UPDATE: This entry has been re-written. You can find the production numbers for the Saab 9-3 Viggen here.
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The Saab 9-3 Viggen is one of those iconic, flawed Saabs that’s loved by everyone who’s ever owned one. The car was absolutely bonkers and quite capable of killing its owner under the right wrong circumstances. But it was so beautifully made inside and out, and it was so out there, that it still draws plenty of oohs and aahs whenever it’s seen.
I’ve owned a Viggen (that’s my old one, above) and over the years I’ve had a lot of email from other Viggen owners asking if I knew how many of them were made and imported into their particular market.
I’m pleased to be able to pass on the following, which should satisfy most of you detail-oriented statisticians. The only thing we haven’t been able to get are the distinct numbers for 3-door and 5-door models.
Note: these are production numbers and there may be some difference between when a car was produced and when it was sold. Your car might have been first sold in 2002, but been produced as a 2001 model and sat on a dealership forecourt for some time.
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UNITED STATES
Colour
1999 Hard
1999 Conv
2000 Hard
2000 Conv
Black
16
10
6
20
LB
95
50
24
55
MCY
11
9
2
9
Silver
30
18
7
32
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GREAT BRITAIN
Colour
1999 Hard
1999 Conv
2000 Hard
2000 Conv
Black
1
58
13
35
LB
51
2
14
9
MCY
2
2
1
Silver
2
6
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Lots more markets below: Germany, Canada, Vehicles used internally (press, etc), Sweden, Australia, and many many more……
First of all, I have to say congratulations to one of my fellow Saab website dudes, a man commonly known as Wulf, who picked up a Saab 9-4x 3.0i Premium earlier this week.
Wulf runs an online Saab community called Saabworld and his new ride can be seen in the Garage section of the website. 9-4x sales are all relatively new so it’s great when someone you know picks one up and it sounds like he’s loving the experience so far.
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Obituaries
A member of my brother-in-law’s extended family passed away a few weeks ago. His name was Bill and he was a wonderful guy, a man 25 years or so older than me who has probably known me since I was a very small boy (his daughter and I were the cute little 8-year-old kids in my sister’s wedding photos back in the late 1970s).
Bill was a car guy, with a particular penchant for older American cars. Some of my first automotive recollections were of his Ramblers. Later on, he took to Packards. Such was the respect for Bill in the Packard community in Australia, people actually travelled thousands of kilometers in their Packards to form a guard of honor at his funeral last week.
As my brother-in-law told be about this over the weekend, he said “Bill would have loved it”. And it occurred to me at that point that we often don’t show the level of respect, or the depth of feeling that we have for some people until it’s too late. I’m sure Bill would have loved the parade of Packards that was put on in his honor, and I’m sure his surviving family did enjoy it in his absence, but I hope those involved had a chance to let Bill know the esteem he was held in while he was still alive.
It seems this is a problem we don’t have here at Saab. Plenty of news services have already written us off as having died and the analysis and eulogising has already started:
It’s nice to know you’re all thinking of us, some of you even exhibiting a reasonable degree of fondness. But I’d like to emphasise the following – WE’RE NOT DEAD!!!!!
Yes, two of our unions have commenced bankruptcy procedures (a reluctant, defensive measure on their part to protect wages) but we also have an appeal in place that we’re quite confident will be successful and lead to the bankruptcy proceedings being withdrawn, our business being reorganised and protected until our new investors come on board.
We have to work hard to make sure everything aligns properly, but there is no insurmountable reason as to why that will not happen.
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If you’d like some more entertaining reading on the media treatment of Saab here in Sweden, do a Googletrans of this article at Aftonbladet.
The Austrian and Slovakian Saab Clubs had a combined meeting last weekend, combining some nice countryside in Austria and city driving through Bratislava as well as some good food, good cars and good company.
There are some great images available both here and here.
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We’ve all seen notable images of Saabs carrying stuff – ride-on lawnmowers, motorcycles, all sorts of stuff.
Here’s a new one from Greg Abbott in the US. The cabinet wouldn’t fit in his 9-5, so out came the convertible!!
I’ve known Markus L in an email sense for a few years now. He’s one of the regulars from my SU days.
