Saab resumes production under new management

By Matt Brogan | March 23rd, 2010

Saab resumed production at its Trollhattan, Sweden plant yesterday – a month after Dutch firm Spyker Cars took over as owner from General Motors.

Spyker CEO Victor Muller and Saab CEO Jan Ake Jonsson were present at the re-opening of the plant where an estimated 100 Saab 9-5 models will be produced daily.

The bonnet of the first vehicle to roll off the assembly line, a silver 9-5, wore a decal reading “Saab 001 of a new era”.

“Today’s resumption of production is a milestone in the history of our company” said Jan Ake Jonsson, CEO of Saab.

“We are up and running as an independent manufacturer and I am delighted to share the experience on the line alongside our workforce.

“They have shown tremendous commitment to the company and we are all now focused on ramping up production to meet customer demand.”

Saab sold fewer than 40,000 vehicles last year but aims to make up to 60,000 by the end of 2010, and plans to double that figure by the end of 2011.

Following the re-opening, Muller and Jonsson departed Sweden to visit Saab retailers in other countries to spread the message that Saab is back.

Saab has some 3,400 employees in Sweden, most of whom are based at the Trollhattan plant.

GT

Great news, hope there’s a turbo awd new 9-5 areo x comming off that production line soon
http://caradvice.com.au V DUBBED

It’s amazing how america ruined saab , they bought it just to say they have another car maker under there belts and watch the stock market go up, but did nothing else! Smart option is be like Volkswagen AG every car maker they bought put 200% in to it for the car maker to be number one . example Seat, skoda, they where nothing be4 vw came along ! And then look at Saab where back in the day they where a great car be4 GM. Now the Dutch have full control of it you see it back on top.

Calabria

Errrr no, it was doomed when GM got suckered and purchased it off Scania, and frankly it still is.

If it was’nt for the BILLIONS GM pumped into it, it would have sank a decade ago.

I wish them well, they are going to need it!

Anyone want to guess how long before the money runs out and they go under again?

Who in his/her right mind would buy a tarnished SAAB over a equal or even less costly vastley superior Benz, BMW and Lexus?

SergioM [FIAT Group] is right, it will fail again, its simple really, they need to sell HEAPS more volume [they cannot, its not possible] or sell at a more expensive price, that won’t work either as they are already overpriced.

The ONLY solution i see for SAAB is the be owned and made in China or India, and that is who will own it after they go broke in a few years time.

Mark my words, Teldar Paper Inc.

Jig

Ammm. Wrong. The Saab Marque was highly profitable from 1999 and the years before that. To attest to this success Saab built their 3M 9-5s in 1997. They had loyal customers to the brand and is one of few customer base where loyalty was highly regarded.

GM purchased the remaining outstanding Saab Stock in 2000 or thereabouts and not long after that, the negative effects of the take over is starting to show on the cars Saab produced which quite frankly stayed stagnant. Yes there were cosmetic changes here and there to their 9-3 and 9-5 models and that awful 9-7 SUV which was a Trailblazer US SUV rebadged as a Saab just shows that the Saab innovation was very restricted.

Their R&D was not restricted though and you can see 9-x, 9-3x, Aero-X, which all were great cars but none ever made it to production compared to their competitors(BMW, MERC, VW et al).

What Saab needs to do is continue to be innovative and turn those concept cars to reality. There will be people who will buy Saabs because its unique, purposeful, safe and arguably reliable. Building Saabs for the masses is not going to cut it.
t39

Here is an indicator why new 9-5 won’t fail: have a look at euro ncap crash test results of new 9-5 and compare to Benz, BMW and Lexus – you will find Saab’s body intergrity more superior, a better car at least in this respect.

t39

Euro NCAP has had test results (with video and photoes) of the new 9-5 for a few monts now. How is that possible if the first one is being made today? I do not think it is actully the first one being made today, perharps just the first under the new management.

Jon Leong

If you had actually read what is written on the bonnet, or read the article, then you would realise that you’re a blithering ______.

“Saab 001 of a new era”

http://caradvice.com.au V DUBBED

well said Saab 001 new era 2010 and beyond. With dutch engineering i would buy a new saab .

Shak

Mate the crash test vehicles were the protos built for motor shows and testing. The first customers car have started being built from today.

nick

I really hope Saab do well with the new 9-5. It looks great and deserves sales success. It will just be difficult convincing people that the company are in safe hands for the moment.

Hopefully they will advertise it a bit just to let people know it’s there.
Shak

GM was the cause of SAAB’s death simple fact. Its what happens when you dont give any company enough money for what they need to do. In SAAB’s case, they didnt get enough money to make cars because that takes a lot and lot of money, but thats something GM just didnt understand. Im not saying GM was a bad, company, rather they didnt give SAAB what they needed.
Alan

SAAB was so far ahead of the other manufacturers, my 1970 99 had seat heaters and folding back seats and rear heat controls. Yeah they were quirky but in NE Ohio where I lived at the time they couldn’t be beat in the snow. GM had no interest in the cars, nor did they learn anything from the engineers. I see the Ford “eco-boost as a 30 year old SAAB idea. Remember the ’78 Turbo? Good luck SAAB/Spyker, here’s to free-market possibilities and a prosperous future.