P.F. 2012

Dear readers,

despite of the all possible efforts, this year wasn't very good for Saab. But as in normal life there are ups and downs and most of us believe it will be better after a time. So let it be also in this case. A small and shy light of hope is still there. I still somehow believe it's not over.

We all love the good old days and drowning in all the nostalgia. But this time we need to believe in a better future. For Saab it is the PhoeniX. The only chance for our much more than just a cars.

Pour Féliciter 2012

If your're going through hell, keep going. (Winston Churchill)

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Lawyers

These are Anne-Marie Pouteaux and Hans L Bergqvist, currently the receivers of Saab, from the Delphi law firm.

They are now pulling the stitches on what will happen with Saab. Are they ? Let's hope yes. There are too many parties behind the scenes.

They look fine, aren't they ? I'm sure they are aware, how many people are waiting for the results of their work.


In my professional career I had several encounters with lawyers. Some of them were complete assholes. My experience in a global corporation was absolutely clean : the higher level / multiregion, the bigger asshole and the lower chance to find any kind of mutual interest or motivation to move things forward. The guy responsible for us was farting in his chair somewhere in South Africa and needed several calls to do something for a multimillion dollar deal. A Martian.

On the lower level the situation was different. Our regional lawyer was ok. Sometimes extremely slow but I couldn't blame him, the corners of the law are sometimes very foggy. But this guy understood what is going on and if there was a need for him, he was there.

The guy from the small local law firm was the best. He helped me, when I was leading an office with 30 people, where he could. He charged a lot, but did his job for it.

These two guys on the photo are not coming from any of this hyperglobal lawfirms and consulting superheroes where you are only one of thousands of clients and they charge you 5 digit numbers in € for worthless papers. These two seems to come from a smaller agency which is good.

And they even show a bit of emotions, which doesn't happen often !

“We have ourselves looked into the future product lineup and seen the new 9-3 model and the new technology. And we now really understand, in a whole new way, why Victor Muller is so committed and continues working to find a solution. What we have seen has really moved us.” says Anne-Marie Pouteaux.

Their image of Victor Muller that had been formed by the media has changed.

“I have complete respect for him, he has proven himself helpful because he really wants this to work” says Bergqvist.

Let's hope, they tell the truth here and they can help Saab. 

Anne-Marie & Hans, a lot of people rely on you !

source : TTela.se

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How to save the Saab Museum

The wonderful Saab Museum is a part of the package which the receivers of Saab Hans L Bergqvist & Anne-Marie Pouteaux are trying to sell, but in this moment no investor is approved and no agreement is signed.

Therefore there are ongoing efforts and initiatives to save the Saab Museum. The largest is on Saabsunited proposing this to start an association "Club" where all who wants to contribute, has to become a member paying a fee, which looks to be around €50 per year. A reasonable business plan must be in place as well as a temporary management group. Makes sense. The whole proposal can be read here.  Also there is also an e-mail adress, where you can declare your intention to help and so join the effort. I did.

Informations about Saab Museum are saying that annual running costs of the museum are about €650.000 and income from tickets is only a fraction of covering the costs.

Another wonderful fan effort supporting the Saabsunited initiative is the Save Saab Museum blog. It collects all informations around the topic as well as pictures and links. The guy running this blog Rudy Snaidero living in The Netherlands, has a black 9-3 convertible, the next facelift after mine, the great 9-3 sedan aero and an extremely nice Saab 95. A longer term facebook friend.

There is also a Save Saab Museum facebook fanpage collecting fans from all over the world.

So how to help ?
If you are interested to help, the best place to start is to read the Saabsunited post, look at the Save Saab Museum blog and most important write an e-mail to the organisators of the effort. The Saab Museum is worth it.


Btw. you can see my pictures from the Saab Museum from October 2011 here and here.

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A shy light of hope continues ...

Interesting things are going on now at the bankrupted Saab.

Some days ago, there was a turkish delegation in Trollhattan reported, interested in Saab. I don't know who exactly is it. According to wikipedia Turkey produced 1,124,982 motor vehicles in 2010, ranking as the 7th largest automotive producer in Europe [source]. There could be interest in some kind of joint venture like f.e. Otosan is.

Another interest came from India. Saabsunited reported, that there is an indian company, "based in India but acts on a world-wide basis with much more than 100’000 employees worldwide. They are a multi-billion dollar company, that work on multiple fields such as energy, logistics, real estate and of course within the aerospace and automotive industry.". After 24h it turned out, that it is Mahindra. Their strategy definitely is to play a role in the worldwide automotive industry. Their personal vehicles product portfolio doesn't look hi-tech at all, but exactly this would be the reason for interest in Saab.

Father of one of my friends drives a Mahindra Pick-up (together with Suzuki Samurai) in the forests and hills of northern Slovakia, in some places an untouched area. It's saying very basic but it does exactly what it should do. It's reliable, goes through terrain and is easy to fix.

The Mahindra story is confirmed by Bloomberg and I've seen basically the same content on the czech news tv channel CT24 (a good one).