I’ve seen some of his cars in photos from time to time, but there are usually long intervals in between viewings. When you meet a lot of people and see a lot of cars (in a virtual sense) it’s easy to forget just who’s got what.
I got these photos from Markus in my inbox today. I was quite familiar with his fully Hirsched Turbo X and the black 900, but not so familiar with the Viggen. All I could say was “Wow!”
Look at them. They’re in absolutely mint condition and all three of them are notable classics in the Saab family tree.
When I wrote back to Markus, I told him of my profound jealousy – that if I could have any collection of Saabs I liked, there’s a good chance it would be exactly what he’s got in that photo, with the likely addition of a Saab Sonett III.
He wrote back…… and promised to send me pictures of his Sonett! There’s a 99Turbo in the collection, too, but that’s not ready for photos yet as it’s still undergoing a restoration.
My final reply included an enquiry as to whether or not his father would be interested in adopting a 41-year-old man as an additional son. I’m not sure how well that will be received.
Click to enlarge, and if you’re like me, dream on……
Some news from inside Saab that I thought you’d be interested in seeing. The process so far and the processes to come.
Important bit of good news first…..
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Important milestone achieved in China process
Today, the PDRC, the provincial equivalent of the National Development and Reform
Commission (NDRC) approved the deal between Saab, Pang Da and Youngman. The decision is an important step in the process of getting NDRC’s approval.
There are three levels of this authority:
DRC – the local authority, which has already given its approval
PDRC – the provincial authority, which thus gave its approval today
NDRC – the National Authority
We have passed two of the three levels, and will now proceed to the NDRC.
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A summary of the events of recent days
Wednesday, September 7th Saab Automobile applied for voluntary reorganization in Vänersborg.
The scope of the application included Saab Automobile AB, Saab Automobile Powertrain AB and Saab Automobile Tools AB. Other units, including Saab Parts and foreign subsidiaries (including Saab Great Britian and Saab Cars North America), were excluded.
Thursday, September 8 it was announced in Vänersborg that the court rejected the Saab reorganisation application.
The same day, Saab announced its intention to appeal this decision, because it disagreed with how the court interprets the law and its application.
The appeal was submitted to the District Court on Monday 12 September.
The new documentation, among other things, included a number of improvements implemented since the first reconstruction in 2009
Letters from Pang Da and Youngman were included, thatclarify their commitment to Saab, and also to state that they have no reason to believe that the approval process with the Chinese authorities would not be completed or that there will be unexpected delays.
As part of the reorganisation application, Saab also added information about a new contract that guarantees a so-called “bridge loan” of 70 million euros, roughly equivalent to 622 million SEK.
Monday 12 September, two Unions filed for bankruptcy for Saab.
According to information, it may take at least a few weeks for the court to consider this petition, which is a separate process from Saab’s reorganisation application, which is to be decided immediately.
Both the leaders of the Unions have signaled that they contribute to the stay of bankruptcy if the Court of Appeal will take time to deal with reorganisation application.
What happens next?
District Court will now send the appeal to the Court of Appeal. It is the district court’s duty to do so promptly. They have chosen to do so by postal mail, which means that the appeal will reach the Court of Appeal on Wednesday 14 September.
The Court of Appeal first has to permit an appeal, that is, decide whether to reconsider the matter. It is the first time they have to consider a case of this kind and it is difficult to estimate how long it will take. It is estimated that it will take between one and a couple of days. After a decision to permit the appeal, it should be dealt with immediately in accordance with the law.
It is in any case, likely that Saab’s appeal to the Court of Appeal will be dealt with more quickly than the unions’ petition to the district court.
I hate to sound like a broken record, but I’m going to have to wheel out the mantra we used back when Saab was being sold in 2009/10.
Please observe the non-official spokesmodel to the right (original vendor here and thanks to Hugh for the reminder).
We know that some Saab-related stories seem to cause an almost hysterical reaction here in Sweden, but sometimes it really can be an over-reaction. Take yesterday’s stories about the timing of the bankruptcy filing, for example. It’s a piece of minutiae that gave papers something to report on, but it should have been little more than a minor note.
Here’s how it broke down.
Unions filed their bankruptcy request yesterday. Saab also filed their appeal yesterday, but we filed a little after the 1530 deadline to get it from Vanersborg to Gothenburg on the same day (the 1530 deadline became a story during the day). Swedish news services are now running a “which filing will win the race” theme, which is basically a non-story.
