Well now we have the final outcome. The decision is made.
GM chose to close their embarrassment today.
Thanks GM I wish you all on behalf of Saab employees a very happy and prosporous Christmas with your families.
Blog Off
Friday 18 December 2009
Thursday 17 December 2009
Typically Swedish at least the way the Swedish media have started to dig into the backgrounds of the owners of Spyker. Dagens Industri ran a headline reporting false accounting,losses and spekulation of Spykers ability to survive even as it stands today let alone pump in the required 3 billion SEK.
What the hell does it matter and why do DI care......They don't its just something to write.
Is the Swedish media so absurdly naive that Spyker is the only company with dodgy owners ? Look at GM they went bankrupt !!! They ripped off and ripped up the retirement agreemets for thousands of people. They terminated agreements or put those that they did not like into the old GM which eventually will be liquidated.
GM owe the American taxpayer $50 billion......GM a model company I dont think.
Spyker Cars owners
Largest shareholder in Spyker Cars is the Russian financial company Convers Group. Ownership of nearly 30 percent are divided on the bank string in Lithuania and Desolery in Cyprus.
Convers Group is in turn largely owned by Vladimir Antonov. His father, Alexander Antonov is president of the company.
Second largest shareholder is the state investment company Mubadala based in United Arab Emirates. Mubadala rescued Spyker Cars to avoid a bankruptcy two years ago. The company disclosed in accordance with their own website have invested billions of dollars locally, regionally and internationally.
This type of ownership is not disimilar to other well known vehicle manufacturers, VW and Mercedes ?
Today I am going to an auction. My neighbour is selling his inheritence which is 85 ha of forest.If the price is right ( which I dont think it will be ) I will become a lumberjack instead.
Blog on
What the hell does it matter and why do DI care......They don't its just something to write.
Is the Swedish media so absurdly naive that Spyker is the only company with dodgy owners ? Look at GM they went bankrupt !!! They ripped off and ripped up the retirement agreemets for thousands of people. They terminated agreements or put those that they did not like into the old GM which eventually will be liquidated.
GM owe the American taxpayer $50 billion......GM a model company I dont think.
Spyker Cars owners
Largest shareholder in Spyker Cars is the Russian financial company Convers Group. Ownership of nearly 30 percent are divided on the bank string in Lithuania and Desolery in Cyprus.
Convers Group is in turn largely owned by Vladimir Antonov. His father, Alexander Antonov is president of the company.
Second largest shareholder is the state investment company Mubadala based in United Arab Emirates. Mubadala rescued Spyker Cars to avoid a bankruptcy two years ago. The company disclosed in accordance with their own website have invested billions of dollars locally, regionally and internationally.
This type of ownership is not disimilar to other well known vehicle manufacturers, VW and Mercedes ?
Today I am going to an auction. My neighbour is selling his inheritence which is 85 ha of forest.If the price is right ( which I dont think it will be ) I will become a lumberjack instead.
Blog on
Wednesday 16 December 2009
Today is not a day for Blogging
Spyker is Saabs last hope according to the Media the analysts and of course GM's chairman Ed Whitacre ( well he would know wouldn't he )
Reading between the lines he sounds positively optimistic.
Even reports about the Russian investor behind Spyker ,his father and the Russian mafia have surfaced in recent days.
Saab and the Russian Mafia, now thats an interesting constellation.
I am trying to train myself NOT to use the word bizzare, mainly because even though the situation is exactly that B****e
Instead of me whittering on I decided to include a little entertainment in the shape of a " pulled " article in the FT. It amuzed me and I hope that anyone if anyone is remotely interested in reading my blog has the same experience.
Blog On
The enlosed article was in this week's Sunday Times but
has since been 'pulled' - probably by the subject of the article, Mandelson.
So much for free speech. But poor old Manglebum fails to appreciate how the
blogsphere works and in no time the article finds itself going viral round
the world. Wonderful. Enjoy it - and feel free to pass it on if you enjoyed
it.....
