A Saab 9-5 on the Trollhattan assembly line.
A “minor glitch” has led to the second shutdown of Saab’s headquarters plant, in Trollhattan, Sweden, in barely a week – suppliers refusing to provide critical parts because, they claim, they haven’t been paid.
Though Saab officials insists they have enough ongoing money to keep going through at least 2012, the latest crisis raises new concerns about the future of the struggling carmaker – which was purchased from General Motors in early 2010.
“We are trying to reach a solution with the suppliers,” asserted Saab spokeswoman Gunilla Gustavs, industry sources fear the situation is only growing worse.
Saab’s Trollhattan plant was briefly shuttered last week but it initially appeared the maker was able to resolve what Chairman Victor Muller described as a “minor glitch” and make the necessary payments.
Though Muller last month told TheDetroitBureau.com Saab had more than $200 million remaining from the loan provided by the European Investment Bank, he also indicated the Swedish company was looking for new investors. That was one reason why parent Spyker Cars sold off its Dutch-based sports car manufacturing operations.
The buyer was Vladimir Antonov, an early partner of Muller’s. The Russian businessman sold out his stake in Spyker when GM said it would not do a deal as long as he was one of the buyers for Saab. But Antonov may yet come back and add a stake in Saab, as well.
Saab’s life as an independent maker got off to a rocky start, the company needing seven weeks to restart assembly operations after Muller and company took control. The Swedish firm claims that was a primary reason why global sales barely topped 36,000 for all of 2010, less than half the 80,000-car breakeven Muller hopes to achieve as quickly as possible.
Sales have been growing, demand in the U.S. rising 500%, year-over-year, in March – but even so, total sales in the critical American market only stood at around 800 for the month.
Saab is hoping to kick-start demand with the upcoming launch of the 9-4X, the company’s first crossover-utility vehicle. A new version of the 9-3, the brand’s bread-and-butter model, is due out next year. That product will be based on the platform previewed at the recent Geneva Motor Show under the concept skin of the Saab PhoeniX show car.
While Muller had hoped to push Saab back into the black this year, he now says that is unlikely before 2012.