Tag: Saab company

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.”

Saabosphere – Saab links we liked last week

I’m going to start this week’s Saabosphere with a link from this very same website. I’ll do that because it’s important for those who didn’t all the commotion on Friday to know that Saab has indeed re-started production after a 6-week layover.

There was a press release about it and I also shot some video of the first cars coming off the line just after 10am Friday morning. The article on this subject that you might find a bit more entertaining is my Notes on the re-start of production, which includes a few behind-the-scenes observations from the day.

I can further confirm that today, Monday, we were back making cars again, with 145 built when I walked past the production line just after lunchtime (we built just 100 or so last Friday on the first day back).

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Franca Devonport from The Telegrgaph, in England, has an excellent article covering the value of the Mille Miglia, which Saab competed in a few weeks ago for the second consecutive year.

The article examines the value to companies who take part in the event, the way it can link a company’s past to its present and how companies can use the event to make a prolonged statement about themselves and their vehicles.

“The Saab is a strong character,” says Peter Bäckström, manager of the Saab Museum, and Fägerhag’s co-driver. “It simply cannot be mainstream and Saab drivers simply cannot be categorised, apart from as individuals. Participating in events like the Mille Miglia encapsulates what Saab is all about.”

Well, that’s one drawcard, along with the Italian food 🙂

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We’ve been covering the Saab Convertible’s 25th Anniversary here on Inside Saab (more to come soon) and if you do the math, that will tell you that the first Saab Convertibles were sold to the public as 1985 vehicles.

How then, does one get a 1981 Saab Convertible?

The short story is over at Saablog-in.

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Those of you in England might want to mark down the dates for MotorExpo in your calendar.

The 2011 event at Canary Wharf will once again include Saab as an exhibitor.

Motorexpo is open daily between 10.00am and 6.00pm from Monday 6 to Saturday 11 June, and between 11.00am and 5.00pm on Sunday 12 June. Entry is free.

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This story is not online (yet), but Jerry Seinfeld is coming to Sweden to do a few shows. In a publicity article in Goteborg’s Posten, Jerry lists three of his favourite things about Sweden:

  1. Lasse Hallstrom – “I love him. I loved ‘My Life as a Dog’. ‘Gilbert Grape’ was also good. It was he who did it? “
  2. Erik Carlsson – “That is a ‘60s reference. He was rally driver for Saab. He drove a Saab 96, no wait, it was actually a Saab 92”.
  3. Saab – “I love Saab. In my TV show, I drove a Saab.”

With reference to #2, it was both (as well as a few others), though he’s more known for the 96. It seems like Jerry’s Saab knowledge might run more than show-deep. But then he is a car guy, reported to own a fleet of Porsches.

Black Saab Rules!

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Video: Saab re-start production at the Trollhattan plant

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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Saab Automobile Restarts Production

• 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.

Ready for a re-start

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.

Pang Da visiting Sweden and Saab facility in Trollhattan

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.

An open letter from Saab Automobile

It would be a significant understatement to say that the last weeks have been challenging for Saab Automobile.

We are a car company. Designing and building distinctive cars according to a well honed, Swedish philosophy is what we do. And yet our production line – the beating heart of our company – has been idle for the last five weeks.

Though no-one’s fault but our own, we found ourselves in a cashflow crisis and unable to buy the parts we need to build our cars. This has hurt our dealers, our suppliers, our employees and many of our customers, a situation for which we are truly sorry. We want nothing more than to secure our financial position so that we can get to building cars again.

On May 3, we announced a deal with Hawtai Motor Group, a vehicle manufacturer from China. This deal would have included an ownership stake for Hawtai and significantly, an opportunity to develop Saab manufacturing in China, the new automotive frontier. This deal collapsed late last week due to an inability to secure the required regulatory approvals for it to proceed. This was a significant blow for us, however we persisted with partnership talks in China, which we see as an essential step in securing Saab’s future.

On May 16, we announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding with Pang Da Automobile Trade Co. Pang Da is the largest publicly traded sales and service distributor in the Chinese market, with over 1,100 outlets in China and Mongolia. The MoU includes strategic deals for distribution, branding and potential future joint ventures in manufacturing.

Perhaps even more importantly for our immediate future, Pang Da have placed an order for approximately 1,300 vehicles, with immediate payment to be made for these vehicles. A further order can be placed in the near term, subject to certain conditions.

This cash injection is important for Saab, not only as a vote of confidence in our brand portfolio, but also as a much-needed cash injection that will enable us to get our plant operational again.

With this and other cash injections in place, Saab Automobile will be well placed to initiate negotiations with our 1,200+ suppliers. These negotiations are intended to provide full payment for outstanding amounts at regular intervals and within a specified time period – and they are crucial to getting the supply chain moving, and our plant and our business operational once again.

Saab already has an order bank of nearly 5,000 vehicles for the Trollhättan factory. These are cars that are ordered and awaiting delivery to dealers and customers. These are cars that will see our cash position improve as soon as they leave the factory. We will also have the initial order from Pang Da to build, as well as the potential secondary order. These orders would take our order bank to well over 6,000 vehicles for our Swedish plant.

In addition, we are also pleased to report that orders of the new Saab 9-4x crossover vehicle are very strong, coming on the back of very favourable reviews from our recent Saab 9-4x press event in Washington DC. The Saab 9-4x is intended primarily for the North American market and US magazine, Winding Road, said “the driving dynamics of the 9-4x are positively brilliant”. The Saab 9-4x has also attracted praise from markets outside of North America. Robert Collin from Sweden’s Aftonbladet called it “the best Saab ever built”, noting the crucial role Saab played as the architects of the vehicle. The Saab 9-4x is indicative of the future for Saab Automobile. Dynamic. Exciting. Engaging.

In addition to the Saab 9-4x, the new Saab 9-3 Griffin range is the most fuel-efficient 9-3 range we’ve ever offered, featuring a diesel range specially developed to offer road tax advantages for a number of significant European markets. Our new 9-3 petrol engines offer the best combination of fuel efficiency and power in their class. We also have our new flagship Saab 9-5 Sedan and the all-new Saab 9-5 SportCombi coming later in 2011, which is going to deliver a new level of practicality to Saab 9-5 customers around the world.

Our vehicle range is constantly expanding and improving. More than that, we have new vehicles and groundbreaking innovations coming very soon, things that we believe will excite our customers everywhere. We are working on partnerships that will take us to new places, with new technologies to make driving safer, more enjoyable, more economical and more ecologically responsible.

The Saab Spirit that built this company remains strong and we cannot help but be excited by the future.

We thank you for your patience and we ask for your continued support.

Signed:

Kjell ac Bergström – Vice President Product Development Powertrain

Gunnar Brunius – Vice President Purchasing & Manufacturing

Mats Fägerhag – Vice President Vehicle Product Development

Matthias Seidl – Vice President Global Sales & Aftersales

Anders Svensson – Vice President Vehicle Lines

Knut Simonsson – Vice President Brand & Marketing

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