Posts Tagged ‘Hawtai’

Saab being pimped around the world by Victor Muller

May 12, 2011

Swedish Radio has just announced that the agreement between Saab and Hawtai has been suspended and negotiations continue!!!

I have little confidence in Victor Muller and his jet-setting around the world – at Saab’s expense – ostensibly to save Saab, seems more and more like the acts of a charlatan. I have observed earlier that his high-profile chasing of Russian and Chinese money will probably lead nowhere except to prolong the agony for Saab.

Svenska Dagbladet writes:

Saab’s new commercial venture with Chinese Hawtai is at risk of collapse. Saab’s President Victor Muller has already started planning to go to China for new negotiations with previously upset Chinese automakers. But Chinese car companies feel themselves cheated by Muller.

After Hawtai’s delegation visited Saab factory in Trollhättan at the end of last week they were  aghast at how bad the situation was. They then demanded tough renegotiations with Victor Muller. If Hawtai and Saab cannot agree before the deadline for the contract expires tomorrow the deal may be over. 

According to SvD’s industry sources, the agreement between Dutch Spyker, which owns Saab, and Hawtai is only a framework agreement. The agreement that was presented with great fanfare on 3rd May is full of ecape clauses that Hawtai can use if the parties fail to agree. Now Saab’s President Victor Muller is preparing to travel to Beijing. He will try to repair bridges with Chinese companies he has previously been in conflict with. Two relevant companies are the Great Wall Motor company and the government car giant BAIC. … Neither Great Wall nor BAIC have any affection for Muller. “BAIC can consider buying Saab, but they do not like Muller, they know that he has deceived them”, says a key figure in the affair. … BAIC believed they had the rights to the Saab 9-3 when Saab announced that they intended to produce in China with Hawtai. Until mid-April BAIC negotiated for the Saab dealership in China. And till April 30th Great Wall negotiated with Saab. Great Wall is a large and successful private Chinese automaker. But the negotiations ended because Great Wall needed at least one more week to do a due diligence and to have a board meeting, which Muller felt that the bleeding Saab did not have time for. Three days later, on May 3, he presented the Hawtai agreement. Great Wall reacted very negatively and it was not alone. Even private automaker Youngman Automobile Group of Hangzhou reacted sharply. “We were extremely disappointed and upset”, said one of Youngman’s management team . “ We have a written contract with Spyker that they could not negotiate with any other Chinese company before we were done. We took it for granted that they would follow the rules”. 

Spyker had had negotiations ongoing with at least three other Chinese companies, Great Wall, Hawtai and another company. Youngman says they began negotiations for Saab in January. They also signed a letter of intent on cooperation. Youngman Automobile is the only company that has already submitted an application for Saab and an investment permit to the Chinese National Reform and Development Commission, NDRC. 

Victor Muller clearly cannot be trusted and his ethics are highly suspect.

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Posted in Automobiles, Behaviour, Ethics, Sweden, Technology | 4 Comments »

Saab motors being degraded on life support – euthanasia would be better

May 9, 2011

For twenty years the Saab 9000 and the Saab 9.5 were my cars of choice until “old age” has forced me to the blend of comfort and power that a Mercedes represents.

But Saab Motors is now on life support and in the hands of a Victor Muller who resembles a quack doctor extracting every bit he can from a dying patient. Saab’s production has been halted while new transfusions of money are being desperately sought – from very strange and dubious Russian and Chinese sources. The employees continue to hope and their attempts to push back the day of reckoning is perfectly understandable. But the fundamental reality is that not enough Saab cars are bought and it has become too expensive for what it is. The technology is still superb but in the meantime the Saab brand is being dragged through mud and manure.

Euthanasia is preferable to this degradation of the brand.

The Chinese money is unlikely to be forthcoming.

Dagens Industri writes:

Saab’s affaire with Chinese Hawtai has led to questions in the Chinese media. Experts are cautious about the marriage, and it is feared it will be stopped by the authorities. Hong Kong-based Phoenix television station says on its site ifeng.com

“Saab is not Volvo. The established Chinese car companies are not interested in Saab, and therefore this contract has come between Saab and Hawtai, two companies that both are in need to get out of a difficult situation. But what are the chances that the agreement be implemented? “

The Chinese Commission on Development and Reform NDRC, has to approve major transactions between Chinese and foreign companies. “Just as when Tengzhong Heavy Industrial tried to buy the Hummer this agreement between Hawtai and Saab has not been reported to the NDRC in advance, and therefore it has not been approved. It is therefore difficult to say whether this project will be approved. Further, the establishment of a joint venture for the manufacture and sale of Saab Cars is even more difficult.”

In recent times there has been a very strict control on approval of joint ventures for the manufacture of complete cars. “Even the long discussed projects between Changan Mazda Guangzhou Automobile and Mitsubishi, between Changan and PSA Peugeot Citroen, and the proposed Volkswagen plant expansions in Nanhai and Jiangsu are all still waiting for approval. To think that Saab Cars, which does not have as much advanced technology, would be allowed into manufacture and sale in China is less likely.”

Industry observers think that Hawtai’s and Saab’s agreement on strategic cooperation may suffer the same fate as Tengzhongs purchase of Hummer, and ultimately not be anything at all, according to Phoenix. 

Even the South China Morning Post questioned whether authorities would approve the deal.

And in the meantime Saab suppliers have had to warn that they may be forced to lay-off their employees.

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Posted in Automobiles, Engineering, Sweden, Technology | 1 Comment »