Jeremy Clarkson
Sunday Times 15/11/09
I’ve given the matter a great deal of thought all week, and I’m afraid I’ve
decided that it’s no good putting Peter Mandelson in a prison. I’m afraid he
will have to be tied to the front of a van and driven round the country
until he isn’t alive any more. He announced last week that middle-class
children will simply not be allowed into the country’s top universities even
if they have 4,000 A-levels, because all the places will be taken by
Albanians and guillemots and whatever other stupid bandwagon the conniving
.idiot has leapt
I hate Peter Mandelson. I hate his fondness for extremely pale blue jeans
and I hate that preposterous moustache he used to sport in the days when he
didn’t bother trying to cover up his left-wing fanaticism. I hate the way he
quite literally lords it over us even though he’s resigned in disgrace
twice, and now holds an important decision-making job for which he was not
elected. Mostly, though, I hate him because his one-man war on the bright
and the witty and the successful means that half my friends now seem to be
taking leave of their senses.
There’s talk of emigration in the air. It’s everywhere I go. Parties. Work.
In the supermarket. My daughter is working herself half to death to get good
grades at GSCE and can’t see the point because she won’t be going to
university, because she doesn’t have a beak or flippers or a qualification
in washing windscreens at the lights. She wonders, often, why we don’t live
in America.
Then you have the chaps and chapesses who can’t stand the constant raids on
their wallets and their privacy. They can’t understand why they are taxed at
50% on their income and then taxed again for driving into the nation’s
capital. They can’t understand what happened to the hunt for the weapons of
mass destruction. They can’t understand anything. They see the Highway
Wombles in those brand new 4x4s that they paid for, and they see the M4 bus
lane and they see the speed cameras and the community support officers and
they see the Albanians stealing their wheelbarrows and nothing can be done
because it’s racist.
And they see Alistair Darling handing over £4,350 of their money to not sort
out the banking crisis that he doesn’t understand because he’s a small-town
solicitor, and they see the stupid war on drugs and the war on drink and the
war on smoking and the war on hunting and the war on fun and the war on
scientists and the obsession with the climate and the price of train fares
soaring past £1,000 and the Guardian power-brokers getting uppity about one
shot baboon and not uppity at all about all the dead soldiers in
Afghanistan, and how they got rid of Blair only to find the lying twerp is
now going to come back even more powerful than ever, and they think, “I’ve
had enough of this. I’m off.”
It’s a lovely idea, to get out of this stupid, Fairtrade, Brown-stained,
Mandelson-skewed, equal-opportunities, multicultural, carbon-neutral,
trendily left, regionally assembled, big-government, trilingual,
mosque-drenched, all-the-pigs-are-equal, property-is-theft hellhole and set
up shop somewhere else. But where?
You can’t go to France because you need to complete 17 forms in triplicate
every time you want to build a greenhouse, and you can’t go to Switzerland
because you will be reported to your neighbours by the police and
subsequently shot in the head if you don’t sweep your lawn properly, and you
can’t go to Italy because you’ll soon tire of waking up in the morning to
find a horse’s head in your bed because you forgot to give a man called Don
bundle of used notes for “organising” a plumber.
You can’t go to Australia because it’s full of things that will eat you, you
can’t go to New Zealand because they don’t accept anyone who is more than 40
and you can’t go to Monte Carlo because they don’t accept anyone who has
less than 40 mill. And you can’t go to Spain because you’re not called Del
and you weren’t involved in the Walthamstow blag. And you can’t go to
Germany ... because you just can’t.
The Caribbean sounds tempting, but there is no work, which means that one
day, whether you like it or not, you’ll end up like all the other expats,
with a nose like a burst beetroot, wondering if it’s okay to have a small
sharpener at 10 in the morning. And, as I keep explaining to my daughter, we
can’t go to America because if you catch a cold over there, the health
system is designed in such a way that you end up without a house. Or dead.
Canada’s full of people pretending to be French, South Africa’s too risky,
Russia’s worse and everywhere else is too full of snow, too full of flies or
too full of people who want to cut your head off on the internet. So you can
dream all you like about upping sticks and moving to a country that doesn’t
help itself to half of everything you earn and then spend the money it gets
on bus lanes and advertisements about the dangers of salt. But wherever you
go you’ll wind up an alcoholic or dead or bored or in a cellar, in an orange
jumpsuit, gently wetting yourself on the web. All of these things are worse
than being persecuted for eating a sandwich at the wheel.
I see no reason to be miserable. Yes, Britain now is worse than it’s been
for decades, but the lunatics who’ve made it so ghastly are on their way
out. Soon, they will be back in Hackney with their South African
nuclear-free peace polenta. And instead the show will be run by a bloke
whose dad has a wallpaper shop and possibly, terrifyingly, a twerp in
Belgium whose fruitless game of hunt-the-WMD has netted him £15m on the
lecture circuit.
