SAAB AUTOMOBILE FILES FOR BANKRUPTCY

I try to avoid the media coverage on weekends. I can live with all of the negativity surrounding SAAB Monday - Friday thanks.
So this morning I re-capped on the various stories that made the headlines and I must admit it did not look good which ever way you sliced it.
These days I have become much more objective however I could only conclude that there was not even one positive piece of news. Everything looked pretty gloomy.

Had a great weekend where we at long last decorated the Christmas tree with the kids, drank a little glögg ( Hot spiced wine ) and generally brought in the Christmas spirit.

Then this

SAAB AUTOMOBILE FILES FOR BANKRUPTCY

Zeewolde, The Netherlands, 19 December 2011 – Swedish Automobile N.V. (Swan) announces that Saab Automobile AB (Saab Automobile), Saab Automobile Tools AB and Saab Powertrain AB filed for bankruptcy with the District Court in Vänersborg, Sweden this morning.

After having received the recent position of GM on the contemplated transaction with Saab Automobile, Youngman informed Saab Automobile that the funding to continue and complete the reorganization of Saab Automobile could not be concluded. The Board of Saab Automobile subsequently decided that the company without further funding will be insolvent and that filing bankruptcy is in the best interests of its creditors. It is expected that the Court will approve of the filing and appoint receivers for Saab Automobile very shortly.

Swan does not expect to realize any value from its shares in Saab Automobile and will write off its interest in Saab Automobile completely.

How things change

Was blogging just a passing phase ? - probably but it never really got started.

Just a quick reflection on how things change since April.
Production stopped and no plan for the forseeable future to re start.
Antanov rejected as a potential investor by EIB
Salary payments delayed
Youngman / Pang Da sign MOU with Swan to invest zillions in Saab with plans to develop new models and distribute and manufacture vehicles in both Trollhättan and China. -
Further delays in salary payments but I must admit it was fantastic to get two at relatively the same time.

The press remain on the attack particularly Dagens Industri ( Di ) with their copius amounts of vennom for Saab - I will never understand the reason why but if there isn't a story they invent one regardless and never positive.

Then we have Victor.

If I am truly honest I had serious doubts about this guy both in his words and his intentions.
I have to say that in recent weeks I humbly eat my words.
VM is the magicians magician . and indeed it reminds me a little of the Monty Python sketch where the brave knight fights on and on having had his arms and legs cut off.
I am still not sure of Victor's true intentions but one thing is for sure - True Respect.
Saab is today under court protection from its creditors and an administrator appointed ( Guy Lofalk )and will be defending its right to stay there in the coming days.

GM
As always there is a spnner in the works , a fly in the ointment so to speak
General Motors, Great Mistake, Gross Margin or whatever.
GM have seen the chance to finally kill off the brand that they could never develop. Thinking about it Pontiac, Hummer and Saturn died the death by their own hand. Saab was not so easy and therefore by GM's own in-action in not agreeing to 100% Chinese ownership they effectively do the same thing.
VM is not a man to give up and proposes another constellation. He was likened this morning to a bar of soap ( odly enough )Whenever you think its clearly over VM has another plan up his preverbial sleeve.

Back to Antanov.

Since his arrest in London 2 weeks ago it has been amazingly quiet in the news regarding his alleged bank theft and loaning of funds to VM's company. Only time will tell on this one . On one side without Antanov Saab would have gone straight down the toilet. On the other hand if he had been allowed in as a " visible " investor you can only imagine the field day our friends at Di would have had.
In the latest round we have just Youngman and an un-named Chinese bank.

This Saab journey has been the most amazing in my life and I am pretty certain in corporate history. One day I hope that VM writes about this in minute detail. A best seller in my book ( pardon the pun )

Two weeks without salary and two weeks to Christmas. The shops are pretty empty as half the towns working population is in the same boat.

One way or another it will sort itself out as my mum would say.

For sure it will but I am not brave enough to bet on which way.

Happy Easter Mr. Ananov

This is the same as the boxer who saw the jab but missed the quick left hook !
The factory is earily quiet, wating for the man with the wad of cash.

Easter is coming and a few days to re charge the batteries.

In reading articles on competitors it seems very much that the Audi's, BMW's, Mercedes and even Volvo are charging ahead.
VW / Audi in particular are recording double didget increases in certain markets particularly China. These are the markets where Saab need to be and every effort is being made to get there.....as fast as possible.

It seems as though Antanov plays a very hard game with a clear focus on getting what he wants regardless.Is the selling of SAAB property only an intrim solution for achieving what is the eventual goal a major stake in the company.It seems all too obvious.
How would this man deal with running Saab as opposed to banks and sports car companies..A very interesting thought indeed. Possibly Saab needs this type of "investor" to shake it back into life. This is no critism of today's management, on the contrary, dreams and ambitions play a major part. Trying to climb out of 20 years under GM leadership and mindset is incredibly tough.A fresh attitude combined with a " focus of getting what he wants ". Financial muscle is naturally a pre-requisite.

