Earlier this week we learned that Saab can not pay its supplier bills until its Russian sugar daddy, Vladimir Antonov, gets Swedish government approval to buy into the company that owns it. Now, suppliers are speaking out, telling Automotive News [sub] that the brand and its owner, Spyker Cars, owes “tens of millions” of Swedish crowns (10m crowns equals about $1.6m). A representative of the Swedish suppliers association explains
There is a perception in the media that there are discussions on extended credit times and such. But it is not about that, it is about the fact that Saab must pay its bills. If they cannot sort out their financial situation, things look very bleak.
With a “desperate” hunt for investment underway, Saab’s only hope appears to be Antonov, who says he has $71.5m to invest, an amount that should cover the $4.7m+ supplier debts. Meanwhile, work at Trolhattan has been stopped for at least the rest of the week. But even if Antonov gets Swedish government approval to invest, another, equally dire problem appears to be materializing: a dispute over the use of the name “Saab.”
Prices for the Saab 9-5 SportCombi have leaked in Sweden, and according to Autobild, the wagon version actually costs €114 less than the sedan. Whether they’ll make the same offer outside of Sweden isn’t clear… but then neither is anything about Saab’s future. And instead of haranguing the poor Swedes about the questionable financial sense of this decision, let’s just agree that desperate times call for desperate measures. If nothing else, Saab’s wagon-centive sets it apart from the industry’s business-as-usual.
Yesterday, Spyker CEO Muller said everything is peachy. Saab “is not on the verge of collapse,” Muller said to a rapt audience of reporters, while, as Reuters snidely remarked, “Saab was presenting new vehicles already shown at the Geneva auto show.” Muller promised that “a small glitch does not change the fact that cars are being made,” and that Saab would have the widest and newest range in its history next year. This year? No problem at all. Just that output would be more weighted towards the second half of the year. Which in itself would be a miracle, and outpacing the competition, because in Europe, auto sales are more weighted towards the first half of the year. This was yesterday. Now is today. Read More >
So, you want something with four-doors, blazing speed and sharp handling? Germany has got you covered. Photos have leaked of the next generation of Teutonic supersedans, giving an insight into a new wave of four-door performance. First up is the BMW M5, which is set to debut at the forthcoming Shanghai Auto Show, displaying the 560 HP sedan in remarkable detail. In response, Audi has let its own turbo-V8 luxury sedan be snapped in testing, even though the S6 shown here won’t be a true M5 competitor, offering “only” around 440 HP. A twin-turbo version making an M5-rivaling 555 HP is said to be waiting for the RS6, as well as a Bentley Continental GT V8. [Gallery after the jump]
From the sounds of a story at the Freep, both GM and Ford appear to get ready for bigger losses from Europe. Led by fanfares inflated by their hometown paper, Ford and GM seem to embark on a PR campaign to soften the blow at home:
“Europe was GM’s only unprofitable global region in 2010, extending the company’s streak of years in the red there to 11, with a $1.8-billion European operating loss. GM is hoping to break even in Europe this year before restructuring charges.”
(It’s the restructuring charges that will be the humdinger. Even if kept as non-recurring items, they will hit the bottom line in a big way.)
“Ford unexpectedly lost money in the fourth quarter in Europe, losing market share because it refused to match competitors’ incentives. It made a profit on European operations for all of 2010, albeit just $182 million of its $6.6-billion companywide profit for the year.”
And who’s to blame? The customer of course. The Freep’s informers see a gaping perception gap that is widening every day: Read More >
Ford has made it clear that a 250 HP “ST” version of its 2012 Focus will be making its way to America, hopefully opening a new chapter in Ford’s US-market hot hatch history. The perfect followup? How about a 180 HP Fiesta ST, featuring the new 1.6 liter Ecoboost engine? Autocar says its coming to the UK by the end of this year, and Ford is already teasing its arrival with the release of a “warm” Fiesta, the 134 HP S1600 (above). There’s no word on US availability yet, but if Ford’s going to bring us the Focus ST, why not its baby cousin? With the Fiesta getting plenty of play in rally racing and, far more importantly, Ken Block videos, this seems like an easy call. If nothing else, it will at least look like the bargain of the lifetime compared to the Fiat 500 EV.
Except for the faithful at Saabsunited.com, there aren’t too many left who are convinced of Saab’s success. Now, there is one less. Dubbed as “the last Swede,” Saab’s CEO Jan Ake Jonsson handed in his resignation after leading the company through what must have been six very stressful years. Read More >
Renault has had quite a bit of success in recent years with its budget-brand Dacia, prompting Peugeot-Citroen to reach back into its bag of abandoned brands for a name to put behind its own low-cost car offerings. Having briefly considered the Talbot name, it seems that PSA has settled on something a little more modern and relevant to low-cost offerings: Simca. Which makes quite a bit of sense, if you think about it. Rather than naming a budget brand after the makers of hugely expensive pre-WWII luxury cars (a trick Chrysler tried once already with the Horizon), PSA can reference one of the mostinfluential (if forgotten) small-car brands. At least, it can if it deals with that most modern of problems, the patent troll. AutoBild reports
Joachim W. “Simca” signed in September 2007 at the German Patent and Trademark Office as a trademark for the class “cars”. Then a cancellation request was made - probably by Peugeot. The French made at least one attempt to register Simca on 2 June 2008, whereupon Joachim W. submitted an application for cancellation.
