Youngman Lotus Automobile has made a new bid for Saab
By Andrew, 03 Feb, 2012. 0 Comments
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Sources told Swedish public radio that a new bid for Saab was made by Chinese group Zhejiang Youngman Lotus Automobile. According to the public broadcaster last Thursday, Youngman is offering several billion Swedish crowns. Under Youngman’s proposal, Saab cars will be produced at its plant in Trollhattan, Sweden. Youngman had hoped to invest in Saab before it had gone bankrupt. Last Thursday, Youngman spokesman Hu Ming said that the talks are in the early stages and no decision has been made yet on what assets to purchase.
Hu informed Bloomberg that there are long-term plans for its passenger-car unit to be a "competitive global brand." He said that by buying assets from Saab, it would be closer to reaching this goal. He revealed that representatives from Youngman and Saab had held meetings in Beijing to discuss the acquisition. However, he didn’t provide details about the value or the type of assets being looked at. Youngman was able to gather some cash during the 2008 recession.
This is why it is capable of making acquisitions now. It can be recalled that Saab fell into bankruptcy right after General Motors refused to have Youngman get access to its technology, which is used on Saab cars. Actually, GM technology isn’t used a lot on Saab's PhoeniX platform, which is the base of future models. A buyer would need to make a big investment to complete the development of PhoeniX. In addition, a buyer should get permission from defence and security company Saab AB and truck maker Scania to be able to use the Saab name since they still own the rights to the brand. On Dec. 19, Saab filed for bankruptcy due to cash flow problems. Its parent is Swedish Automobile. [source: Autonews]
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