Saab auto news

Report: Dealers trying to push Saab NA into bankruptcy

Saab North America acknowledged that the chances were exceptionally slim, but it hoped to avoid bankruptcy long enough to give another company a chance to buy it. Shortly after Saab NA appointed a third-party administrator, McTevia & Associates, it was decided there was no way to save the company short of liquidation, and on January 23, the administrator announced plans to file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy.

But Saab NA was beat to the filing by a group of 162 out of the 188 Saab dealers, who filed for involuntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Delaware. The dealers said last week they were going to file for Chapter 7, but instead chose Chapter 11 because of its lower costs and in case China's Youngman or Turkey's Brightwell Holding's bid for Saab NA's parent succeeds and they want to restart operations here. The document was filed in Delaware because the dealer body feels they'll get better hearing "further away from Detroit." Dealers also wanted the force of court orders to back up any decisions made, not that of a third-party administrator.

Underneath all the legal machinations, though, if estimates from Saab NA dealer attorney Leonard Bellavia are accurate, then the parties could emerge without getting financially kneecapped. When McTevia announced its plan to file, Bellavia suggested that Saab NA's liabilities were $10.5 million and assets at between $75 million and $125 million. With no more parts on the way and 2,400 cars on lots, McTevia had earlier said that the parts distribution business is "the only meaningful asset."

Report: Sweden picks up tab on bankrupt Saab's EU loan

Way back at the beginning of Saab's struggle for life after General Motors, exotic car firm Spyker was granted a €400-million loan ($527M U.S.) from the European Investment Bank. The loan was approved after it was guaranteed by Sweden's Debt Office, and Saab's recent bankruptcy filing forced the Debt Office to back up the guarantee with a €217-million payment ($286M) to the EIB - the portion of the loan that Saab actually drew upon.

It's not exactly bad news for the government, since the government's stake in Saab Automobile Parts and Saab Automobile Tools - used to guarantee its own guarantee of the EIB loan - is understood to be worth more than €217 million.

In the next couple of weeks, bids are expected from both China's Zhejiang Youngman Lotus and Turkey's Brightwell Holdings private equity group for the purchase of Saab in its entirety. No one can predict the outcome, but it this last-ditch situation might have the best chance: the European auto supplier organization CLEPA is assisting Youngman, the numbers being hinted at would indicate sane and motivated buyers, GM's intellectual property concerns appear to have been addressed, and it's certain that the sellers would love to see a bit of sun after a long spell of gloom for the hard luck brand.

Report: Trollh"attan buys entire classic Saab collection to preserve museum

Despite the popular saying, history cannot simply repeated. So, when faced with the possibility of losing the entire classic collection of cars that had made up the official Saab museum in Trollhättan after the officials in charge of the automaker's bankruptcy proceedings threatened to break it up, a few organizations stepped up to the plate to keep it together.

According to a report from Autocar, the city of Trollhattan, SAAB AB and The Wallenberg Foundation came up with the $4.05 million required to purchase the entire collection outright. A total of 120 cars are included, including the Ur-Saab, which is the first automobile built by the Swedish company.

Report: Saab Cars North American undergoing bankruptcy liquidation

It's a Saab story, we know, but this is - in all likelihood - the end of the road for Sweden's "other" automaker. Sure, there are still talks of one foreign entity or another picking up where GM and Swedish Automobile (Swan)/Spyker left off, but even if they do, they'll have a heck of a lot of work on their hands. And that includes rebuilding its presence in North America.

With the parent company having already filed for bankruptcy in Sweden, the next step is for Saab Cars North America to follow suit, and that's precisely what's happening.

The operation based in Royal Oak, Michigan, ceased operating last month when its parent company did, but resumed distributing parts just this past Thursday. That does not mean, however, that the American business will remain afloat. With no money to keep it going, Saab Cars North America is being liquidated. Sources estimate the company's liquidated assets at around $100 million (give or take $25m), offset by a relatively minor $10.5 million in liabilities.

As for the dealers, they'll have to choose to declare bankruptcy individually or let the administrator dealing with SCNA's liquidation tend to theirs as well.

Report: Turkish private equity firm jumps into Saab buying fray

The next chapter in the Saab opera has a new protagonist called Brightwell Holdings, a Turkish private equity firm. Brightwell is is perhaps the unknown Turkish entity mentioned last year as having an interest in bankrupt Saab, along with India's Mahindra & Mahindra. A board member at Brightwell said the company will spend two weeks evaluating Saab's assets and then will make a bid, "there's no question."

Turkey doesn't have a national car company, but it does have plenty of automotive manufacturing expertise since Ford, Fiat and Renault have factories there. Brightwell has said it would keep Saab production in Trollhätten, but (and this is only conjecture) along with a decades-old push for a national car company, the increase of Turkish private equity, and Turkey's desire to join the European Union, the bid could have motivating factors beyond the financial.

Regardless, that means we now have two players in the Saab story, with Youngman's renewed run at Saab expected to result in a bid as soon as next week that could exceed a billion euros. It's difficult to imagine that Saab will somehow be rescued, but the ball is still in play.

Report: China's Youngman to wage new bid for Saab

Ladies and gentlemen, those of you preparing to leave the theater because you thought the Saab opera was over, well, take a seat. After sinking a fair bit of money into the troubled Swedish automaker while chasing the deal, Youngman isn't ready to walk away. According to Reuters, the Chinese firm is ready to make a new bid for the Swedish brand as soon as next week, and it could be worth more than a billion Euros. Stay with us, because as you might expect, it's a bit convoluted.