So actually I do see a reason to be miserable. Which is why I think it’s a
good idea to tie Peter Mandelson to a van. Such an act would be cruel and
barbaric and inhuman. But it would at least cheer everyone up a bit.
Spyker is Saabs last hope according to the Media the analysts and of course GM's chairman Ed Whitacre ( well he would know wouldn't he )
Reading between the lines he sounds positively optimistic.
Even reports about the Russian investor behind Spyker ,his father and the Russian mafia have surfaced in recent days.
Saab and the Russian Mafia, now thats an interesting constellation.
I am trying to train myself NOT to use the word bizzare, mainly because even though the situation is exactly that B****e
Instead of me whittering on I decided to include a little entertainment in the shape of a " pulled " article in the FT. It amuzed me and I hope that anyone if anyone is remotely interested in reading my blog has the same experience.
Blog On
The enlosed article was in this week's Sunday Times but
has since been 'pulled' - probably by the subject of the article, Mandelson.
So much for free speech. But poor old Manglebum fails to appreciate how the
blogsphere works and in no time the article finds itself going viral round
the world. Wonderful. Enjoy it - and feel free to pass it on if you enjoyed
it.....
Jeremy Clarkson
Sunday Times 15/11/09
I’ve given the matter a great deal of thought all week, and I’m afraid I’ve
decided that it’s no good putting Peter Mandelson in a prison. I’m afraid he
will have to be tied to the front of a van and driven round the country
until he isn’t alive any more. He announced last week that middle-class
children will simply not be allowed into the country’s top universities even
if they have 4,000 A-levels, because all the places will be taken by
Albanians and guillemots and whatever other stupid bandwagon the conniving
.idiot has leapt
I hate Peter Mandelson. I hate his fondness for extremely pale blue jeans
and I hate that preposterous moustache he used to sport in the days when he
didn’t bother trying to cover up his left-wing fanaticism. I hate the way he
quite literally lords it over us even though he’s resigned in disgrace
twice, and now holds an important decision-making job for which he was not
elected. Mostly, though, I hate him because his one-man war on the bright
and the witty and the successful means that half my friends now seem to be
taking leave of their senses.
There’s talk of emigration in the air. It’s everywhere I go. Parties. Work.
In the supermarket. My daughter is working herself half to death to get good
grades at GSCE and can’t see the point because she won’t be going to
university, because she doesn’t have a beak or flippers or a qualification
in washing windscreens at the lights. She wonders, often, why we don’t live
in America.
Then you have the chaps and chapesses who can’t stand the constant raids on
their wallets and their privacy. They can’t understand why they are taxed at
50% on their income and then taxed again for driving into the nation’s
capital. They can’t understand what happened to the hunt for the weapons of
mass destruction. They can’t understand anything. They see the Highway
Wombles in those brand new 4x4s that they paid for, and they see the M4 bus
lane and they see the speed cameras and the community support officers and
they see the Albanians stealing their wheelbarrows and nothing can be done
because it’s racist.
And they see Alistair Darling handing over £4,350 of their money to not sort
out the banking crisis that he doesn’t understand because he’s a small-town
solicitor, and they see the stupid war on drugs and the war on drink and the
war on smoking and the war on hunting and the war on fun and the war on
scientists and the obsession with the climate and the price of train fares
soaring past £1,000 and the Guardian power-brokers getting uppity about one
shot baboon and not uppity at all about all the dead soldiers in
Afghanistan, and how they got rid of Blair only to find the lying twerp is
now going to come back even more powerful than ever, and they think, “I’ve
had enough of this. I’m off.”
It’s a lovely idea, to get out of this stupid, Fairtrade, Brown-stained,
Mandelson-skewed, equal-opportunities, multicultural, carbon-neutral,
trendily left, regionally assembled, big-government, trilingual,
mosque-drenched, all-the-pigs-are-equal, property-is-theft hellhole and set
up shop somewhere else. But where?
You can’t go to France because you need to complete 17 forms in triplicate
every time you want to build a greenhouse, and you can’t go to Switzerland
because you will be reported to your neighbours by the police and
subsequently shot in the head if you don’t sweep your lawn properly, and you
can’t go to Italy because you’ll soon tire of waking up in the morning to
find a horse’s head in your bed because you forgot to give a man called Don
bundle of used notes for “organising” a plumber.
