The dealerships involved in the tour were very appreciative of the opportunity, as were the guests who attended, the vast majority of whom saw the Saab 9-4x and the Saab 9-5 SportCombi for the first time.
The tour has been such a success that the same model is now being used for a tour of Austria, starting this weekend. Other markets are considering the model, too, and I’ll bring you details of those tours as they come to hand.
If you’re in Austria or close by, you might want to consider the dates and locations on the following brochure. Click to enlarge.
A few weeks ago we asked for your Saab photos to help us celebrate reaching 100,000 fans on Facebook.
Today, we’re there!
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Saab celebrate 100,000 Fans on Facebook
Saab today celebrated an online milestone, with 100,000 fans choosing to join the brand’s Facebook page.
“This is a wonderful milestone for Saab. We have always had a significant online presence for a company of our size, with much of it being fan-driven. To reach over 100,000 fans on Facebook is further testimony as to how much our fans like to associate themselves with our company” said Knut Simonsson, Vice President Brand & Marketing at Saab Automobile.
Saab’s Facebook page started as a fan-driven initiative. When Facebook opened its services to brands, a web-savvy Saab fan named Kroum Vassilev in Toronto, Canada, started a Saab Cars page. With occasional updates and simple organic growth, the page attracted over 13,000 fans on its own. Mr Vassilev contacted Saab Automobile AB in Sweden and offered to transfer the page to their ownership in October 2009.
Since then, the page has continued to grow, with fans from all over the world now getting updates from Saab and sharing their Saab photos and stories online.
“Our oldest Facebook friend is every bit as important as the most recent one.” said Simonsson. “The Saab fans are very active. They are always busy, uploading and sharing images, telling stories, and even assisting one another with advice when necessary.”
To celebrate this historic occasion, Saab fans from all over the world contributed over 1,200 photos through various social channels, which have been used to build a selection of mosaic images. These mosaics, featuring both historic and new Saab vehicles, are available for download by fans at the Saab Cars Official account on Flickr.
Some fast Facebook facts:
The top 5 locations for Saab fans on Facebook are: Sweden, United States, Italy, United Kingdom and Finland.
The typical fan is male, and between 25 and 34 years of age.
76% of fans are male, 21% of fans are female, and we are still trying to identify the remaining 3%.
The single busiest day for new “Likes” was on the 23rd February 2011, with 7,384 fans joining the Saab Cars Facebook community that day.
A normal day sees a net increase of approximately 80 new fans
Saab’s Facebook page is part of a multi-channel social media strategy that includes the Inside Saab weblog, a dedicated Saab official channel on Youtube, the Saab Newsroom as well as accounts on Twitter.
There are two different sizes of each available at the Saab Cars Official Flickr page. One is super-big for your detailed enjoyment. The other is set at 2560 x 1440 pixels, suitable for custom sizing for your computer desktop.
ENJOY!! And thanks for your support, and your contribution.
Not so much one about Saab, but I know we have a few SWAN shareholders who tune in here…..
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Zeewolde, The Netherlands, 1 November 2011 – Swedish Automobile N.V. (Swan) announces that the Extraordinary General Meeting of Shareholders (EGMS) will still be held on 11 November 2011. Further information on the sale of Saab will be provided at the EGMS.
The EGMS was convened after agreements were signed with Pang Da and Youngman, which related to an equity investment in Swan and the formation of manufacturing and distribution joint ventures with Saab Automobile AB (Saab Automobile) for Saab branded vehicles in China. The agenda for the EGMS on 11 November 2011 includes:
1. the amendment of the articles of association of Swan (introduction of a one tier board structure and increase of the authorized share capital);
2. composition of the board of Swan (including the appointment of new board members).
On 23 October 2011, Swan announced that the equity investment agreements with Pang Da and Youngman had been terminated, and on 28 October 2011 Swan announced that a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) had been entered into with Pang Da and Youngman. In terms of the MoU, Pang Da and Youngman will purchase all of Swan’s shares in Saab Automobile and Saab Great Britain Ltd. (Saab GB) for an amount of EUR 100 million. Amongst other things, this share sale is subject to approval by Swan’s shareholders.
As a consequence of the termination of the equity investment agreements with Pang Da and Youngman, at the EGMS Swan’s shareholders will not be asked to vote on amendment of Swan’s articles of association nor to appoint new board members.
However, the EGMS will still be held on 11 November. At the EGMS, Swan will give shareholders further information about the structure of the new transaction with Pang Da and Youngman, and will discuss that transaction with shareholders.