Saab’s appeal filing is expected to be resolved within days. The court first has to agree to hear the appeal. Assuming that happens, the law regarding reorganisation states that a resolution should be forthcoming immediately, which we can loosely expect to mean “as soon as possible”.
We have provided more detailed information that has to be considered, so it may take a little longer to read, but that detailed information should allow for a quicker and more clear-cut decision, too. Bottom line: it is reasonable to expect a resolution of our appeal within days of it being received (technically, it will be received tomorrow).
If left to run its course, the unions’ bankruptcy filing is expected to be resolved in several weeks from now.
Effectively, there is no race. If Saab’s appeal succeeds then wages should be paid under the government scheme and the unions would withdraw their action. If Saab’s appeal fails, then we’re up a very smelly waterway without adequate means of transportation – and plan D kicks in.
So, if you’re a Saab fan and you hear slightly high-pitched reports in the media, don’t panic. If someone you know starts talking about this supposed legal ‘race’, please direct them to the lady pictured above. Or just send them here.
Trollhättan, Sweden: Swedish Automobile N.V. (Swan) announces that Saab Automobile AB and its subsidiaries Saab Automobile Powertrain AB and Saab Automobile Tools AB (collectively Saab Automobile) today lodged their appeal against the District Court’s decision last week to reject Saab Automobile’s proposal for voluntary reorganization. The appeal will be heard by the Court of Appeal in Gothenburg, Sweden.
Saab Automobile is of the opinion that by rejecting the voluntary reorganization proposal based on the reasons cited in the rejection statement, the District Court went considerably further in its consideration than what the legislator intended. Saab Automobile is of the opinion that the District Court has left out of consideration that the District Court’s assignment is to avoid pure abuse of the Swedish Company Reorganization Act approval of a reorganization request shall be based on the provision of a limited amount of documentation. Thus, Saab Automobile is of the opinion that in its ruling, the District Court has applied a much stricter standard of proof than is required under the Act.
The documentation for appeal contains, among other things, a number of improvements Saab Automobile has implemented since the last reorganization. This includes a patent application for Saab Automobile-developed extended range propulsion technology (EREV) that would considerably reduce fuel consumption in next-generation Saab vehicles, as well as the Saab Automobile-developed modular vehicle architecture.
In the meantime, Swan and Saab Automobile continue discussions with several parties about obtaining additional funding for the short term. Pang Da and Youngman continue working on obtaining approval from the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) for their equity investments worth EUR 245 million in Saab Automobile and have no reason to believe that the approval process will not be completed, nor that there will be unexpected delays. The approval process is expected to be finalized early November. Youngman and Pang Da intend after the initial equity contribution to contribute with additional capital.
The EUR 70 million commitment of Youngman and the technology license agreement between Saab Automobile and a special purpose vehicle, as communicated in the press release of this morning, are part of a bridge financing transaction. This bridge financing transaction and receipt of funds by Saab Automobile are still subject to finalization of definitive transaction documentation with the lender that will provide the bridge loan. Saab Automobile expects to finalize this process by September 26. Furthermore, international banks have shown interest in taking over Saab Automobile’s existing loans in order to add further liquidity to the company.
Want an idea of what it’s like working at Saab Automobile right now?
Last week we had a failed application for reorganisation of the company. Downer.
Late in the week, we galvanised and employees heard that the executive team would spend the weekend preparing an appeal. Steady.
This morning we announced a licensing and bridge finance deal. Upper.
And then this afternoon comes news that two of our employee unions have filed for bankruptcy. Downer.
That’s the rollercoaster we’re on at the moment. They say a week is a long time in politics. A single day can be a long time at Saab. If you’re along for the ride – and I know there are a lot of people along for the ride with us – here’s the Swade guide to reading what’s going on in a few key areas right now.
Reorganisation
Our appeal with the Swedish courts has been lodged in Vanersborg and will be on its way from there to Gothenburg this afternoon. We have taken steps to beef up the initial application and some of those steps are now public knowledge.
We’ve provided some more insight into ‘the China process’, for example, which should hopefully give people a better ideas as to why we have a lot of confidence in our arrangements in China.