The door appeared closed on Youngman for good when General Motors, which engineered much of the technology in the 9-5 and 9-4X, said it wouldn't do a deal that risked harming its position in China (read: they feared they might lose their intellectual property rights). As it was, the Saab deal brokered with Youngman would make General Motors compete against another company for which GM was building cars and that was using GM technology. To get around that, it appears that Youngman has proposed buying Saab and not using GM tech, which, that's right, would mean walking away from the still-new 9-5 and 9-4X. Instead, Youngman would restart Saab production with a brand-new 9-3 (said to be the car in the grainy image above) and would hope to do it in as little as 15 weeks.

The Chinese company has Saab's Phoenix architecture in mind, which is ready to go and said to be essentially free of GM intellectual property. According to Just-Auto, Phoenix-based Lotus variants for China are also under consideration, but with Proton's pending sale to DRB-Hicom that plan seems a little unsure. A group of European auto suppliers headed by Bosch has traveled to China, on Youngman's dime, to investigate the possibilities and practicalities of just such a plan. As to how aggressive GM might to safeguard whatever interests it has in the Phoenix platform, the supplier-body CEO quipped, "The 9-3 is not a big risk to GM - there has to be a limit to how nasty they can be."

On top of that, there might be questions about how many of Saab's assets are still even available for purchase. Reuters said that engineering firm Semcon SMC.ST agreed to buy key Saab technology, but a report on fan site Saabs United counters that the sale was declined over factory utilization. Saabs United also says that a Youngman-built 9-3 might only be sold in China. The Youngman CEO and his daughter Rachel Pang are apparently due in Sweden next week to further the bidding process, but we should have more word on the Bosch-led supplier trip soon enough.

Report: More people interested in buying a Saab after bankruptcy

We never heard about buyers of other ex-General Motors brands - Pontiac, Saturn and Hummer - taking to their keyboards to research new rides when the lowered boom crushed them all. Even though they would have been warrantied and supported by a still-living GM.

Leave it to Saab, then, to spin that right 'round like a record: according to electronic-research tracker Dataium, 10 percent more people have inquired about Saabs since the brand declared bankruptcy. Even better for the dealers sitting on 221 days worth of inventory: there were three times as many new shoppers in the 96 hours after the announcement, and for the next two weeks as least 50 percent of them were first-timers. All this for a tiny brand selling two cars without warranty and parts support (yet).

Who knows how much of that will turn into actual sales, but that's probably more than could have been expected in the silver-lining department.

Report: Spyker considers closure as Saab parent Swedish Auto loses board members

Swedish Automobile NV ('Swan') continues to look to sell Dutch supercar manufacturer Spyker in the wake of the Saab bankruptcy. Swan said it will carry on with the sale despite the fact that the company's supervisory board has just abandoned the crippled enterprise. According to The Washington Post, Swan announced it had begun negotiations to sell Spyker last September to a private equity firm for $41 million. Now the company says proceeds from that sale won't be enough to ensure that Swan can meet its liabilities. If the company can't complete the sale or find extra funding, Swan may go belly up and take Spyker with it.

All three members of the Swan supervisory board resigned due to a "difference of opinion" with the company's CEO, Victor Muller over funding alternatives. Shares in the automaker have since plummeted by around 12 percent. The company's articles of association allow for the holder of a single priority share in the company to name new board members. In this case, that holder is believed to be controversial Russian tycoon Vladimir Antonov.

Click past the break for two press releases on the recent changes at Swan.

Continue reading Spyker considers closure as Saab parent Swedish Auto loses board members

Report: Saab cars headed to crusher, Trollh"attan museum selling off 120 cars

The future hopes of Saab seem to have been crushed under the weight of insolvency, and that's going to translate into reality as about 100 Saab cars lingering on the production lines are cubed up into scrap metal croutons. Unconfirmed rumors suggest that the vehicular carnage will ensue over the next 48 hours as the death rattle from Trollhättan gets ever louder.

Why squish a bunch of orphan cars? Autocar reports that the move is part of the receivership process. Headed for the gallows are cars finished before the money completely dried up, including some 9-4X crossovers and pre-production 9-5 Estates.

While the Saab museum is currently closed and facing an unclear future, Autocar reports a single 9-5 Estate is being kept around for later exhibition. That report would appear to conflict somewhat with word that Saab's 120-car museum collection is being liquidated. According to BringATrailer, bids are due to bankruptcy attorneys by this Friday, January 20, so if you're interested, get going. Brand fan site SaabsUnited has details, too, including how you might be able to have someone scrutinize your would-be purchase in-person.

Even in the land of the midnight sun, and despite the hopes of so many of the brand's fans, it looks like the last flicker of twilight coming from Saab has been nearly extinguished.

Report: Saab to start producing cars again

Sort of. Saabs United reports that the automaker has announced some of its employees will return to complete the vehicles still standing unfinished on the production line. All told, only around 100 units are likely to be produced and then sold off before the brand goes dark for good.

The Swedish automaker finally filed for bankruptcy in December after a tumultuous year that featured production stoppages, court protection and a variety of foreign suitors with wide-ranging plans to save the brand. In the end, however, the Saab flag fell.

Here in the U.S., the company is currently investigating ways to continue to honor warranties in the wake of its implosion.