It’s not clear what claim Mr Simca might have on the name, as SIMCA stands for Société Industrielle de Mécanique et Carrosserie Automobile.
The modern Crossover family tree can be traced (aesthetically, anyway) back to three basic roots: the “light SUV” (Jeep Cherokee, Toyota 4Runner), the “pure crossover” (Lexus RX300 and endless copies) and the “jacked up AWD wagon” (Outback, Volvo Cross Country). In fact, one might even posit a Hegelian dialectic to explain the evolution from:
Light SUV (thesis) -> “jacked up AWD wagon” (antithesis)-> “pure crossover” (synthesis)
Well, leave it to Europe to screw up a perfectly good theoretical construct. It seems that the continent that gave us dialectics is going back to what was always the most interesting branch of the crossover family, the “jacked up AWD wagon.” Volkswagen seems to be responsible for a lot of the re-exploration of Subaru’s now-nearly-abandoned niche, with a CrossPassat coming to European markets next year, a possible “Skoda Superb Scout” being weighed as well, and an Audi A4 Allroad already on sale. But perhaps the most intriguing of this new class of neo-Outbacks comes from Peugeot, which is testing a leggy 508 diesel hybrid wagon that drives its rear wheels solely by electric power.
The whole BMW-goes-front-drive thing has come as somewhat traumatic news for a number of Roundel fans, and at first blush, you’d think this camo’d BMW i3 would only stoke these fans’ fears. At least with its camo on, it’s a funky, decidedly un-BMW-like shape, all stubby nose and high, rounded roof. Think MINI meets Audi A2, and you’re getting there.
But unlike the other i-branded BMW that’s been winter testing, the i3 immediately identifies itself as an heir to its brand’s sporting legacy, kicking out its rear end in the Swedish snow. That’s right: despite the MINI-esque looks, the i3 is no front-driver, as its BMW-designed and built electric motor sits under the trunk and drives the rear wheels. Add a carbon fiber reinforced plastic body and possibly a range extender to the mix, and you’ve got one compelling (if expensive) little subcompact, rear-drive EV proposition…. and it looks like it’s a hoot in the snow. The i3 may not help BMW fans get over their front-drive phobia, but it should help bust the perception that EVs have to be mundane.
Volkswagen’s long flirtation with Fiat’s Alfa Romeo brand has hit a few obstacles recently, as Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne has been adamant that he won’t sell its money-losing brand to his European rival, saying
As long as I am CEO of Chrysler and Fiat, Mr [Ferdinand] Piech will never have Alfa Romeo. It’s hands-off. I told him. I will call him and I will email him. I’m not the one who bought Seat. He’s the one who bought it. I don’t know if he can [fix it], but he needs to try.
Indian automaker Tata had planned to enter the European market with an upscale version of the world’s cheapest car, known as the Tata Nano Europa. Instead, it seems Tata will hold off on its European conquest until it develops this, the Tata Pixel, a shortened (112 inch-long, 1,653 lbs!), coupe-ified Nano. Autocar reports
Group chairman Ratan Tata says the car will partly replace the previously proposed Nano Europa, once its concept-only swing doors are replaced by two conventional doors and engineering of instrumentation and controls is completed.
Don’t expect the gullwing doors or iPad-alike instrumentation to make it into production, but the Pixel will remain a four-seater and features improved handling and NVH characteristics compared to the Nano. What’s not clear is whether the Pixel’s hyper-rotating wheels will make it to market, and whether they would be likely to cause an accident in the event of a steering overcorrection. Meanwhile, despite a lingeringfire problem, the Nano is now selling around 9k units per month in India, and Malaysia is on tap as the vehicle’s first export market. Whether Tata can leverage the underpinnings of its radical low-cost car for a competitive mature-market offering is still very much an open question…
Reuters reports that Saab/Spyker partner Vladimir Antonov has questioned whether Saab will hit its ambitious 80k unit global sales goal this year, saying
This means that the company could face capital problems
Thelocal.se provides a little more detail quoting Antonov as saying
I’m not involved in how the company is run so I don’t have access to the numbers. But according to earlier versions of the business plan, they have to sell 80,000 cars this year to stay with the plan. From my point of view, I think that’s a bit too optimistic.
If the goal isn’t reached it would be nice for Saab to have €50-70 million ($69-97 million) as a little something extra to lean on. We’re ready to provide that money if we’re allowed to do so by the [European Investment Bank].
Antonov went on to say that bringing in outside investors would be difficult and that if the EIB loan fell through, something he does not foresee, Saab could be bankrupt “in days.” Needless to say, Saab’s Chief Optimism Officer Victor Muller didn’t take kindly to Antonov’s remarks and is firing back in the press.
Why don’t more mass-market brands offer diesel engine options? After all, the evidence suggests that the passenger cars that offer diesel options enjoy a healthy take rate for oil-burner engines. So would a brand like Ford ever consider bringing diesels to its US offerings? According to the Blue Oval’s Product Boss Derrick Kuzak, the answer is absolutely not. And, according to Automotive News [sub] he’s got an interesting reason for nixing a US-market diesel option.
With rising petroleum prices, one European journalist asked if Ford planned to alter its powertrain strategy and sell cars with diesel engines in the United States. The journalist mentioned that some European automakers offer diesels in the United States.
Kuzak said Ford “could easily bring diesels to the U. S. market.”
Then he quickly added: U.S. “customers, I think, are pragmatic.”
Too pragmatic for improved efficiency? Huh? Read More >
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