I’ve already shown my own rather informal video of this event, featuring the cars coming off the production line.
Here’s the official company video featuring remarks from Saab’s VP, Purchasing and Manufacturing, Gunnar Brunius, as well as Saab’s Chairman and CEO, Victor Muller.
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• First cars roll off Trollhättan production line since April 6
• Order bank of over 6,500 cars for Trollhättan factory, over 8,000 cars worldwide
Trollhättan, Sweden: Saab Automobile today restarted production at its production facility in Trollhättan. A first batch of around 100 cars is planned for this first day of production since April 6 and Saab Automobile plans to increase the daily production rate in the coming weeks in parallel with the full re-establishment of the supply chain.
Attending the restart of production were Victor Muller, CEO and Chairman of Saab Automobile, Mr. Pang Qinghua, CEO of Pang Da Automobile, and Gunnar Brunius, Saab Automobile’s Vice President Purchasing & Manufacturing. The first cars to roll off the assembly line were a silver Saab 9-5 Aero XWD and an orange Saab 9-3 Convertible Independence Edition.
With production restarted, Saab Automobile will now focus on building and delivering the thousands of cars ordered by customers around the globe. As the assembly line was fired up again, the total number of outstanding orders from markets worldwide for the Trollhättan factory amounted to over 6,500 cars. The total order bank, including around 1,600 Saab 9-4X orders, amounts to over 8,100 cars. This number includes the almost 1,300 cars that were ordered by Pang Da Automobile and for which it paid EUR 30 million up front.
Watching the first car roll off the line, Victor Muller said: “This is a great day for our company and it is great to see the plant running again. We have gone through a rough patch in recent weeks, but Saab is back in action again. I would like to express my deep gratitude to our fantastic suppliers who have worked so hard with us to make this happen, and to our loyal employees who have constantly stood by our side.”
“We will work hard in the coming period to regain confidence and show our ability to become a successful car maker. We are fortunate that we are in the middle of the largest-ever product offensive in the company’s history. Last year we launched the all-new Saab 9-5 Sedan, while the 9-3 Griffin range went on sale earlier this year. The new Saab 9-4X, our first crossover, has enjoyed raving reviews from motoring media and we already sold all 9-4X cars for model year 2011. After the summer, we start delivering the much-awaited Saab 9-5 SportCombi to customers.”
Gunnar Brunius added: “I am very happy to see our plant in operation again. This is a highly important moment for everyone at Saab Automobile, especially for our loyal people here in the plant who have eagerly waited for this day. Given the complexity of re-establishing our supply chain there will most likely be some hiccups during this start-up phase, but we will work hard together with our suppliers to minimize any disruptions to production in the coming weeks.”
Media are welcome to join a press meeting which will take place today at 11:45 CET at Saab Automobile headquarters in Trollhättan, Sweden.
It’s grey and raining in Trollhattan today, but you can’t wipe the smile from people’s faces around here. We’re about to start building cars again. It’s what we do and it’s hurt that we haven’t been able to do it for a while.
It’s great to see the line lit up again, with people getting to their stations…
They did a small run this morning to just to make sure that everything was working OK before the proper re-start at 10am. There will be a press conference here at Saab after the re-start and we’ll have film, photos and a press release from later this morning.
Stay tuned. It’s great to get back to making cars again.
An update from the inside……
Pang Da’s visit to Sweden began today. The program commenced in Stockholm, including several meetings with key stakeholders and authorities. Pang Da representatives met the Chinese Ambassador and then, later in the day, had discussions with representatives of the Swedish Government, among them Maud Olofsson. These meetings are important because part of the deal between Pang Da and Saab is dependent on government decisions, from both the Swedish and Chinese sides.
During the day, meetings in Trollhättan also got under way, with Pang Da representatives present and participating.
The Sweden visit continues tomorrow in Trollhättan, where the Pang Da team will make a thorough review of Saab’s operations with a focus on finances and legal aspects. The visit includes both the factory and the technical development center. Tomorrow also sees the start of production in the factory.
Earlier this week, Vladimir Antonov met Maud Olofsson.
“It was a good meeting. The purpose was primarily to establish direct contact and the discussions were conducted in a positive spirit,” says Anna Petre, who is responsible for Saab’s government relations.
In parallel with these meetings, work continues to secure financing for the medium to long term.
The World Media Festival is an event held in Germany to honor excellence in corporate communications productions. It covers film, TV, web and print productions.
Here at Saab we’re very proud to acknowledge the Gold and Silver medals awarded for two of our communications films in association with our agency, Valentin and Byhr.
Saab was awarded a gold medal in the category ‘Advertising: Online’ for Introducing the new Saab 9-5:
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Saab also won a silver medal in the category ‘Corporate Communications: Press Conferences’ for Introducing the new Saab 9-4X.
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Saab has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Pang Da, otherwise known as the Pang Da Automobile Trade Co.
Interested Saab fans might be asking who is this most recent of suitors for Saab Automobile? Here’s a little of what I’ve been able to find:
Under the terms of the MoU signed between Saab and Pang Da, the deal is still contingent on certain conditions being fulfilled and documentation completed. There is still some distance to go, however it’s good to become acquainted with a potential future partner.
