SAAB may be saved by Chinese-Japanese group

SAAB may be saved by Chinese-Japanese group

Swedish carmaker Saab could be seeing the light at the end of a very dark and cold tunnel. Automotive News Europe has picked up a story by Bloomberg that a group led by a Chinese energy company and a Japanese venture-capital firm has placed a bid to buy Saab.

The two main parties in the group are National Modern Energy Holdings, a Chinese company that builds and owns power plants, and Sun Investment, a Japanese firm that focuses in high-tech environmental projects. There are other participants in the group, but these remain unidentified.

The group has formed a company called National Electric Vehicle Sweden AB with the sole purpose of acquiring Saab’s assets. The group declined to comment further on the business plans of the new company. Karl-Erling Trogen, former Volvo AB executive, is the chairman for the newly-formed company.

This is not the first time that Saab has attracted bidders. Youngman, the Turkish government and Mahindra & Mahindra have previously shown interest. However, no company has yet succeeded in winning over the Swedish belle.

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Chris Ng

Chris Ng believes that all cars are made equal, and each one has its own unique story to tell. As such, the ex-advertising man is here doing what he truly loves, which is authoring the allegories and anecdotes of automobiles. Having served time in a motoring mag, he believes there's nothing more sublime than keeping the pedal floored and things burbling in top gear.

 

Comments

  • Yes finally. Long live the turbo kings!

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  • a.car.fan on May 29, 2012 at 3:00 pm

    Save SAAB!

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  • get DRB Hicom to buy SAAB….

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  • Josh Ling on May 30, 2012 at 12:18 am

    Got use meh?? Later on they might have to sell the company again, what for?? Just look at Spyker lah, after buying Saab, even the company itself went into trouble and bankrupt if i am not mistaken….and let’s not forget Saab still have something called “G+M” behind to kacau-kacau…..

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  • Josh, In any case, Spyker totally dropped the ball handling SAAB.
    Struggling car-maker it was once it got dumped by GM and before, but yet when Spyker picked it up they decided to go with GM designs, and charging beyond premium. Horrible strategy, as it left SAAB at the mercy of GM if they ran into trouble again, and those who chose not to see that coming ought to have been high blind or stupid. The Automobile market in the U.S. was horrible throughout this transition for SAAB, so they had a tough time rebuilding their image and niche in the marketplace after GM dumped them.
    As a SAAB owner though, the worst pill to swallow in this is that I am hoping for SAAB success, but I also know the only way SAAB continues is to abandon the GM line completely, and that leaves any newer SAAB GM cars I wanted to buy off my shopping list, and then my older SAAB vehicle possibly without mechanical support. That’s why I wish those Jackasses who took over would have considered the implications of making any grand mistakes once Spyker took over. They should have lowered the prices dramatically across the board for all GM designed SAAB’s, appealing existing and new buyers to the brand, while morphing GM out of the designs and building completely native SAAB branded vehicles. After getting dumped, do you normally dig in with your ex for the long/short-haul? Bad decisions and over-confidence, and pride ($) were not going to save SAAB…should have taken a more humble approac

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