliance consisting of a 50/50 distribution joint venture (DJV) and a manufacturing joint venture (MJV) for Saab branded vehicles as well as for an MJV owned brand (the so-called ‘child brand’) in China. It was agreed that Saab Automobile would have up to 50 percent in the MJV, with Pang Da and a to-be-selected manufacturing partner owning the remaining shares. Pang Da and Saab Automobile have now agreed with Youngman to become the manufacturing partner in the MJV (in which Youngman will take 45% of the shares, Saab 45% and Pang Da 10%) and the DJV in which Youngman will take 33% of the shares, Pang Da 34% and Saab Automobile 33%.

Under the May 16 MOU, Pang Da would take an equity stake in Spyker for a total amount of EUR 65 million, representing 24 percent of Spyker on a fully diluted basis. With Youngman entering as a new shareholder in Spyker, the equity stake of Pang Da in Spyker will remain at 24 % raising its investment to EUR 109 million. The share price remains at EUR 4.19 per share and Pang Da will have the right to nominate up to two members of the Supervisory Board of Spyker.

Youngman will take a 29.9 % interest in Spyker on a fully diluted basis investing EUR 136 million at EUR 4.19 per share. Youngman will have the right to nominate up to two members of the Supervisory Board of Spyker.

Spyker, Saab Automobile, Pang Da and Youngman will set up joint ventures with respect to the manufacturing of Saab branded and child branded vehicles and the distribution of Saab branded and child branded vehicles for the China market. Saab Automobile and Youngman will each have a 45% interest in the manufacturing JV and Pang Da will hold the remaining 10%. Saab Automobile and Youngman will each have a 33% interest in the distribution JV and Pang Da will hold 34%.

The MOU is non-binding and the transactions following the MOU are subject to agreement on definitive transaction documents and certain conditions, which include consents from certain governmental agencies and third parties.

Victor Muller, CEO of Spyker and Saab Automobile said: “Having entered the MOU on May 16 with Pang Da, we collectively immediately set out to identify the most suitable (manufacturing) partner to join Saab and our joint ventures. We are convinced that Youngman represents all the qualities required to make Saab and the joint ventures a success. This MOU not only shows the belief of Pang Da and Youngman in our products for the Chinese market, it also is a step that significantly strengthens Saab’s financial position and would secure the mid and long term financing of Saab Automobile. Both Pang Da and Youngman have demonstrated a similar entrepreneurial mindset as we have which we feel will be instrumental to establish Saab’s presence in China. I am very confident that based on their experience, proven skills, their ability to move quickly and their financial strength, we found the partners that are best suited to fully explore Saab’s potential in China.”

Mr. PANG Qinghua, CEO of Pang Da, said: “Since our visit to Saab Automobile in Sweden we are even more convinced of the potential of Saab in the global market and the Chinese market, the number one market in the world, in particular and we intend to fully explore it. Not only are we impressed with the current and future product line up that is very well suited to the needs of the Chinese market but we are particularly impressed by their design, engineering and manufacturing skills.”

Mr PANG Qingnian, CEO of Youngman said: “We have been in contact with Saab Automobile for quite some time and we are very pleased to have reached an agreement with both Pang Da and Saab. We feel that Saab as a premium European brand appeals strongly to the taste and preferences of the Chinese customer who is looking for top quality vehicles with the highest levels of safety, driving pleasure and comfort and an unmistakable design language. Youngman is an automobile industrial group that produces and sells Youngman branded motor cars, MAN brand heavy type trucks and automobile spare parts. Our Manufacturing facilities are state of the art and are exactly tailored to build Saab vehicles at the highest quality standards. We look forward to a long lasting and successful relationship with Saab Automobile and Pang Da both in China as well globally through our investment in Saab.”

Communique: Production suspension to continue during next week

An internal communique from Saab updating the situation with regards to recent disruptions at the plant since resumption of production.

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The halt in production in April and May did not just affect Saab, but also our suppliers. We expected the risk of disruptions while restarting production, and have indeed experienced such disruptions this week. Therefore, the company decided yesterday to temporarily suspend production until we can secure a more stable flow of material.

Yesterday, Management reviewed the forecasted conditions for next week. This is part of the routine enabling us to inform suppliers about the production plan. The review revealed that suspended production will be necessary during next week as well.

The dialogue with our suppliers continues with high priority. Meanwhile, representatives from Saab and Spyker are working on a variety of initiatives to further strengthen our financial position in the short and long term and to stabilize operations. We expect to be able to make an announcement soon.

The Production staff will be at home today, Friday. Thereafter, Production management will make continual operating decisions about required attendance at work. The staff will be kept informed by their supervisors.

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End of the internal communique. Time for a little bit of context……

We have two primary ways of getting cashflow into our business.

The first is via commercial financial arrangements, which we continue to work hard at in order to secure our financial base for the future.

The second is to produce, sell and invoice cars, which is what we are working to secure with our suppliers. We now have an order bank of some 10,000 vehicles between our plant in Trollhattan and our 9-4x manufacturing arrangements with GM at Ramos Arizpe. This order bank represents a substantial and prolonged cash inflow.

