Saab bankrupt
Monday, December 19, 2011 at 05:33PM 
Saab Auto has filed for bankruptcy following its failure to secure funding from a potential Chinese partner. The company has been seeking funding since February, 2010, when GM sold it to Spyker Cars NV. GM continues to hold an interest in Saab through a technology licensing arrangement. GM refused to allow the deal with the Chinese investor in Saab, Youngman, because GM has its own operations in China and could not support a deal that would essentially benefit a competitor.
Saab’s workforce totals about 3,600 employees. Production on the car was halted back in March, 2011, because of disputes with suppliers over non-payment. Since then, the company has struggled, with announcements of funding by various investors and new credit arrnangements to keep it alive.
Saab’s CEO Victor Muller said that he received “two or three” expressions of interest today from potential buyers, and that he’ll refer them to the bankruptcy administrator that the court appoints. “Although this may seem like the end, it is not necessarily so,” he said.
Saab has been building cars in Sweden since 1947, an offshoot of the aircraft manufacturer Svenska Aeroplan AB, which was set up in 1937. The auto business has been separate from the aerospace operations since the 1990s. GM acquired a 50 per cent stake in 1990 and full control in 2000. But the company has not been profitable since 2009.
Since Muller took over in 2010, the company has not met its production targets, with sales totalling just over 31,000 that year, compared with a target of 60,000. Muller had set the target of selling 120,000 vehicles and becoming profitable again by 2012.
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