Trollhättan, Sweden – Spyker Cars N.V. (Spyker) announces today that Spyker and Saab Automobile AB (Saab Automobile) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Pang Da Automobile Trade Co., Ltd (Pang Da), China’s largest publicly traded automobile distributor with over 1100 dealerships nationwide. The MoU includes a strategic alliance consisting of a 50/50 distribution joint venture 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. Saab Automobile will have up to 50 percent in the MJV, with Pang Da and a to-be-selected manufacturing partner owning the remaining shares.
Pang Da shall make a EUR 30 million payment for the purchase of Saab vehicles and is expected to make an additional EUR 15 million for the purchase of more Saab vehicles within 30 days subject to certain circumstances. Additionally, Pang Da will take an equity stake in Spyker for a total amount of EUR 65 million at EUR 4.19 per share (the weighted average of the ten last trading days), representing 24 percent of Spyker on a fully diluted basis, and will have the right to nominate a member of the Supervisory Board of Spyker and /or the Board of Saab Automobile.
The MoU between Spyker, Saab Automobile and Pang Da contains the principles on which the parties will establish a 50/50 joint venture for the distribution of Saab-branded vehicles in China.
Zeewolde, The Netherlands, 12 May 2011 – Spyker Cars N.V. (Spyker) announces today that Hawtai Motor Group Company Limited (Hawtai) and Spyker terminated the agreement by and between Hawtai, Spyker and Saab Automobile AB (Saab Automobile) with respect to funding and strategic partnership. However, discussions are ongoing.
As a result of this termination, Saab Automobile may enter into a strategic partnership with Hawtai or another Chinese party on manufacturing, technology and distribution in China. As indicated in the press release of 3 May 2011, the transaction with Hawtai was subject to definitive transaction documentation and certain conditions, which included the consent of different stakeholders. Since it became clear that Hawtai was not able to obtain all the necessary consents, the parties were forced to terminate the agreement with Saab Automobile and Spyker with immediate effect. The parties will continue their discussions about a possible cooperation, however now on a non-exclusive basis.
Spyker and Saab Automobile continue to work on securing short and medium term funding. To that end Spyker and Saab Automobile are negotiating equity and debt financing and/or technology licensing with various (strategic) Chinese partners.
BAIC indicated that it does not have any problems with Saab’s ongoing discussions with other Chinese partners.
Discussions continue with the European Investment Bank (EIB) on completion of the current EUR 29 million drawdown under the EIB loan facility, on obtaining EIB consent for the sale of Saab property released under the collateral of the Swedish National Debt Office (NDO) and on various conditions proposed by the EIB. As soon as the EIB drawdown or other equivalent funding is confirmed, Saab Automobile plans to restart production depending on the outcome of discussions with its suppliers on terms to resume supplies of materials and services to Saab Automobile.
Trollhättan, Sweden: Saab Cars North America today announced the appointment of a new president and chief operating officer, Mr. Timothy Colbeck. The announcement comes as Saab is embarked on its biggest-ever product offensive with four all-new products since 2010 – the all-new Saab 9-5 Sedan, Saab’s first crossover, the 9-4X, the 9-5 SportCombi and the 9-3 Griffin range.
Effective Monday, May 9, Mr. Colbeck will oversee Saab’s largest market, North America. He will report directly to Saab Automobile Vice President and Head of Global Sales & Aftersales, Matthias Seidl and the Saab Cars North America Board of Directors.
Mr. Colbeck joins SCNA with 25 years of automobile industry experience in the United States with Subaru of America. Most recently he was the senior vice president sales. Under Tim’s direction, Subaru of America achieved record sales and market share in the last two years and was the only brand to achieve sales increases in each of the last three years. During his career at Subaru, Tim has been in various executive roles, with experience in sales, e-business, finance and fixed operations.
“Tim’s impressive accomplishments during his automotive career in rebuilding the Subaru brand are invaluable to the Saab team and represent his ability to further Saab’s vision for success,” said Matthias Seidl, Vice President and Head of Global Sales and Aftersales. “We are pleased to have Tim join our North American team during such an exciting time for Saab Cars North America and we are confident Tim will help increase our brand image and sales.”
I’m playing catchup here, having just arrived back in Australia.
While I was in transit, representatives from Hawtai Motor Group arrived in Trollhattan and toured Saab’s factory. At the same time that was happening, Saab were recommencing limited production aimed at making sure that everything was working OK on the production line. Full production should recommence in the next week, though an exact date hasn’t been tied down as far as I know.
The following was in my inbox when I got home, for distribution here in Inside Saab:
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Yesterday the production staff were on site to get information and to conduct a test run of factory equipment and build a small number of cars. Production manager, Stig Runesson, says that the activities were successful from several perspectives.
“I think most people appreciated getting to work, to get information and to touch materials and cars again. We chose to run a part of the test batch of cars during the Hawtai visit to give our guests a chance to see how things work here and it went very well.”
The purpose of the limited production run was primarily to test the equipment. Some maintanence work has been done as well as re-balance work, installations and completions, before the production start of the Saab 9-5 SportCombi and model year 2012. A test run like this is very valuable before the coming production start.
“In the tooling workshop we are now running try-outs and adjustments of certain tools. In the Body Shop we focus on getting the right dimensions and measures of the SportCombi and in the other shops we are have maintenance ongoing, and also improvement activitites with focus on quality. These tasks are handled with a limited number of employees on site,” says Stig Runesson.
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It would have been great to see come cars coming off the line once again. I’m going to enjoy reporting from home, but it’ll be great to get back to Trollhattan again and see Saab doing what they’re meant to be doing – building great cars.
