Saab crisis: The Saab question of fate

Rabenscharzer sky over Saab
Rabenscharzer sky over Saab

The situation in Sweden is dramatic. Real estate sales cannot change that. Because - as is so often the case in acute crisis situations - it is "to little, to late".

The current fate of Saab, in the short and medium term, will no longer be decided in Trollhättan or Sweden. The decision is made in other places around the globe.

The Swedish Minister of State Reinfeldt said yesterday the following sentence in connection with Saab: “Sweden invests in people, not in the maintenance of old structures”. That was clear. There is no support for Trollhättan from Stockholm.

Decisions about Saab's future are falling around the globe, for a variety of reasons.

Western Europe, Luxembourg:

The EIB is located in Luxembourg and we actually don't want to write about the EIB anymore, because for us the EIB is pure Saab frustration. The EIB loan is Saab's “rope around your neck”. The loan is too expensive, inflexible and blocks all entrepreneurial freedom. In addition, all of Saab's valuable collateral was pledged to this loan. The current escalation of the situation is largely due to the EIB.

The EIB takes the key position in the current scenario and will decide the short-term destiny in the next few days.

The real estate business depends on the EIB because it has the right of veto. If the EIB says “No”, even a “Yes” from Stockholm would be of no use, then the sale of the property is no longer necessary.

Yesterday it was made clear that Saab would not be granted any funding until further notice. The message came unequivocally through Svenska Dagbladet and is a clear warning to Saab. "Get the finances in order, otherwise we will turn off your juice," is the message from the EIB.

Very unlikely is the release of collateral, Saab should not significantly improve the financial situation. Saab is considered acutely threatened by bankruptcy. No bank relinquishes valuable collateral in this situation.

There is no need to talk about entering Antonov, the EIB has blocked it. It stays that way. Rescue from the EIB blockade could only be a replacement of the loan. For that, it would need a generous donor.

Asia, Beijing:

The powerful NDRC is based in Beijing and decides whether Youngman and Pang Da will join Saab. Victor Muller's timetable provides for the Chinese to enter the market in autumn at the latest, which would ensure that the automaker is liquid and that the medium-term future is secured. However, the situation in China is not good - you can already guess it.

The Financial Times sees the blackest color of the business as “not approvable”. William Russo, analyst at Synergetics' CEO in Beijing, sees the schedule as unrealistic. "Politics in the Pang Da and Youngman case are unlikely to make a decision before the end of the year," he told Dagens Industri.

Other car analysts, such as Fang Ju of Minzu Securities and analyst company Synovate of Shanghai, have a similar opinion.

Why ? The markets in China are increasingly regulated, the government wants to go in the direction of e-mobility and finally force the auto industry to join together in some large corporations. Saab comes at a politically unfavorable time.

A decision at the end of the year is definitely too late. Already now the situation in Trollhättan erodes daily.

North America, USA, Detroit:

Detroit, GM? Victor Muller was in the US and also visited GM in Detroit. GM sits on a mountain of non-voting Saab shares and GM is licensor of Saab. Yesterday, at a very late hour, we received an indication of opportunities that could arise with GM in the short term.

Every blogger has his sources, some are familiar and trustworthy. Others are new and bad to classify. So did the source that told us yesterday about GM and Saab. That's why we leave it up to you to keep Detroit out of your sight.

In own thing:

If in the past few days you have found the blog too negative, as commentator Marcus apparently feels - we are sorry. We, the bloggers come professionally from an environment that has sharpened the view for some situations. On the legendary Saab blog “saabsunited” you still wear the pink glasses, maybe have a look there, because two opinions are always better than one.

The times are dramatic, we are looking for positive things with the magnifying glass and if we find any then we publish them.

Only - in the current situation - it is difficult for us.

But maybe things that we now see as negative are in reality painful, but long-term positive events. We try to report objectively, but feel obliged to communicate the respective contexts to our readers as “unadorned” and truthfully as possible.

Hoping for better Saab times.

Text: tom@saabblog.net

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Zwickau
Zwickau
12 years earlier

Our clan has:
1x 9-5
2x 9-3 Sportcombi
1x 9-3 Limo

Then stand around:
1x 900II
1x 9000 Anniversery

What we can do, we do.
If cars continue to be ordered despite the crisis (maybe?), Maybe there will be a miracle. Otherwise, probably all who critically assess the situation are realists.

If not, the boxes will be very valuable and I'll drive a car longer than 10, 15 years, like in GDR times.

Marcus
Marcus
12 years earlier

Saab cars do not exist without Saab as a company.
i have four of them - from 1988 - 2010 and all of them are “saabish”!

Harry
Harry
12 years earlier

Critical - but not unfair. And thus from the business corner, currently better than SaabsUnited!

We welcome investors and respect them. But we are fans of the Saab cars.

Marcus
Marcus
12 years earlier

Hello Tom,

That's right - I think the blog is too critical at the moment - but that's just my opinion, which we don't have to share either - we obviously share the love of saab and that's not unimportant.
it is a characteristic of the press and also of various companies to first of all examine the risks etc. and the opportunities less, since the opportunities are mostly “soft” factors and the risks are “hard”.
I have learned very well in my professional life to approach things very analytically, but I also learned that there are many factors that are not taken into account.
That's why you don't have to think everything is good at the moment, you don't, and according to vm, the current crisis shouldn't have happened any more, but it's not all bad and the buzz is currently increasing daily - we'll see if it is Enough, neither you nor I know that and no journalist at the moment.

vm has made big mistakes in the last few weeks, but he's always good at “conjuring up” a solution again - he's currently working on it and not unsuccessful.

the glass is either half full or half empty - the content is the same, only the way you look at it differs significantly and with it your own assessment.

the press has written so much about saab that much of it is simply obsolete and not worth to look into it.

There are many sources in the internet to inform yourself, which I do, and most of the basic statements are similar, but the conclusions are very different.

You run a great blog, but not everything I have to find it good and not share any opinion.
just because something is written doesn't it become truer, more meaningful or more important ...

it would be highly unproductive and boring for everyone if the opinions always coincided.

in this sense,
Many greetings

marcus

TM7374
TM7374
12 years earlier

Saabsunited is not what it used to be after Swade's departure. Steve had a very withdrawn way of reporting on SAAB topics and kicking the euphoria brakes here and there. The new guys from SU have a different philosophy and try to use the crowbar to sell any action from VM as positive. Surely it would be better for them and Tom if they could report exclusively on SAAB's technical innovations than dealing with the EIB, Maud Olofsson or other bureaucracy supporters.