Saab: Looks to past as future blurs

A modern successor to the Saab 9-2 (left) is on the drawing board. Photo / Supplied

The next-generation Saab 9-3 sedan may have a different name when it appears early in 2013, although the carmaker's future outside major markets is still up in the air.

Tim Colbeck, president of Saab Cars North America, has said there was a chance Saab might move away from the 9-3 badge and adopt a name for its successor that draws from the brand's heritage, although he added that no decisions about the name had been made.

Colbeck said the next-generation 9-3 would be an "edgy" reinterpretation of design cues used by the carmaker in the past. He declined to be more specific.

A successor to the Saab 9-2 produced in the late 1940s through the mid-1950s is also back on the drawing board after the Swedish company was able to secure a new round of funding from investors.

"It wasn't in the business plan prior to the new investment, and now it is," said Colbeck, adding that CEO Victor Muller and Jason Castriota, Saab's executive design director, were reviewing about five designs for a modern interpretation of the 9-2.

Saab plans to complete the 2012 model year changeover for its current vehicles in the US later this year. The 2012 Saab 9-4X crossover, currently on sale as a 2011 model, will debut in October. Model-year 2012 versions of the Saab 9-5 sedan, 9-5 Sport Combi wagon and 9-3 are all also likely in October.

Colbeck said Saab was on track to resume production at its vehicle assembly plant in Trollhattan, Sweden, on August 29.

Saab has been forced to suspend output since April because suppliers have withheld shipments pending payments. But it paid its white-collar workers in Sweden in full last week.

Colbeck said Saab owner Swedish Automobile was talking to potential investors. "There are talks going on," he said. "Real and substantive talks."

He declined to name the investors but said Saab was ready to take on the challenge of relaunching its brand.

Reports in Sweden say that a big American investor was planning to go into Saab as a part-owner.

Fears over the survival of Saab, rescued from closure early last year, have ebbed and flowed as Swedish Automobile chases funding.

Saab was one of the victims of the post-2008 automotive industry crisis that forced its then parent, General Motors, into a decision to close the business down.

Swedish Automobile, then called Spyker Cars NV, put a rescue package together in early 2010 with help from European funding and guarantees from the Swedish Government.

Some European suppliers are preparing to demand that Swedish Automobile be declared bankrupt, hoping the threat will pressure the carmaker into paying debts, according to an automotive industry group.

Lars Holmqvist, head of the European Association of Automotive Suppliers, said that Spanish car panels maker Matrici S. Coop was preparing a bankruptcy request, claiming it is owed $3.5 million.

Saab last month fended off a demand for one of its units to be declared bankrupt after reaching a settlement with SwePart Verktyg AB.

"Some companies are waiting and having no answer. Now, some have heard that other companies have been paid partially. Then they are getting very upset," Holmqvist said. "They realise there is no other way but to try to demand bankruptcy because obviously then Saab pays."

He said he had been contacted by some German companies that claimed they were owed more than $8.7 million each. They, too, were looking to start the process to demand bankruptcy, he said.

Saab spokesman Eric Geers said: "We know the situation we are in. We are working hard to resolve this and to get more stable financing in place."

Saab's reappearance in a small market like New Zealand is still unlikely.