You can’t go to Australia because it’s full of things that will eat you, you
can’t go to New Zealand because they don’t accept anyone who is more than 40
and you can’t go to Monte Carlo because they don’t accept anyone who has
less than 40 mill. And you can’t go to Spain because you’re not called Del
and you weren’t involved in the Walthamstow blag. And you can’t go to
Germany ... because you just can’t.
The Caribbean sounds tempting, but there is no work, which means that one
day, whether you like it or not, you’ll end up like all the other expats,
with a nose like a burst beetroot, wondering if it’s okay to have a small
sharpener at 10 in the morning. And, as I keep explaining to my daughter, we
can’t go to America because if you catch a cold over there, the health
system is designed in such a way that you end up without a house. Or dead.
Canada’s full of people pretending to be French, South Africa’s too risky,
Russia’s worse and everywhere else is too full of snow, too full of flies or
too full of people who want to cut your head off on the internet. So you can
dream all you like about upping sticks and moving to a country that doesn’t
help itself to half of everything you earn and then spend the money it gets
on bus lanes and advertisements about the dangers of salt. But wherever you
go you’ll wind up an alcoholic or dead or bored or in a cellar, in an orange
jumpsuit, gently wetting yourself on the web. All of these things are worse
than being persecuted for eating a sandwich at the wheel.
I see no reason to be miserable. Yes, Britain now is worse than it’s been
for decades, but the lunatics who’ve made it so ghastly are on their way
out. Soon, they will be back in Hackney with their South African
nuclear-free peace polenta. And instead the show will be run by a bloke
whose dad has a wallpaper shop and possibly, terrifyingly, a twerp in
Belgium whose fruitless game of hunt-the-WMD has netted him £15m on the
lecture circuit.
So actually I do see a reason to be miserable. Which is why I think it’s a
good idea to tie Peter Mandelson to a van. Such an act would be cruel and
barbaric and inhuman. But it would at least cheer everyone up a bit.
Tuesday 15 December 2009
Sixpence half a crown, a quaint English expression the details of which I wont go into.
As the week progresses there are a huge amount of rumours and speculation most of which are positive.
Everyone from Goran Hagglund ( Swedish government )Jan-Ake Jonsson, Erik Geers and his staff are presenting an upbeat and confident face. The deal will be done before the end of the year dedline.
Not a word from GM !!
09.00 yesterday the announcement came as expected that Saab would sell it's tools for the outgoing 9-5 and in part 9-3 to BAIC. In addition Saab engineers will support BAIC in there efforts to develop their own vehicle in China, presumably one that looks nothing like a Saab or ???
BAIC ( Pronounced BIKE ) thats an interesting twist. For a country whose poulation was just a few years ago renowned for travelling from A to B on BIKES, ZILLIONS of them have a company called BIKE producing CARS.
There was also an article yesterday in one of the Swedish news sites that a group of Swedish investors were interested in buying Saab. Do not believe this for one second. Volvo on the other hand always have an ex CEO / VD leading the fight. If it was Jan-Ake then it could be plausable.
Christmas
Christmas is a time for eating, drinking and spending more than you can afford. As you say to yourself when you hand over the warm plastic " Christmas only comes once a year ". and that takes me back to sixpence half a crown.
If a positive decision on Saab's future comes in the next 8 days the plastic will be glowing . If not there could be a degree of hesitation or maybe not.
Blog on
As the week progresses there are a huge amount of rumours and speculation most of which are positive.
Everyone from Goran Hagglund ( Swedish government )Jan-Ake Jonsson, Erik Geers and his staff are presenting an upbeat and confident face. The deal will be done before the end of the year dedline.
Not a word from GM !!
09.00 yesterday the announcement came as expected that Saab would sell it's tools for the outgoing 9-5 and in part 9-3 to BAIC. In addition Saab engineers will support BAIC in there efforts to develop their own vehicle in China, presumably one that looks nothing like a Saab or ???
BAIC ( Pronounced BIKE ) thats an interesting twist. For a country whose poulation was just a few years ago renowned for travelling from A to B on BIKES, ZILLIONS of them have a company called BIKE producing CARS.
There was also an article yesterday in one of the Swedish news sites that a group of Swedish investors were interested in buying Saab. Do not believe this for one second. Volvo on the other hand always have an ex CEO / VD leading the fight. If it was Jan-Ake then it could be plausable.
Christmas
Christmas is a time for eating, drinking and spending more than you can afford. As you say to yourself when you hand over the warm plastic " Christmas only comes once a year ". and that takes me back to sixpence half a crown.
