Spyker Cars will soon name local distribution partners for Saab cars in China, Russia and Brazil. According to Spyker CEO Victor Muller, it aims to drive up Saab sales in the fast-growing and heavily populated BRIC economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China, where incomes are rapidly rising along with the number of car owners. Saab considers Audi, BMW and Mercedes Benz to be its main rivals in these markets. He said that it’s likely that Spyker will announce the appointment of local partners to distribute Saab models in the Chinese and Russian markets in January, while a local distribution partner for Brazil will probably be named in the first quarter. Muller
said that in China, the company first wants to build a distribution network composed of a dealer that imports cars and then when it reaches 10,000 units, it can set up its own manufacturing. Muller revealed that Spyker already has a local partner it is seriously considering for the Chinese market and will make the announcement this January.
However, he estimates that it will take three to four years more before it could reach enough sales to start local production. He added that since the car to sell in China is the 9-3, and will enter production in 2012, the earliest that it can be done is 2013.
