Earlier tonight Spyker Cars first announced that they had secured Saab short-term funding and was aiming at restarting the production within a week. A little later Saab announced that they will enter into a strategic partnership with Chinese Hawtai Motor Group. Here's some background info on Hawtai Motor.
Hawtai Motor is owned by Hawtai Group, which is involved in many different businesses including paper making, chemicals, supplying electricity and heating, forestry and also international logistics. Hawtai Group is valued to RMB 13.6 billion (about EUR 1.5 billion) and is owned by business man and entreprenuer Zhang Xiugen. In 2000 Hawtai Motor was founded when the Group saw that the automobile industry was the next big industry developing in China. Hawtai Motor was first known to be a maker of small SUVs. In 2010 the company also started to produce sedans. The company has on several occasions purchased foreign technology, including technology from Korean Hyundai Motors and Italien VM Motori. Hawtai Motor has also had a joint-venture with Hyundai when the company produced Hyundai vehicles for the Chinese market, but this partnership has now ceased.
Hawtai Motor's global headquarters and R&D center is located in Beijing. The company's two plants are located in Rongcheng, Shandong province and Erdos, Inner Mongolia province and have an annual production capacity of 200,000 vehicles and 300,000 engines and 300,000 auto transmissions.
Hawtai Motor Erdos plant
According to the company, its core products are SUVs and passenger cars, and a series of clean diesel engines and auto transmissions.
Sources: Wikipedia, Hawtai Motor web page and China Car Times