If a positive decision on Saab's future comes in the next 8 days the plastic will be glowing . If not there could be a degree of hesitation or maybe not.
Blog on
Monday 14 December 2009
Very difficult to get up this morning
The start of the last full working week before the new year..........what is in store.???
A lot of media reports over the weekend that BAIC and GM have cut a deal for BAIC to buy the tools and interlectual property rights for the Saab 9-5 & 9-3.
Of course the comment was from " a source with direct knowledge of the deal "
If I think about it last weeks lack of news was disturbingly uncomfortable however reading between the lines of the various articles RENCO bailed and now BAIC seem to have what they were interested in all along. Is that an indication of what would have happened in the longer term ??
The BAIC setup looks as if it will follow the same trail as Rover.
So that leaves us with Spyker unless " a source with direct knowledge of the deal " knows something I don't. Not that I know much anyway.
Lets see what this week brings
Blog on
The start of the last full working week before the new year..........what is in store.???
A lot of media reports over the weekend that BAIC and GM have cut a deal for BAIC to buy the tools and interlectual property rights for the Saab 9-5 & 9-3.
Of course the comment was from " a source with direct knowledge of the deal "
If I think about it last weeks lack of news was disturbingly uncomfortable however reading between the lines of the various articles RENCO bailed and now BAIC seem to have what they were interested in all along. Is that an indication of what would have happened in the longer term ??
The BAIC setup looks as if it will follow the same trail as Rover.
So that leaves us with Spyker unless " a source with direct knowledge of the deal " knows something I don't. Not that I know much anyway.
Lets see what this week brings
Blog on
Friday 11 December 2009
An old colleague commented on my blog today. He could not quite work out what Saab had to do with food. Neither can I really but maybe the connections you make and the ironic spins that you put on things tend to add a bizzare dimension to everything.
Needless to say it has been a tough week and like most people I am looking forward to the weekend.
There are so many positive people around the company. This is not just everything will be alright " attitude but very much we can win approach.
Naturally there is always the dark side that sits somewhere deep in your mind but they so far seem to be managable.
From my perspective the plans that we are preparing, the projects that we are executing go way beyond 30 December when D day is meant to be therefore that is the goal we are working towards.
The Swedish government ministers visited on Tuesday, The same day Spyker representetives were photographed by the local media.
From the articles in Wednesdays newspaper Maud Olofsson was incredibly positive ( which is a first )The need for speed in this process is the key.
She was obviously convinced that the representetives of both the company and the unions BELIEVE in the business plan for Saabs future.
So do I
BLOGG ON
Needless to say it has been a tough week and like most people I am looking forward to the weekend.
There are so many positive people around the company. This is not just everything will be alright " attitude but very much we can win approach.
Naturally there is always the dark side that sits somewhere deep in your mind but they so far seem to be managable.
From my perspective the plans that we are preparing, the projects that we are executing go way beyond 30 December when D day is meant to be therefore that is the goal we are working towards.
The Swedish government ministers visited on Tuesday, The same day Spyker representetives were photographed by the local media.
From the articles in Wednesdays newspaper Maud Olofsson was incredibly positive ( which is a first )The need for speed in this process is the key.
She was obviously convinced that the representetives of both the company and the unions BELIEVE in the business plan for Saabs future.
So do I
BLOGG ON
Thursday 10 December 2009
Today I want to talk about food as I firmly believe that it should become one of the selection criteria for a potential new owner.
A few years ago Saab had an alliance with FIAT at a facility just outside Gothenburg.
A whole flock of Italians descended upon Sweden. Instead of the crap Sodhexo " cook and chill " food we had a local family owned kitchen preparing freshly cooked pastas alongside the traditional Swedish fare. It was always a pleasure to go there and meetings strangely enough were often just before or just after lunch.
Ultimately the Italians went home which we thought would be the end for quality cooking. Needless to say following mass protests the chef stayed on and " cook and chill" never came to be.
Now lets take the close interaction of future Saab ownership and food.
Today under GM we have the " cook and chill " solution.
Its cheap to produce , poor quality and tastes crap. Customers are dissatisfied and in many cases go and eat elsewhere. There could be a close analogy here with product satisfaction and customer retention !!!
If you read and listen to the press the two current suiters BAIC and Spyker are in town.
Think of the impact that the choice of owner could have on future sales and customer retention.
I think that we all appreciate the impact that Chinese ownership could have.
