The journey continues, though on a different tack. Reports say that Swedish Automobile, the company that owns cash-strapped Saab and Spyker Cars, has announced its intent to sell off Spyker to an American private equity firm called North Street Capital for a sum of US$44 million.

Swedish Automobile had early this year said it was going to let go of Spyker, but the name mentioned then was CPP Global Holdings, owned by Russian businessman Vladimir Antonov. A MOU was signed between the two companies in February, but the deal, which was expected to go through, did not; an announcement was made in August saying it had been put on hold.

The deal represents Swedish Automobile’s latest effort to raise capital to turn around Saab, though reports add that the latter may not see the money; proceeds from the sale are to be used to pay off a loan to Antonov. Though the company is being sold, Victor Muller, who is Swedish Automobile CEO, will remain as CEO of Spyker as well. As for the troubled Saab, the journey to being saved continues, but it at least looks like all the time and effort doing so can now be focused on it.

© 2012 Paul Tan's Automotive News. All Rights Reserved.

This story originally appeared on Paul Tan's Automotive News on Tue, 14 Feb 12 08:10:49 +0000.

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The new order follows a visit by senior Pang Da representatives, headed by Chairman Pang Qinghua, to Trollhattan, where Saab’s factory is located. Pang Da is paying in advance for the order, with delivery of the vehicles slated to begin sometime in the third quarter.

The Chinese company has already provided Spyker Cars, which owns Saab, with an advance payment in exchange for Saab cars to be sold in China. It raised nearly US$1 billion in its initial public offering in April, and is looking at taking a 24% equity stake in Spyker at a cost of 65 million euros, for 4.19 euros per share as part of a 110 million euro deal, the reports add. Pang Da is waiting for regulatory approval at home.

© 2012 Paul Tan's Automotive News. All Rights Reserved.

This story originally appeared on Paul Tan's Automotive News on Tue, 14 Feb 12 08:10:49 +0000.

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Cash strapped Saab has a new saviour, just a few days after the deal with Chinese automaker Hawtai fell through. The Swedish brand’s owner, Spyker, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Pang Da Automobile Trade Co Ltd, China’s largest publicly traded automobile distributor with over 1,100 dealerships nationwide.

The MoU includes a strategic alliance consisting of a 50/50 distribution joint venture and a manufacturing joint venture (MJV) for Saab vehicles as well as for an MJV-owned brand (a so-called ‘child brand’) in China. Saab will have up to 50% stake in the MJV, with Pang Da and another manufacturing partner owning the remaining shares.

In return, Saab gets what it needs the most for now – cash. Pang Da will pay 30 million euro for the purchase of Saab vehicles and is expected to make an additional 15 million euro payment for the purchase of more Saab vehicles within 30 days, subject to certain circumstances. The 30 million euro initial payment will give Saab the ability to pay its suppliers and the liquidity required to restart production.

In addition, the Chinese company will take an equity stake in Saab’s parent Spyker for a total amount of 65 million euro at 4.19 per share. This equates to 24% of Spyker, and Pang Da will have the right to nominate a member of the Supervisory Board of Spyker and/or the board of Saab.

Isn’t that quite a bit of purchasing power for a car dealer? Well, Pang Da raised nearly 6.5 billion yuan (over 703 million euro) in its initial public offering last month, so it definitely has the means.

© 2012 Paul Tan's Automotive News. All Rights Reserved.

This story originally appeared on Paul Tan's Automotive News on Tue, 14 Feb 12 08:10:49 +0000.

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Good news for Saab, as Spyker Cars announced that they have paid General Motors off in full. The final payment of $24 million was actually due on the 15th of July 2010 but Spyker has opted to pay the amount two weeks early.

A statement from the company confirms that the source of the funds was internal and has not increased the company’s external debt or caused a share issue problem causing the dilution of existing shareholders. No word on the source of the funds, but all that they’re letting out is the fact that it became available after the acquisition of Saab Great Britain Limited by Spyker on the 31st of May.

This as mentioned before has officially released Saab from the shackles of GM and will help in the realisation of the company’s long term plans. The most recent of all was to sell Spyker supercars such as the C8 Aileron in Saab dealerships.