A further extraordinary general meeting of shareholders will be convened soon to ask the general meeting to approve the sale by Swan of its shares in Saab Automobile and Saab GB. The minimum convocation period is 42 days. Nevertheless, given the challenges faced by Saab Automobile and the nature of the new transaction with Pang Da and Youngman, Swan is of the view that it is important to discuss the new transaction with shareholders as soon as possible and urges all shareholders to attend the EGMS on 11 November 2011. Applications to attend can be made up to and including Friday 4 November 2011.
The poll’s been up for around 12 hours now and as I thought it might be, it was the busiest poll we’ve held on the site.
I’m pleased to pass on a 93% HOT rating, which I think is also a fair reflection of how good this basic image looks. But remember, it’s just a basic image.
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Comments sections are notorious for being a receptacle for complaints. More often than not, it’s the people who don’t like something who are active in saying so, whilst the people who do like something are content to just move on (which is why, IMHO, quality surveys from all the leading players are so flawed, even if we still want to succeed in them).
We invited your feedback and some of you certainly chose to provide it, which is fine. It was great to read your thoughts, both positive and negative. As always, it reminded me of the film clip to one of my favourite songs – Short Skirt, Long Jacket – where you’ve got multiple opinions on the same thing. It’s always interesting to see what people think. I’m not the only one who’ll see the feedback, by the way, so please don’t think it’s just for my entertainment.
A few things I’d like to pass on, from what is now years of experience with multiple new Saab vehicles:
A car in an image can look great, but seeing it in person is much better. Seeing at a motor show is good. Seeing it on the road is the best of all. I remember seeing a sketch of the PhoeniX concept for the first time in LA last year. I gave it a very lukewarm reception. I saw the car for real in Geneva five months later and it really shone in person. Then I saw it on the street in New York a month later again, and it blew me away.
More importantly, this is just a basic image from some time ago. It’s not definitive and certainly nothing to base your final conclusions on.
And now, for your musical interlude…. the art of gathering public opinion 🙂
The image should have been redacted by the body that passed the document on to the newspaper, however this was overlooked. An apology has been offered and accepted. Thankfully for us, the image is small and of insufficient detail to give too much away, but we can say that it was from a Saab document and that’s all we’ll give away at this time.
So…. seeing as you’ve had your sneaky peek, let’s go to the polls. Hot or Not?
The Saab dealership tour of Germany is progressing and it looks like things are going well.
When we first publicised this tour, we had a commenter on Facebook asking why would even bother with it, given that we weren’t able to produce the vehicles right now?
Well, things were looking rather ominous for Saab when that question was asked. This tour was launched in one of Saab’s darker hours, but we’ve always remained confident that there would be a solution, and it’s always important to let your customers get a look at your new products. Because we weren’t able to show these vehicles at the recent Frankfurt Motor Show, Saab Germany felt it was crucial to put on this tour and let prospective customers see the Saab 9-4x, Saab 9-5 Sedan and the new Saab 9-5 Sportcombi for themselves.
The tour appears to be going very well indeed. Tom K has been keeping the updates going live at Saabblog.net. You can read his entries from various locations at the following links:
Tom, an enthusiast blogger, also sent me in some images from his time as part of the tour, which has drawn to a close due to other commitments Tom has to keep. I also have here some images from Henrik Claesson, one of the Saab Germany team members participating in the tour.
Click to enlarge.
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Remaining dates and locations……
Tuesday, 1st of November 2011
5:00 p.m. Saab Zentrum Giessen
Wednesday, 2nd of November 2011
10:00 a.m. Herz, Trier
11:00 a.m. Bauer, München
4:00 p.m. Kunert, Bonn
4:00 p.m. Haas, Augsburg
The following plan was submitted to the Vanersborg District Court today as the background material for presentation to the Creditors Meeting.
It makes for some very interesting reading in all respects, both as a brief historical document (as in…. how did Saab get here?) and as a guide for the future. If you’re into following what Saab do, or plan to do, then this is your required reading for the week.
The sections:
1. Introduction and Background
2. Development since the last reorganization and Consequences thereof
3. The Way Forward
3.1. Immediate Action Highlights
3.2. New Owners and “Extended Saab”
3.3. The Restart
3.4. Long-Term Strategy and Viability
3.4.1. Positioning & Portfolio
3.4.2. Operations
3.4.3. Long Term Volume Forecast
4. Funding
5. Preliminary Reorganization Plan
6. Timetable and Next Steps
You can download your own copy of the document in English, here (pdf) or in Swedish here (pdf). The press release summarising the highlights of this document is available here.
I have reproduced the document in full, below.
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1. Introduction and Background
On February 20, 2009, while still under ownership of General Motors, SAAB was granted a first order for reorganization. This reorganisation was conducted until 20 August 2009 when the targets were considered fulfilled by the actions taken.