" cook and chill" would be exiled to the world of schools, hospitals and old peoples homes and instead we could call up 30 minutes before lunch, choose a meal with a number at the front and a little guy on a moped would deliver it direct to the desk.... Amazing. Incidentally I have never understood why in every Chinese restaurant in the western world there is a number before the name of the dish. Is it because the owners think we cannot read ???
Lets turn to Spyker and the impact they would have.
Dutch company - Russian investment. Now that IS a combination.
In focusing on the Dutch aspect and having lived and worked in Holland I cannot for the life of me remember the food !!
Only to say that there were chips ( Pommes Frittes ) and mayonnaise with everything.
If that be the case and if I were in the GM management team, I would definitely choose BAIC.
It just makes good business sense
BLOG ON
A few years ago Saab had an alliance with FIAT at a facility just outside Gothenburg.
A whole flock of Italians descended upon Sweden. Instead of the crap Sodhexo " cook and chill " food we had a local family owned kitchen preparing freshly cooked pastas alongside the traditional Swedish fare. It was always a pleasure to go there and meetings strangely enough were often just before or just after lunch.
Ultimately the Italians went home which we thought would be the end for quality cooking. Needless to say following mass protests the chef stayed on and " cook and chill" never came to be.
Now lets take the close interaction of future Saab ownership and food.
Today under GM we have the " cook and chill " solution.
Its cheap to produce , poor quality and tastes crap. Customers are dissatisfied and in many cases go and eat elsewhere. There could be a close analogy here with product satisfaction and customer retention !!!
If you read and listen to the press the two current suiters BAIC and Spyker are in town.
Think of the impact that the choice of owner could have on future sales and customer retention.
I think that we all appreciate the impact that Chinese ownership could have.
" cook and chill" would be exiled to the world of schools, hospitals and old peoples homes and instead we could call up 30 minutes before lunch, choose a meal with a number at the front and a little guy on a moped would deliver it direct to the desk.... Amazing. Incidentally I have never understood why in every Chinese restaurant in the western world there is a number before the name of the dish. Is it because the owners think we cannot read ???
Lets turn to Spyker and the impact they would have.
Dutch company - Russian investment. Now that IS a combination.
In focusing on the Dutch aspect and having lived and worked in Holland I cannot for the life of me remember the food !!
Only to say that there were chips ( Pommes Frittes ) and mayonnaise with everything.
If that be the case and if I were in the GM management team, I would definitely choose BAIC.
It just makes good business sense
BLOG ON
Wednesday 9 December 2009
Dynamic leadership - This has not been the case in the last 20 years under GM.
We have had a steady flow of new CEO's from GM over the years, each one tasked with fixing the " Saab problem ". Each one has failed.
In most cases the CEO's have been reassigned to bigger and better things - Why ?
Is it something about the GM culture - Fail = Climb one step up the ladder ?
One CEO did end up in Russia. He must have been threatening to show break even in the accounts, or even worse make a profit !!
Then there was Peter Augustsson. - A well liked and well respected Swedish national who never had a chance. The constraints of the GM systems, philosophy, culture and indeed accounting practices secured hie eventual downfall.
Eventually GM tired of playing the game. All the GM folk went home or to Russelsheim to see if they could fix other problems.
In any event Saab was NEVER going to win !! and hence the constant media and analyst comments that Saab have made 20 years of losses. IT WAS NEVER MEANT TO MAKE A PROFIT !!!
This takes me to the latest in CEO's - Jan Åke Jonsson -
Jan-Åke really is a TRUE CEO the like of which has not been seen in 20 years at Saab.
He has worked tirelessy to steer the company during 2009. Taking decisions and risk, managing and conserving cash.
Last week on returning from the GM board meeting in Detroit he was greeted by HUNDREDS of Saab employees as he drove towards his office.
The welcome was a show of both gratitude and respect the like of which has not been seen before at Saab.
If this is the leadership that awaits in a future Saab state then I like most would welcome the opportunity to be part of that company.
Time to start my engines and we will see what another day in paradise brings
Blogg ON
We have had a steady flow of new CEO's from GM over the years, each one tasked with fixing the " Saab problem ". Each one has failed.
In most cases the CEO's have been reassigned to bigger and better things - Why ?
Is it something about the GM culture - Fail = Climb one step up the ladder ?
One CEO did end up in Russia. He must have been threatening to show break even in the accounts, or even worse make a profit !!
