SAAB Talk: Car Crisis

The crisis in the auto industry is expanding. Volvo, the other Swedish brand, will not rest. But at least some good news comes from Saab-City as a contrast to the bad industry news, which pulls like a skid mark across Europe. Before we start a brief foray into the car industry, let's take a look at our favorite Qoros.

Saab factory parking

Qoros

Why do we have qoros under observation? Because everything has to do with everything, and because former Saab executives have found a new home there. If you believe ex-Saab CIO and now Qoros CIO Eric Geers, then there is Saab DNA in the newcomer. There are also unconfirmed rumors that Qoros could dock with the Saab dealer structure for European sales. It is also uncertain whether Qoros will make his European debut at the 2013 Geneva Motor Show. The China Cartimes has published the latest spyshots. Could Saab be in there somewhere?

If so, it hides the pre-production model skilfully. Whatever is inside is a lot of European know-how. Because Qoros has transferred a great deal of development work to a major supplier and is not developing much itself. A structure that is currently emerging in Trollhättan at NEVS.

NEVS and the open questions

The friends of Saabsunited are quite uncritical of the new owner of the Saab factory. Both at the Oktoberfest and at the first interview in Trollhättan you missed the chance to ask the right questions. Not only me, but also Steven Wade, founder of Saabsunited, and former bloggers in Saab services. On his blog Swadeology, he asks the questions that were not posed by Saabsunited. A worth reading post!

Everything better in France

The government in Stockholm has not put a finger to Saab. If Saab had been taken under state supervision according to US patterns and then looked for a new owner in peace, everything would have been fine! Instead, they renounced a traditional company, which for decades was also a figurehead for the Swedish way of life.

In France, the PSA Group is struggling to survive with its Citroen and Peugeot brands. GM has its finger in the game, which suggests no good for the future of the brands. However, France is not Sweden, and the President of the Republic would not think of driving in the BMW, as can be seen in Stockholm. The French are rightly proud of their automotive history. France now wants to support the PSA Group with a bank guarantee of 7 billion euros. The news agency Reuters reports.

Emergency brake 1: GM

General Motors is stopping production in Ellesmere Port for this week. The Vauxhall plant may then run again next week. Sales of the Opel / Vauxhall brands are in sharp decline in Europe, and the problems are worsening.

Emergency brake 2: Ford

Like GM, Ford is hit hard by the crisis. 1.500 employees in the UK have to leave.

Emergency brake 3: Volvo

Volvo will not rest. The new Volvo CEO is prosecuted by the public prosecutor's office in Munich on suspicion of corruption, a crime of MAN's time. For the press in Sweden a headline found. While in Torslanda the bands for the autumn holidays were completely switched off and the clock rate was down, the plant in Ghent was stable after the last production stop in the summer. Now, Ghent also reduces the production of 59 to 54 cars per hour and dismisses 300's 5.200 employees. It is primarily the temporary workers whose contracts are not renewed.

At least for the spin-offs of the Saab periphery, there is good news. The Saab knowledge from Trollhättan counts and is appreciated internationally.

Success story from Trollhättan I

The Saab spin-off Vicura is developing into a success story. There is a lot of Saab know-how from the powertrain area secured. Vicura has now received an order to develop an electric four-wheel drive from British specialist GKN Driveline. This not only secures jobs, which allows you to create more jobs. Vicura currently has 80 employees, others are now being searched.

Success story from Trollhättan II

BRC Sweden, based in Trollhättan in the Industrigatan, has been upgrading Subarus with gas for the domestic market since February. Together with ANA, they have had a Saab 9-3 Trifuel in their portfolio in the past. From November to be converted to new Ford. It's about a couple 100 cars a year, and BRC Sweden hopes to double the number of 10 employees.

Good news for the location, because with every development order and every additional job, the attractiveness increases. Since the end of the GM era, the small town in the Västra Gotland has become more international. Already at Spyker time Saab got foreign orders into the house. Ganz Trollhättan is now moving in the direction of China, so our impression. With Dong Feng a heavyweight on the ground, NEVS, contrary to first announcement, has become a purely Chinese affair, and Innovatum has now sealed its close cooperation with Ninghai Science Park in Ningbo.

The rapprochement with China seems politically intended, because the Innovatum does nothing without the green light of the administration. Is this the future of the site? The future of NEVS? The future of Saab? More questions than answers at the start of the week.

Text: tom@saabblog.net

Image: Oliver for saabblog.net

 

11 thoughts on "SAAB Talk: Car Crisis"

  • It is exactly like that. Ford has certainly not done everything right, otherwise they would hardly have to sell Jaguar, LandRover etc. to the Indians ????
    It is extremely tragic that all the British crown jewels of automotive engineering today are controlled (and owned) by the former British Empire colony.
    And then back to Volvo, which had to be given away to the Chinese: is this all right?
    I think if all the so loyal SAAB riders would have opted for a new Saab model rather than after 10 years, then the future for Saab would certainly look different today.
    And as I said: without GM, Saab would have been definitely past over 20 years ago.
    Whether you like it or not, but unfortunately the reality is hard.
    It's just too easy to always look for the fault with others ...
    By the way, GM was the largest automobile manufacturer in the world for decades, but only because they didn't do everything right ...
    To Detlef Rudolf: Unfortunately, the Saab community has not upheld the level of the brand, but the engineers from Saab got the best out of a good foundation (platform thanks to GM), which, however, was more profitable for the owners of Saab (GM) could be.
    And we Saab drivers got the best cars in the world ...