© 2012 Paul Tan's Automotive News. All Rights Reserved.

This story originally appeared on Paul Tan's Automotive News on Tue, 14 Feb 12 08:10:49 +0000.

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What does Spyker see in Saab? What does it plan to do with the brand from now? How different will the new Saab be? New models? There are tons of questions we can throw at Spyker, the small volume Dutch sportscar maker who succeeded in buying Saab from GM. Well, Spyker has now shed some light on the matter.

Under the new masterplan, Spyker will now be called Saab Spyker Automobiles NV and this entity will operate Spyker and Saab as two separate companies. Saab will be repositioned as an “independent performance-oriented niche car company with an industry-leading environmental strategy”. The Saab Business Plan, drawn up by Saab management over the past ten months, will be executed and enhanced upon.

Saab will have three main model lines: 9-3, 9-5 and 9-4X. There’s a possibility of adding a smaller car line should the “positive development of the smaller car segment continues”. However, the “9-1″ is not included in the Business Plan and will need additional financing for development. Upcoming launches will be the new 9-5 this year, the 9-4X in early 2011 and the new 9-3 in 2012. Saab cars will use their “strong and unique brand heritage” to rival Audi and BMW.

Saab’s Trollhättan facility has full capability in developing complete vehicles and will continue to do so. Calling it one of the most efficient mid-size car plants in Europe, Saab Spyker aims for production and sales volumes to be rebuilt to “recent pre-crisis levels of about 100,000 to 125,000 vehicles”. This figure will include the 9-4X, which will be built in Mexico alongside stablemate Cadillac SRX. Beyond that, on-going collaborations with GM in parts sourcing will continue, but Saab Spyker will gradually reduce dependency on GM in this aspect.

How about Spyker, the car brand? It can benefit from Saab’s extensive global network of 1,100 dealers, its engineering know how and technologies. The two brands will share parts in the future.

© 2012 Paul Tan's Automotive News. All Rights Reserved.

This story originally appeared on Paul Tan's Automotive News on Tue, 14 Feb 12 08:10:49 +0000.

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The AP report also states that a loan of up to 4 billion kronor ($550 million) from the European Investment Bank, backed by the Swedish government and subject to approval by the European Commission is the source of Spyker’s funds. There’s also “Back-up financing” in the form of a 150 million-euro loan ($212 million) from investment firm GEM Global Yield Fund Ltd.

© 2012 Paul Tan's Automotive News. All Rights Reserved.

This story originally appeared on Paul Tan's Automotive News on Tue, 14 Feb 12 08:10:49 +0000.

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If the original December 31 deadline for negotiations holds through, Saab will be officially consigned to history come midnight. But it won’t, as General Motors has extended the deadline for a final offer from Spyker Cars until January 7, Spyker Cars CEO Victor Muller said in a text message. Reuters also reported Muller saying that he beleived there are multiple bidders for Saab.

Meanwhile, in a suprising move Saab will restart some production lines again in January for the new 9-5 and 9-3 Cabriolet. “We have the orders and we have to deliver them as usual. The factory has to continue again,” Saab spokesman Eric Geers said. “We are preparing the wind-down process. At the same time we are open to options, to bids that come in. Therefore the deadline has also been dropped,” he added.

Spyker, an exclusive sportscar maker backed by Russian and Arab money, is keen to buy Saab for its technical resources and distribution network. The loss-making company made an improved bid for Saab on Dec 20, two days after initial talks with GM collapsed. The saga continues…

Source

© 2012 Paul Tan's Automotive News. All Rights Reserved.

This story originally appeared on Paul Tan's Automotive News on Tue, 14 Feb 12 08:10:49 +0000.

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There has been a last minute update with Saab – a very last minute revised offer from Spyker which apparently addresses and eliminates 11 key “issues” which prevented the deal from going through. The new deal also does not require a loan from the European Investment Bank, but Spyker did not reveal details on how it would be alternately financed. Spyker is backed by its largest investor, the Convers Group from Russia.