Then there was Peter Augustsson. - A well liked and well respected Swedish national who never had a chance. The constraints of the GM systems, philosophy, culture and indeed accounting practices secured hie eventual downfall.
Eventually GM tired of playing the game. All the GM folk went home or to Russelsheim to see if they could fix other problems.
In any event Saab was NEVER going to win !! and hence the constant media and analyst comments that Saab have made 20 years of losses. IT WAS NEVER MEANT TO MAKE A PROFIT !!!
This takes me to the latest in CEO's - Jan Åke Jonsson -
Jan-Åke really is a TRUE CEO the like of which has not been seen in 20 years at Saab.
He has worked tirelessy to steer the company during 2009. Taking decisions and risk, managing and conserving cash.
Last week on returning from the GM board meeting in Detroit he was greeted by HUNDREDS of Saab employees as he drove towards his office.
The welcome was a show of both gratitude and respect the like of which has not been seen before at Saab.
If this is the leadership that awaits in a future Saab state then I like most would welcome the opportunity to be part of that company.
Time to start my engines and we will see what another day in paradise brings
Blogg ON
Tuesday 8 December 2009
Tuesday 8 December
" Business as usual " at least that is what my boss says and he's right. There is however an ironic twist to the phrase.
I am here at 06.00 as usual - a lifelong working habit
The feeling and overall atmosphere is surreal. My department colleagues and in all respects the company as a a whole is running headlong into the abyss and " its business as usual ".
Thats ok it takes your mind off what awaits in the abyss. !!
Production continues as normal , we plan meetings for January and beyond, we start projects that take us way into next year as if everything is going to be OK and that this was just a nightmare ....which it is.
There is definately a nervous tension, with the spoken word that everything will be fine which it probably will be in one way or another.
Just to take an overview of the events : ( I beg forgiveness for minor inaccuracies )
Autumn 2008 GM in light of its own horrendous losses announce that Saab and Hummer will be sold or closed. The same goes for Saturn and Pontiac announced later does not even get the chance.
Hummer - who the hell is going to buy that in todays climate ( pun )
Saab - 20 years of losses - really ?
The Swedish government immediately announce a stimulant package for the Swedish auto industry........I do not believe anyone has seen it yet.
20th February 2009 - what a day - Saab Automobile AB files for reconstruction in the Swedish courts. I am never quite sure whether Jan Åke pulled the rug from under GM or not. They seemed somewhat surprised.
Rescue Saab. Com became a focal point for Saab enthusiasts worldwide. Quickly 12000 people from all over the world writing in different languages gathered together on one site ( I registered twice ).
T shirts, posters etc. etc. with slogans that I cannot remember became available. I have to say that I have never seen anyone wearing a T shirt or a set up a poster..
If this had been France or Germany or Spain the workers would have been taking to the streets in mass protest dumping car parts to block the traffic........No this is Sweden.
There are now over 17000 people registered on Rescue Saab.com
When you think about it, if those 17000 people who feel so passionately about the brand went out and ordered a Saab the company would have a healthier situation. Now thats what I call support. !!!
April, May, June - Lots of rumours as to who has been spied visiting the company. Groups of Chinese,men in suits, Koenigsegg.
Is this really the company that will charge to the rescue ?..somehow I am doubtful
Small boys trying to play big boys games ???
Actually I thought of buying Saab myself. For a number of years I have emptied my pockets of loose change in the evening and put the coins ( sometimes low denomination notes ) in a stone jar that sits behind the coffee machine on the kitchen work surface. I have always believed that eventually I will accrue an enormous sum that will allow me to retire early. The only problem is that when I need change in the morning for work I go to the jar and take the money out again.
Koenigsegg become the main actor in the play.
A little sports car company 3 hours drive from Trollhättan ( 2 if your name is Bård Eker ) that produces 20 cars a year and sells them for ZILLIONS.
Koenigsegg model lineup
Classic low volume sports car appearance - nothing special or even new.
CCX & CCXR ( There always seems to be an X or R in theses super car models ) What does CCX stand for ??? Crap Cortina ( got stuck on the X )
606 BHP
0 - 100 Kph in 3,2 sec............Wow that really is a supercar
OK time to sign off and go and do some " Business as Usual "
I will try and give this blogg thingy another go ( I am a blogg virgin and it felt extremely good the first time ) I enjoyed downloading some thoughts and perspective from the inside
One thing to remember and I am sure I will say it more than once.
