Updated 22:22
One of the bidders on the Saab bankruptcy estate is Chinese Youngman. Earlier the company has confirmed placing an indicative bid, and now Youngman's spokesman Johan Nylén confirms that the Chinese company has also placed a definite bid on Saab.
"There is a number of bidders left. Youngman's interest remains. We are still one of the bidders," Johan Nylén told Dagens Industri.
Johan Nylén would however not comment on how much Youngman is prepared to pay for Saab, but he did say how much Youngman believes a restart of Saab will cost.
"To restart the production we estimate the cost to be SEK 10 billion," Nylén said.
Furthermore, Nylén dismissed rumors claiming that Youngman is only interested in acquiring Saab for the technology to be used in vehicle production in China.
"That is absolutely not correct. The entire business plan is based on production taking place in Trollhättan," Nylén said.
"Realistically, a fairly slow start and then go up into larger volumes," he continued. The production would be of the current Saab 9-3 and possibly Lotus cars, while the technology for the next generation Saab cars is being finalized.
Nylén also said that Youngman is prepared to invest SEK 20 billion over a period of five years in order to implement their business plan for Saab.
In addition to Youngman, also Indian Mahindra has been mentioned as a possible bidder. When commenting on other bidders, Nylén said that Youngman believes that Mahindra is in fact one of the bidders.
"It would be Mahindra. But Youngman is probably the only one of the bidders who have the ambition to have continued production in Trollhättan."
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