While still under reorganisation, former owner General Motors continued negotiations with potential buyers. An initially negotiated deal with Koenigsegg Group was, however, cancelled on November 24, 2009.
UPDATE: The following press release has just been issued.
District Court APPROVE REORGANIZATION Voluntary Continuation
Zeewolde, The Netherlands, 31 October 2011 – Swedish Automobile NV (Swan) announces that the District Court in Vanersborg approve the continuation of the voluntary reorganization of Saab Automobile AB and its subsidiaries Saab Automobile Powertrain AB and Saab Automobile Tools AB following the creditors meeting of this morning.
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I don’t have any further details on this, but I’ve just noted a tweet from one of my colleagues at Saab:
Good news. We continue on with our approvals and reorganisation.
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You can read a detailed copy of the Preliminary Reorganisation Plan at this link (pdf).
A summary is available via pres release at this link.
Trollhättan, Sweden: Swedish Automobile N.V. (Swan) announces that Saab Automobile AB and its subsidiaries Saab Automobile Powertrain AB and Saab Automobile Tools AB (together Saab Automobile) today present their preliminary reorganization plan to their creditors during a creditors’ meeting in Vänersborg, Sweden.
The preliminary reorganization plan, which was developed by Saab Automobile management and supported by the current and foreseen owners of Saab Automobile as well as its administrator of the reorganization, contains the following highlights:
Pending the approval from all relevant parties, short- and long-term funding for Saab Automobile is assured: Youngman and Pang Da have expressed their commitment to provide EUR 50 million, to fund Saab Automobile while in reorganization. In addition, the Chinese investors will provide a minimum of EUR 600 million in funding to restart production, to settle the company’s clear and due debts and to fund operations for the 2012-2013 medium-term timeframe. To provide funding for the revised business plan and provide long-term financial stability the new Chinese owners have also budgeted funding for the planned expansion of Saab Automobile’s portfolio and additional operations to be set up in China. Saab Automobile has not received the funds from Pang Da and Youngman that have been committed for today.
New strategy and structure to combine the strength of Pang Da, Youngman and Saab Automobile, with Saab Automobile’s brand equity and heritage, product portfolio and capabilities being the key elements of that partnership combined with the distribution capabilities of Pang Da in China and the manufacturing expertise of Youngman.
Key actions during reorganization: establish new ownership structure with Pang Da and Youngman as strategic partners; reach agreement with creditors on repayment of outstanding debt to restore Saab Automobile’s supply chain; reduce structural costs by SEK1 billion, among others through reducing headcount by 500 employees; and generally restore confidence and trust with all key stakeholders
Restart plan highlights include: seamless production restart supported by existing order bank; accelerate access to China as major growth market; new distributorship agreements in other emerging markets like Russia, new products for traditional key markets (65% of volume) and China which include the 9-5 SportCombi and the 9-4X.
Confirmation of the long-term strategy of repositioning Saab as a distinctive, near premium brand supported by a renewed and broadened product portfolio, a more flexible cost structure with global production footprint, cross-carline modular technology architecture generating synergies, provision of external engineering services and expanded operations to take advantage of growth opportunities available in China and provided by strong Chinese owners.
Sales targets for 2012 of 35-55,000 cars and 2013 of 75-85,000 cars based on realistic ramp up in line with sales development since last restart.
Long term volume outlook of 185-205,000 cars of Saab Automobile based on three main growth drivers: 1) broadened product portfolio in fast growing market segments; 2) capitalizing on access to Chinese market, and; 3) strong profitability focus.
2012 and 2013 seen as financial transition years, profitability expected no later than 2014. Long term margins and profitability in line with other near premium car manufacturers.
A complete version of the preliminary reorganization plan is available for download via www.swedish-automobile.nl (pdf) and http://media.saab.com.
Earlier today I wrote an article here at Inside Saab that may have left the impression that a vote would be taken at the creditors meeting underway today at the district court in Vanersborg.
That impression would be incorrect.
I’ve received some information internally that spells out the following, which should help those interested in the process Saab is currently involved in:
The main purpose of the creditors meeting is to give the creditors influence over the proceedings, i.e. if the proceedings shall be allowed to continue and also the conduct of the reorganisation. The judge leads the meeting. Normally the judge starts by explaining the purpose of the meeting and then leads the meeting. The judge then leaves the word to the administrator.
During the meeting a preliminary reorganisation plan will be presented and the creditors will be allowed to ask questions and express their view of the reorganisation. The meeting is only for arguments and no voting will take place.
During the meeting there will also be a possibility to appoint a creditors’ committee. The reason is often that the creditors want more insight into the reorganisation work.
After the proceedings the Court will rule for a cease or a continuation of the reorganisation process. This can take up to two weeks.