As was mentioned when production resumed, we expected that there would be disruptions along the way. There are hundreds of suppliers involved with the production side of our business, and hundreds more involved in other aspects of the business. Our recent prolonged stoppage affected them in numerous ways, and this has had consequences for the re-start of production here at Saab.

As we’ve mentioned in prior communications, we are working hard on both sides of this cashflow issue and will continue to do so until the situation is resolved.

Press Release: SAAB AUTOMOBILE TEMPORARILY SUSPENDS PRODUCTION PENDING MORE STABLE INFLOW OF COMPONENTS

Following on from the production communication from yesterday……

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Zeewolde, The Netherlands, 9 June 2011 – Saab Automobile AB (Saab Automobile) today decided to temporarily suspend production at its production facility in Trollhättan. The seven-week production stop in April and May has not just affected Saab Automobile, but particularly also its supplier base. While Saab Automobile booked lots of progress and reached agreements with the vast majority of its supplier base, negotiations with a number of suppliers on payment and delivery terms are still ongoing. These negotiations are expected to be finalized shortly.

Saab Automobile is working on a number of initiatives to secure further short and medium-term funding.

As communicated in the press release of May 27th, Saab Automobile anticipated production hiccups in the start-up phase which Saab Automobile has in fact experienced in the last few days. In order to avoid disruptions as a result of irregular inflows of certain components and parts, Saab Automobile has decided to temporary suspend production and will resume production as soon as possible once it has secured a more stable inflow of components and parts together with its supplier base.

Victor Muller, Chairman and CEO of Saab Automobile, said: “We anticipated that we would not see a smooth inflow of supplies as from the day we restarted production, May 27th, and communicated that in our press release of that day. We have a few thousand suppliers worldwide with each of whom we have to reach acceptable terms and conditions to resume production of parts and subsequent deliveries. Many suppliers are located outside Europe and re-stocking inevitably takes time.

“Thus far we have reached agreements with the vast majority of our suppliers and we are confident that we will reach agreement with all remaining suppliers in the coming days, thereby stabilizing our operations and our production in particular. However, it is not to be excluded that we will see production hiccups in the near future until the supply chain is fully back to normal. I reiterate our appreciation for our suppliers who are working with us constructively to come to terms and put our production back on track. At this moment, we have almost 10,000 orders on hand, including those for the Saab 9-4X which is currently being built in Mexico.”

Communication: New production stoppage today

Yesterday, production at Saab Automobile stopped at lunchtime due to material shortages. We have now stopped again today for the same reasons.

“When we chose to restart production after the long stoppage, we saw a number of risks on the horizon, mostly concerned with the supply of materials. We are faced with more material supply problems this week and have therefore changed plans for the remaining days of this week. During the stoppages that we expect will occur this week, we have planned for various activities at the factory, such as staff training” said the purchasing and production director Gunnar Brunius.

The liquidity situation is still tense, and depends on several different financing solutions falling into place, long-term as well as short-term. Some milestones have been achieved, such as the letter of intent signed with Pang Da and the additional funding that their order of Saab cars means. An example of things that still await a solution is the sale and leaseback of Saab AB Property, which we have addressed in previous communications. Representatives from Spyker and Saab will continue to work with these solutions, while the dialogue between Saab and suppliers progresses.

-Production is sensitive to, and therefore easily disturbed by these events and what direction they take. It may be that the situation changes from day to day, or even from hour to hour. It is therefore very difficult to make further predictions, but we have to take one day at a time. In order to avoid taking on more supplies than necessary, we have decided to reduce production plans this week. We are all working hard to get production running consistently again, and as soon as possible,” said Gunnar Brunius.

Press Release: Pang Da Advances EUR 15 Million Order For Saab Vehicles By 17 Days

Trollhättan, Sweden – Spyker Cars N.V. (Spyker) and Saab Automobile AB (Saab Automobile) today announced that Pang Da Automobile (Pang Da) has placed an additional order for 630 Saab vehicles. The order is valued at EUR 15 million and follows the successful visit to Saab Automobile’s facilities in Trollhättan last week by a number of senior Pang Da representatives, headed by Chairman and CEO Mr. Pang Qinghua.

The order comes on top of the 1,300 cars that Pang Da ordered for EUR 30 million and both orders are part of the broader tentative agreement between Spyker and Pang Da which was signed on May 16. As with the EUR 30 million order, Pang Da will pay the additional order up front and Saab Automobile expects to receive the funds this week. Delivery of the vehicles will start in the fall of this year.

Victor Muller, CEO of Spyker and Saab Automobile, said: “I am delighted that Pang Da, as previously planned, has ordered an additional 630 Saab vehicles. This not only shows the potential for the Saab brand in the Chinese market, but also that in Pang Da, we have found the right partner. I look forward to the next step in our business relationship when we set up joint ventures for distribution and, at a later stage, production in China together with a still-to-be-named manufacturing partner.”

Mr. Pang Qinghua, CEO and Chairman of Pang Da, added: “Our visit to Trollhättan last week has further strengthened our belief that we made the right decision in entering a partnership with Spyker and Saab Automobile. This additional order is the result of my firm conviction that Saab has the right product program for the Chinese market and our large distribution network will be an important asset in unlocking the potential of the brand.”