On Monday the deal where Chinese companies Youngman and PangDa acquires Saab was set back when General Motors announced that the proposed deal would see GM ending all technology agreements with Saab. But the Chinese have not given up. When Rachel Pang from Youngman spoke to TTELA she assured the newspaper that they still want Saab.
"Of course we do. If you are afraid you can not succeed in the business world. Difficulties will always exist You just have to find solutions, and not just give up," Rachel Pang told TTELA.
And Saab's chief of purchases, Kjell-Åke Eriksson, believes that GM is not the biggest problem.The biggest problem is time and money. According to Eriksson, it is realistic that Saab is a profitable company in 2014, but this requires that the production is started and the company is given the chance of a future.
"The risk is that we can not reach a final agreement. The approval of GM, the National Debt Office and the European Investment Bank and the other parties is still missing," Eriksson said to TTELA.
He believes that GM's refusal to sell technology under the current agreement with the Chinese not necessarily means an end to the deal.
"In the long run we will be independent of GM and we have a very appealing expertise, safety knowledge and the Phoenix platform. The problem is that if we do not get GM on board now we will lose time and money."
One reason that the Chinese companies could be interest even without the technology agreements with GM is how far behind the Chinese are the Western World concerning development of technology.
"If they look at how much time it has taken us to develop it [Phoenix platform] they will see how much time they could save by buying our technology."
But the question is if the Phoenix platform is so attractive that the Chinese would be interested in a deal if only the Phoenix is included.
"Only the Chinese companies can answer that," Eriksson said.
A blog fueled by enthusiasm about Saab, the greatest car company between the North and the South Pole. And their cars, which probably is the only cars that would start on a cold and crispy South Pole morning.