  • I'm not quite in your opinion
    Of course, a number of mistakes were made when it came to SAAB during GM's time, but a 900II, the 9-3I and 9-3 II as well as the 9-5 would probably never have become a reality without GM because there simply wouldn't have been enough capital for development.
    Of course, it is a pity that GM has never properly recognized the potential of SAAB, that the model cycles were far too long, this is probably also due to GM's small-scale sales figures.
    Whether Ford was really successful with Volvo will show itself, a large part of the loyal clientele has now turned its back on the brand, the values ​​for which Volvo used to stand were thrown overboard!
    Today Volvo is a “premium mainstream vehicle” hip today, maybe out tomorrow!
    The practical family-friendly workhorse with that certain something was yesterday, today there are Life Style station wagon with low utility value for it interchangeable.
    A small bright spot is the aging V 70

  • The SAAB community has trusted the SAAB brand over the past few years and has kept SAAB at a high level despite the GM mismanagement.

    For this reason, NEVS endeavored right from the takeover to acquire the name SAAB because of its excellent reputation as a brand name for future products - it would actually be very bad style if you didn't show a bit of interest in the old SAAB customers who do not want to drive a purely electric car in the future.

    We are happy to be positively surprised in this regard. For example with the 9-3 Hybrid requested by Joachim - I would probably also join as a buyer.

    • Moin Detlef

      GM certainly did not do everything right with the SAAB brand! that the SAAB fans, I count myself to the brand has always given the trust, but I think so not right!
      After a failed start of the 900 II with some teething troubles, we all know, GM was just shit for many ... and the new SAABs with GM genes are no longer real SAABs.
      GM and SAAB quickly made improvements, so the 9-3I and the 9-5I were fantastic vehicles! But what use is that if many SAAB pilots have never accepted them and continue to walk their old 99s and 900s? In everyday life a “modest” Passat, XY or whatever!
      Sure the SAAB is not GM even in the nineties before the dogs went whether we like it or not !!

      • At SAAB, unfortunately, it was GM, who initially assumed 90% of SAAB as an alleged savior at the beginning of the 50 years (in the year 2000 it was known then the remaining 50%).

        Unfortunately, the problem was that GM hadn't gotten anything right - Ford was more successful with Volvo and Jaguar. Jaguar is now really thriving under Tata Motors (after the sale of Ford to Ratan Tata).

        Your first sentence in the comment is probably a joke: “… certainly not everything done right!”

        GM hardly did anything right! Only this statement applies here - as is well known, SAAB was initially diluted with Opel components and then at some point they said goodbye to the hatchback with 5 doors, etc. etc. -9I for the 5rd time in a row, without serious changes to the model)!

        This is what I mean by trust, although basically only complete mismanagement has taken place! In the end, as is well known, nothing worked at all due to this great management - nevertheless the fans and customers (in short: SAAB community) kept the level of the brand very high. The reasons for this are definitely not to be found at GM and NEVS can only use a brand name because of this fact that is still very popular today!

  • We don't want a Qoros but a SAAB 9-3 Hybrid on the Phoenix platform as soon as possible - if possible as a 5-door model with hatchback!

    With this wish we (my family and I in Hamburg) are certainly not alone!

    Dear people at NEVS, please do not let too much time pass - a number of motorists we know (all SAAB owners) are already looking at the terrible “commonplace models” from VW and Audi.

    • SAAB as we knew it is no more. NEVS is also not interested in what we want or nciht, the press people have clearly stated. SAAB is now becoming a lover's story that you either keep alive, just like our family, or you buy a golf and drive the SAAB only on the nice days.

      • Never, but never will I climb a Golf. Audi - all right. BMW or Mercedes - with pleasure. Peugeot - with pleasure. But a Golf, this epitome of automotive mediocrity, inflated by the upper-class appearance, this gray mouse on gray asphalt - never. 🙂

        Uhhh ... Sorry. But I really don't like golf.

        How can I really understand that NEVS has now become a purely Chinese matter? Did the Japanese part jump off now?

        • The Japanese Venturecapital boys jumped in the summer even before the purchase. Since then, NEVS is a pure China story

  • Oh how good nobody knows that I'll soon be eating with chopsticks in Trollhätan :-) …………. well or something like that

    Hello

    Marco

  • According to the photo, the Qoros pre-production car at least has the start button in the center console... that's very “Saabian”... 😉 ;-(

    The report (and also the movie) by Steven Wade I find very interesting!

Comments are closed.