“We have made every effort to resolve the issues that were preventing the conclusion of this matter and we have asked GM and all other involved parties to seriously consider this offer. We are very confident that our renewed offer will remove the impasse that was standing in the way of an agreement on Friday, and this would still allow us to conclude the deal prior to the expiry of the deadline originally set by GM of December 31,” said Spyker boss Victor Muller today.

The new Spyker offer would only be valid until 5:00 PM EST on Monday. Right now at time of posting it’s almost 1PM EST on Sunday so there’s still a good 28 hours to go before we finally say goodbye to Saab, if the deal does not go through. I really don’t know what these 11 points are but I’m really wondering what they could be, such important details that warranted killing the brand instead of passing it on to new and fresh hands which would at least try to make it work.

© 2012 Paul Tan's Automotive News. All Rights Reserved.

This story originally appeared on Paul Tan's Automotive News on Tue, 14 Feb 12 08:10:49 +0000.

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Looks like its bad news after all for Swedish brand Saab. Just moments ago General Motors, parent company of the brand officially announced that it will gradually shut down Saab, following a breakdown in the negotiations with Spyker. Apparently certain issues arose that both parties believe could not be resolved.

Saab’s sale was previously linked with Koenigsegg but that didn’t go anywhere as well. General Motors then reiterated that it will shut down the brand if it is not sold by end of 2009. Spyker then showed interest and negotiations started but the result is nothing positive.

General Motors’ Europe President Nick Reilly said, “Despite the best efforts of all involved, it has become very clear that the due diligence required to complete this complex transaction could not be executed in a reasonable time. In order to maintain operations, Saab needed a quick resolution.”

“We regret that we were not able to complete this transaction with Spyker Cars. We will work closely with the Saab organization to wind down the business in an orderly and responsible manner. This is not a bankruptcy or forced liquidation process. Consequently, we expect Saab to satisfy debts including supplier payments, and to wind down production and the distribution channel in an orderly manner while looking after our customers,” he added.

The American auto giant assured that it will continue to honor warranties, while providing service and spare parts to current Saab owners around the world. Saab recently sold certain Saab 9-3, current 9-5 and powertrain technology and tooling to BAIC (Beijing Automotive Industry Holdings). General Motors also reiterated that it will concerntrate on its core brands including Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet and GMC as well as Opel / Vauxhall in Europe.

© 2012 Paul Tan's Automotive News. All Rights Reserved.

This story originally appeared on Paul Tan's Automotive News on Tue, 14 Feb 12 08:10:49 +0000.

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Always wanted a Spyker C8 Aileron but wanted it to be a drop top? The boys at Spyker have probably heard your wishes – that’s why they’ve just introduced the new Spyker C8 Aileron Spyder. In the endine bay is the same 4.2 litre Audi V8 in the roofed version producing 400 horsepower and 480Nm of torque at 3,400rpm. Now that’s some massively aggressive tuning, as the standard Audi engine only puts out about 440Nm as standard, which already exceeds the magical 100Nm per litre of displacement figures thanks to the FSI direct injection. Looking at the numbers this is likely based on the version of the 4.2 V8 found in the Audi Q7 instead of the high-revving version in the Audi RS4 and Audi R8. This engine can be mated to either a Getrag 6-speed manual or a ZF 6-speed automatic. More photos available after the jump.

© 2012 Paul Tan's Automotive News. All Rights Reserved.

This story originally appeared on Paul Tan's Automotive News on Tue, 14 Feb 12 08:10:49 +0000.

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This is Spyker’s latest model, the 2009 Spyker C8 Aileron which debuts at Geneva 2009 this week. The first deliveries of the Dutch supercar will begin in May 2009. The new Aileron is longer than the current Laviolette model and is powered by Audi’s 4.2 litre V8 producing 400 horsepower that can give it a 0 to 100km/h acceleration time of 4.5 seconds. The exterior design is nothing extraordinary except it has scissor doors but you seriously have to check out what Spyker has done to the interior, it looks like a medieval King’s bedroom or something, with some parts even reminding me of a King’s crown! Check out the interior photos in the gallery after the jump.

© 2012 Paul Tan's Automotive News. All Rights Reserved.

This story originally appeared on Paul Tan's Automotive News on Tue, 14 Feb 12 08:10:49 +0000.

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