Saab Automobile is a great company with great people fighting for survival
We don't need the shit and drivel that the so - called analysts and one track tabloids plaster the papers with to sell a few extra copies.
Blogg again soon
I am here at 06.00 as usual - a lifelong working habit
The feeling and overall atmosphere is surreal. My department colleagues and in all respects the company as a a whole is running headlong into the abyss and " its business as usual ".
Thats ok it takes your mind off what awaits in the abyss. !!
Production continues as normal , we plan meetings for January and beyond, we start projects that take us way into next year as if everything is going to be OK and that this was just a nightmare ....which it is.
There is definately a nervous tension, with the spoken word that everything will be fine which it probably will be in one way or another.
Just to take an overview of the events : ( I beg forgiveness for minor inaccuracies )
Autumn 2008 GM in light of its own horrendous losses announce that Saab and Hummer will be sold or closed. The same goes for Saturn and Pontiac announced later does not even get the chance.
Hummer - who the hell is going to buy that in todays climate ( pun )
Saab - 20 years of losses - really ?
The Swedish government immediately announce a stimulant package for the Swedish auto industry........I do not believe anyone has seen it yet.
20th February 2009 - what a day - Saab Automobile AB files for reconstruction in the Swedish courts. I am never quite sure whether Jan Åke pulled the rug from under GM or not. They seemed somewhat surprised.
Rescue Saab. Com became a focal point for Saab enthusiasts worldwide. Quickly 12000 people from all over the world writing in different languages gathered together on one site ( I registered twice ).
T shirts, posters etc. etc. with slogans that I cannot remember became available. I have to say that I have never seen anyone wearing a T shirt or a set up a poster..
If this had been France or Germany or Spain the workers would have been taking to the streets in mass protest dumping car parts to block the traffic........No this is Sweden.
There are now over 17000 people registered on Rescue Saab.com
When you think about it, if those 17000 people who feel so passionately about the brand went out and ordered a Saab the company would have a healthier situation. Now thats what I call support. !!!
April, May, June - Lots of rumours as to who has been spied visiting the company. Groups of Chinese,men in suits, Koenigsegg.
Is this really the company that will charge to the rescue ?..somehow I am doubtful
Small boys trying to play big boys games ???
Actually I thought of buying Saab myself. For a number of years I have emptied my pockets of loose change in the evening and put the coins ( sometimes low denomination notes ) in a stone jar that sits behind the coffee machine on the kitchen work surface. I have always believed that eventually I will accrue an enormous sum that will allow me to retire early. The only problem is that when I need change in the morning for work I go to the jar and take the money out again.
Koenigsegg become the main actor in the play.
A little sports car company 3 hours drive from Trollhättan ( 2 if your name is Bård Eker ) that produces 20 cars a year and sells them for ZILLIONS.
Koenigsegg model lineup
Classic low volume sports car appearance - nothing special or even new.
CCX & CCXR ( There always seems to be an X or R in theses super car models ) What does CCX stand for ??? Crap Cortina ( got stuck on the X )
606 BHP
0 - 100 Kph in 3,2 sec............Wow that really is a supercar
OK time to sign off and go and do some " Business as Usual "
I will try and give this blogg thingy another go ( I am a blogg virgin and it felt extremely good the first time ) I enjoyed downloading some thoughts and perspective from the inside
One thing to remember and I am sure I will say it more than once.
Saab Automobile is a great company with great people fighting for survival
We don't need the shit and drivel that the so - called analysts and one track tabloids plaster the papers with to sell a few extra copies.
Blogg again soon
Monday 7 December 2009
Monday 7 December 2009 - This is a short introduction to what over the coming weeks will give an insight into how life goes on in a company threatened with closure.
The first news came 2 weeks go. Our "Rock Solid Buyer " backed out or probably if you read some of the other pieces of information in the public domain BAIC found a bettr angle for what they were really after.
In any event the knockdown punch came when Ed Whitacre the new GM CEO announced a stay of execution until th end of December. I thought that was the plan all along !!!
I may not have time to share this on a daily basis we will have to wait and see
The first news came 2 weeks go. Our "Rock Solid Buyer " backed out or probably if you read some of the other pieces of information in the public domain BAIC found a bettr angle for what they were really after.
In any event the knockdown punch came when Ed Whitacre the new GM CEO announced a stay of execution until th end of December. I thought that was the plan all along !!!
I may not have time to share this on a daily basis we will have to wait and see
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