#saab

Saab‘s parent, Swedish Automobile (formerly Spyker Cars), announced that an unnamed Chinese company will purchase 582 Saab cars at a total value of 13 million Euros ($18.4 million) in order to help the automaker pay wages to its employees and part of the money it owes to suppliers.

Union employees working for Saab are growing impatient after the automaker said it could not pay wages to its workers because it had not yet obtained necessary short-term funding. The unions have threatened legal action that could end in bankruptcy for the automaker. The IF Metall and Unionen groups will send a formal demand for payment this Monday if their members have not received their unpaid wages. “Then the company has seven days to react,” IF Metall representative Veli-Pekka Saikkala told Reuters. “After that there are two alternatives. Either we see that the situation can be solved, or we demand that Saab is put into bankruptcy.”

Saab’s ongoing drama will remain at a standstill for another two weeks. Saab’s Trollhattan factory in Sweden, has not produced vehicles for most of April and May because of issues regarding paying suppliers. The factory bounced back in late May, but was quickly forced to stop production when part supplies ran out yet again.

It seems every time the company starts production, something will cause the production line to stop, whether its money related or parts supply related, and often both.

Saab halted production yesterday at its Trollhattan plant in Sweden after operations were disrupted by problems with supplier deliveries. Saab resumed production on May 27 after shutting down from April to May due to non existent operating capital. Suppliers became worried about receiving payment and stopped supplying the Swedish plant.

Saab will finally gain some stability, as the company will resume production tomorrow at its Trollhattan, Sweden, assembly plant.

As part of Spyker’s capital-raising efforts for its ailing Saab brand, the Dutch automaker is entering into talks with Chinese automotive company Pang Da, and will have to rename itself as Swedish Automobile N.V. as part of the deal.

Vladimir Antonov is a man on a mission. Namely, he wants a sweet piece of the pie known as  Svenska Aeroplan Aktiebolaget; but the forces that conspire against him include the Swedish government and federal investigators. So you think any support he gets against his powerful foes would be a credit to him, right?

Saab has been surrounded by general corporate uncertainty and financial trouble over the last few weeks. The failed deal with China’s Hawtai Motor and Saab’s $100 million payment mishap with its parts suppliers have taken a toll on the Swedish automaker however the company may have a second chance.

Since “All My Children” and “One Life To Live” have been canceled, soap opera fans can turn to Swedish car-firm Saab for their weekly dose of drama.

Somewhere, somehow, we think Samuel Hubinette may have something to do with this crazy Viper-powered Saab 9-3. Hubinette, known as “The Crazy Swede” and campaigned a Dodge Viper in many successful bouts of tandem drifting in his days, so it’d only make sense that this Saab 9-3 with a Viper V-10 would have to do with him. But alas, it has absolutely nothing to do with the drifter and apparently there’s a crazier Swede out there.

Saab appears to have yet again found a savior in China, announcing a joint venture with Pangda Automobile Trade Co., the largest distributor of vehicles in the world’s largest car market.

It might start to be a real sob story over at Saab, if the Swedish automaker can’t find a partner to help finance operations and help get production restarted. News of a most recent deal with Chinese automaker Great Wall might be little more than a rumor, with the Associated Press now reporting a Great Wall representative is denying any talks between the two automakers.

With the apparent collapse of the deal between Hawtai and Spyker, the Dutch parent company of Saab is now courting Chinese automaker Great Wall in an apparent bid to find a partner for the ailing Saab brand.

Poor Saab, it just can’t seem to catch a break. After negotiations with several Chinese automakers, it appeared that a deal with Hawtai Motor Group had been reached. Now that deal has collapsed.