This is going to be an interesting few weeks to see how deep the damage is.

Happy Easter Mr Antanov

One Year on = Independence Day

Interesting that I äm posting exactly one year to the day that Saab became an independent vehicle manufacturer " Independence day " as it is known here at Saab.

A lot has happened in the last year as SAAB strives to come back into the market and meet the goals.
We had the launch of the new 9-5 last summer and it was great to see so many loyal Saab dealers at the launch events which lasted for around 6 weeks.

The event itself was seriously impressive in a kind of quaint Saabish way. Not Spain,Monaco or the south of France as has happened in the past with most vehicle manufactures with bundles of cash......but Trollhättan where else.

A tent in the middle of the test track ( which in fact blew down one stormy summer night and damaged one of the cars.)

The dealer event was split into five workshops
Following a 2 hour test drive on a predetermined route, the dealers from around the world and VIP's ( Yes we had a few of those too ) assembled to first watch the guys of the Saab Performance Team perform their manouvers and tricks at amazing speeds.

The groups were then divided to experience Ride & handling,Infotainment, crash & safety One that I cant remember and my own accessory area.
The products that we had been developing during the turbulent 2-3 years were proudly presented . It was truly GREAT . Low key,sincere and very SAAB.

Production started and as has been repeatedly reported was hampered by suppliers including GM not delivering. Not what we wanted.
Sales targets were missed and there is a strong focus on cashflow as there should be in any company.

Then came the 9-4X A good looking Crossover...........Pity about the diesel.

Today as we celebrate "Independence Day" ( A good film by the way )

Contracting houses,Arthur and John

I need to fire my current ISP provider having just typed in at least 500000 words and been kicked out without saving.

I lost the thread anyway.

The basic thread was positive restlessness.. but the thought has really left me.

I have been researching some of the Design and Engineering companies here in Sweden recently. The state of play reminds me somewhat of one of the American ( and other countries ) news story that tragically appears on an all too frequent basis. Some guy walks into a school or a shopping mall and opens fire wiping out a whole load of innocent people.
Why I thought of that I will never know but there is a synergy somehow in my weird mind at least of how the companies associated with the Swedish auto industry are dying , bodies everywhere, and as such a lot of engineers and designers are unemployed and have been for some time. The business has imploded so to speak.

A lot of cutbacks and layoffs throughout. sad but inevitable.
The contract companies have built up a huge resource without the flexibility that this business demands.

Semcon/Caran, Etteplan,Cliff Design & Models to name but a few have shed people not the hard and fast contractors who simply move on, but employees tired of the OEM's and dreaming of a better life on the other side of the green stuff.

What these companies did not tell them is that having tried to emulate the OEM's by marketing themselves as the best thing since the proverbial slice. Gods gift to the automotive business.A certain amount of arrogance has prevailed.

They simply lost the thread and its now payback time.

Unlike my friend Arthur who works for one of the afformentioned companies.

Arthur .A legend in his own lunchtime !!!!

Arthur is one of lifes weelers and dealers who can bend company rules to and often beyond breaking point....and get away with it for the sole interest of making money and keeping the customer satisfied.
The customer will receive something that he is entirely happy with and maybe not aware that he has just been shafted.

Another character who was the pioneer of of the contracting business as we know it was John Shute, sadly no longer with us.

John founded the company International Automotive Design ( IAD ) in the late 70's and built a full service design and engineering company with facilities worldwide.
Like many I will always be indebted to John and he will always have a place in my memories.
John was a "large " jovial man who looked remarkably like Henry VIII.

His secret to success became opening design studios and pulling in the engineering work as a result. John always maintained that when you were discussing engineering projects with customers you were talking to the engineering community or the buyers.
When you were selling design on the other hand you were talking to the guy that owned the company.
IAD had studios ( and I mean lots ) 2 in Germany 2 in Spain, Claifornia and Detroit and 3 in the UK.
The irony and probably little known fact ( Other than to those who worked for IAD at the time ) is that the Kia's Hyundai's, Daewoo's all started their first own branded vehicles at IAD.
Sadly in being so ambitious he took one too many risks and the company folded in 1993 as a result of another automotive bankrupcy.
The 2000 plus designers,engineers and technicians evaporated to the four corners of the earth and there is probably not an OEM that does not have an ex IAD contact. Wherever I go I meet or hear from ex IAD colleagues.

True respect.

The Swedish and European contracting industry can learn a lot from people like John and Arthur.
The business is about not being an OEM. The business is about innovation, flexibility and finding the niche that the OEM's need.
Not getting involved with middle management until the deal is done. This was Johns tactic.