We’ve also signed an agreement this morning that will provide bridge financing through licensing (not all-out selling) of our Phoenix platform technology.
The rejection of our initial application for reorganisation last week was certainly a surprise and a blow for Saab. However, as Victor Muller pointed out last week, our executive team were ‘throwing the kitchen sink’ into our appeal to ensure that any lack of information noted in the judgement would be addressed.
Bankruptcy filing
As I write this, news stories are beginning to circulate about the fact that two of our employee unions are filing for bankruptcy today. Here’s the BBC article.
These are unfortunate headlines, however when reading them one should bear the timeline for these competing processes in mind. The unions need to act on behalf of their members, so a filing like this is not a complete surprise. However, should Saab’s appeal be a successful one and we are granted reorganisation, the bankruptcy filing would effectively be rendered moot.
We expect a response to our appeal some time later this week, whereas it’s my understanding that the bankruptcy filing would take several weeks to get a verdict. The unions know this, too, but they have an interest in acting for their members and securing payments as early as possible if the worst happens, which is a fair thing to do.
The future?
Can we predict it with any certainty? Of course not. This is has been a story with more twists than Chubby Checker.
BUT…..
We have strong partners on our side and their applications for approvals in China are progressing well. Today’s bridge finance agreement could be taken as a sign of the faith that Youngman place in the future of this company, and the things that they, we and Pang Da believe we can do together.
If you haven’t read it yet, I recommend you read my series from last weekend, entitled In Saab’s Corner. It takes you through some of the things we’ve got going on right now and I think you’ll find it to be encouraging reading.
Our self-belief and determination isn’t a measure of cockiness. We couldn’t be more humbled than what we are right now and we know that we have a lot of business to take care of when everything gets rolling.
Rather, our self-belief and determination are a measure of the faith we have in the preparations that we’ve made, and in the plans that we have for the future. We can do this. We can get this done. We just want the chance to do so.
Trollhättan, Sweden: Swedish Automobile N.V. (Swan) and Saab Automobile AB (Saab Automobile) confirm that Swedish unions Unionen and Ledarna filed for bankruptcy of Saab Automobile. The court has received the filing, but has not yet rendered a judgment which could take a few weeks.
Zeewolde, The Netherlands, 12 September 2011 – Swedish Automobile N.V. (Swan) announces that Saab Automobile AB (Saab Automobile) signed a technology license agreement with a special purpose vehicle named Swedish Automobile coöperatief U.A. (SPV). The license agreement relates to the non-exclusive rights in Saab Automobile’s Phoenix architecture technology for a consideration of EUR 70 million.
As part of the transaction, Youngman has also signed a technology license transfer agreement with the SPV on purchasing the license and providing a guarantee for its payment of the license. This commitment of Youngman and the technology license agreement between Saab Automobile and the SPV are part of a bridge financing transaction. This bridge financing transaction and receipt of funds by Saab Automobile are still subject to finalization of definitive transaction documentation with the lender that will provide the bridge loan.
It is the intention to repay the bridge loan with the proceeds of the EUR 245 million equity investment of Pang Da and Youngman, which is still subject to approval of the relevant authorities.
Below you’ll find a five-part series of articles called ‘In Saab’s Corner’.
Right now there is a lot of talk going on about the financial side of this company. We’ve been beaten from pillar to post in certain markets and whilst some of that is warranted – we don’t shy away from our current problems – much of it not and it loses sight of why this company exists in the first place. We are distressed at the moment and we are trying to take measures to protect ourselves for the future. As the rest of the world speculates as to what might happen and the reasons why, I wanted to draw attention back to what this company is all about.
Saab is a company full of exceptional people who design and build cars based on a certain DNA and set of brand pillars. We do things the way we do them for a reason and we believe in the philosophy behind this company.
This is the overview. The following five articles are intended to draw your attention our products and technologies, our people, our brand, and our future with investors from China and what those investments will mean for Saab.
As I write this, Saab’s future is very much at stake. Decisions could be taken next week that deny this company a future that is so close that you can almost literally reach out and touch it.
A great deal has been written about various particular aspects of our business and actions. I hope this series can help people focus on what it is we actually do and what we are very confident about being able to do in the very near future.