The survivors and thrivers in Sweden seem to be the small companies who do not wish to become the IAD's and Semcon's. They have found their niche and probably make a tidy living thankyou.
When times do change , and they will there will be a new generation who need to do a lessons learned on why the contracting business dropped into the abbyss.

Hunting and Scandinavian Airlines

2 very strange subjects and not at all connected either to each other or to Saab which is what makes this just a little different.

First the hunting bit

I decided back at the beginning of September to take a hunting course.
Not for the love of being out there all guns blazing you understand . That is definitely not my style.Neither do I wish to blast away defenseless animals ( well not really ).......my family would never forgive me.

A couple of reasons prompted me to do this.

Firstly to get a gun licence I need to take a seven month course on nature,conservation, the land and forestry,weapon and hunting law etc. etc.

Seven heavy books that I need to study and have a trolley to carry them around.

What is worse is that I have to do this in Swedish which I find pretty hard going.

I didn't realize that there were so many birds that looked the damn same ( to me ) but with different names.

My advice would be to not let me out there with a gun as I would end up shooting everything in sight.

Back to the reasons for signing up for the course.

2 actually

I have a house about an hours drive from Trollhättan which is my paradise and one place that I can switch off from everything. At the beginning of September I arrived on a Friday evening to see that the grass which I lovingly cut sitting on my tractor while listening to Mary J Blige in my iPhone every week ( minimum ) had been ripped up.
On closer analysis ( I wont go into the details but it does come out of the rear ) we determined that we had had a visit from vildsvin ( wild pigs ).
I was so angry having spent 4 hours in the pouring rain making the repairs that this became the proverbial straw.
The second reason is a little more disturbing. Directly behind the house are several hundred hectares of mushroom forest which we take every opportunity to exploit and savour. A few weeks ago and not for the first time a neighbour was driving on the road servicing the houses in the area. Out of the forest came a wolf not 200 meters from my place. ....Yes a wolf. Now that's scary.

So yesterday evening I was for the first time training on the shooting simulator. A cool VR thingy that only confirmed how bad my shooting was. This was really a great boy toy and if it was not for the fact that it cost an amazing amount of SEK,Euros or Pounds I would buy one .........Really was cool


To the second subject Scandinavian Airlines ( SAS )

The majority shareholder of this miserably arrogant and uncompetitive airline is non other than the Swedish Government, together with the Norwegian and Danish.

Maud Olofsson held a press conference yesterday to confirm that the Swedish taxpayer would pump in a further injection of capital that had lots of 00000's after it into a company that is very reminiscent of good old General Motors.
I was speechless !!
This was the same person who has maintained for so long that it was not the Swedish Governments place to own or get involved in a private business. That the Government was not qualified to run an automotive company. It clearly is not qualified to run an airline either.!!!
If an image of Maud had been on the simulator yesterday evening instead of rabbits moose and ducks maybe my score would have been better.

OK now I feel better

OKSAAB

Good news is always bad news

There is always a twist to a news story in the Swedish media.

Two pieces of really good news yesterday and the press could not help themselves but to add a negative twist to both of them.

It would appear that I write very often about the press and their negative slant on SAAB.
I freely admit that it is probably the only issue that truly irritates me about this whole affair as I sit with my I love SAAB badge proudly displayed on my shirt. Corny I know but sometimes youv'e just got to do these things.

Back to the press reports.
In the report that Vic had secured a further $25 M loan from a Swiss / Dutch private investment company for whom he had worked in the 80's.Great news I thought but upon reading the article in DI 90% referred to the terms and conditions of the loan and the high interest and what would happen if it could not be repaid / refinanced.
The statement " The business is still not finalized because Vic needs to pay GM a further $24 M on the 15 July and he does not have the money "
Only the headline was positive.
Swedes have a tendancy to use the BUT word quite often

The second report was regarding the EU commisions approval of the EIB loan. An iportant milestone. DI again reported the " BUT there are still parts of the puzzel that are not in place , the EIB needs to approve the loan "
Again the BUT word comes into play.

At the weekend there was a sort of half hearted launch of the new 9-5 at the Saab Museum.
I do not mean this in any negative way. When the deal is finally done everybody will be working like crazy to do a real launch. The museum event was very much like a car showroom with a steady but high flow of people throughout the day. Much higher than in the SAAB dealer showrooms in fact.

Lots of positive critique. Lets hope that this turns into sales.

As you would imagine there are quite a high number of new 9-5's around the SAAB site in various forms from camoflaged test cars to latest production status.

I have to say the car has presence on the road.It is both dynamic and elegent at the same time unlike some of the Volvo's,Audi,s and BMW,s which tend to *wallow * when they get to this class ( particularly the Volvo S80 )

The 9-4X is also confirmed for production start at the beginning of next year.
I think that this is much needed and a pretty cool looking vehicle. Lets hope we see them in Europe competing head to head with Audi, and of course winning.

OKSAAB