At the end I'd like to cite Saabsunited again from this link, which says a claim from the receivers of Saab after bankruptcy Hans L Bergqvist & Anne-Marie Pouteaux :

” The contacts we have had has so far has been positive and gives good hope for alternatives and also combinations of solutions that could result in a continued operation to some degree. Leading to a purposeful dismantling of the bankruptcy operation.” 

Disregard how careful this statement sounds, the whole thing is very serious and they would never state this without having a reasonable agreements or data on the background.

Therefore the shy light of a hope still glows ... not only for me and all the fans around the globe but mainly for the city of Trollhattan which in case of total end of Saab would suffer extremely ...

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Merry Christmas and all the best in 2012

This year the Christmas gift for all Saab fans wasn't very nice. It looks like Saab is dead, we will see how the situation will evolves in the next days. Although one slovak wording is saying "Nothing lasts forever", this was a hard hit.

I'm not too much afraid about servicing my Saab. Saab Parts, as a separate company runs fine and is profitable. Spare part delivery times will be longer. I dont plan to buy something in advance, mainly because I don't know what. Hot topic were keys : i have two and both in very good condition.

Where a bit fear comes is the service work. But still there are many Saabs around and the people servicing them don't dissapear, as well as the Saab specific tools, like Tech 2. Let's see, what authorised service will mean.

I've read feelings from people whining "what I have bought". I admit, first day after the bankruptcy declaration I had simillar feelings. But afterwards everything came to normal. I really love the car, continue to going driving just for fun and relax. The soul is there and will remain. Maybe even I will upgrade the baby to make it even more attractive for me. Thinking about Hirsch interior stuff. Will Hirsch survive ? Hopely. Best wishes to St.Gallen.

Finally I've found a new job. It will be a challenging one but for a very good company and a job I did before, so I will not have to start on a green field. Hopely I learn new stuff. The only thing which is sad, that I will choose a new company car, hoped for 9-5 SC but unfortunately this will stay only a dream. Most probably a Volvo. Less soul but still nice and reliable.

Well, last year wasn't very good, therefore it is good possible the next will be much better. I wish all the best to all Saab fans, readers, friends, everybody. And of course enjoy the rest of the Christmas.

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Sad but true ...

source : facebook

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Saab worldwide meetings 14. - 15. January 2012

In a very similar spirit as the Save Saab convoys, there will be Saab enthusiasts meetings around the world. Organised at Saab fanclubs all around. They will take place on 14. and 15. January, which is Saturday and Sunday.


There was a website created especially for this event. You can find under http://www.outside-saab.com. The site will be constantly updated with places of the events.

There is also a facebook event, a twitter account, a possibility to download posters : A4 and A3. [pdf] as well as possibility to buy stickers @ saabsunited. 

Why ? The organisers are writing on their website :

As we all know, the current owner of Saab had to stop the voluntary reconstruction and file for bankruptcy. This news did hit those working for the company very hard. For them Saab is their daily bread, for us, it is a brand we all love and support.

 

And that is the reason why we are urging you all to yet again show your support for the brand. Saab may be in very deep and murky waters, there is still an odd chance for it to survive. 

We need to show our support for the brand, we need to show everybody in the world the brand is alive and well. 

 

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A shy light of hope ... GM's licensed technolgy in Saab

This might sound too enthusiastic and close to naive, but even after declared and approved bankruptcy of Saab, there is a very small chance that "things" are not finished yet.

Rachel Pang, the CEO of Youngman, the hottest prospect in buying Saab is today in Trollhattan and is trying to solve the situation.


What would mean if Youngman would buy Saab ? The biggest hurdle is GM which protects it's copyrights / technology licences. One option is to try to go without them in the race for prosperity. So where are they and what for are they ?

- they are in the new 9-5. That would mean a full stop.
- the same applies for 9-4X
- for some (for me unknown) reasons it doesn't apply for 9-3 (sedan, combi) and 9-3X
- it doesn't apply for the new PhoeniX platform or the 10% of technologies can be replaced by others

So that would mean "only" 9-3 and development of PhoeniX into a finished product, which sources say would take 1-2 years. That wouldn't be a bad start !

One very interesting text came in discussions on saabsunited.com coming from a french forum. It describes where the GM technologies are in Saab. It's rather a sad reading by finding out, that many of them were developed in Saab, but registered as GMs intellectual property :

1) The 9-4X is the basis of the Cadillac SRX, and not vice versa. The platform was developed by an engineer at Saab, the well known Peter Dörrich. The patents are owned by GM. Regarding the 9-5, most of the technical innovations also used in the Opel Insignia, and in some Chevrolet and Cadillac, are the result of work of engineers and Mat, Fägerhag and Stefan Rundquist, researchers at Saab.
2) The drive system (XWD) is a collaboration between the Swedish Haldex (which is to sell its transmission to the U.S. BorgWarner) and Saab, the patent is owned by GM.
3) Technology Biopower (flexfuel) is also an invention of Saab Powertrain, the brilliant engineer Kjell Bergström from Saab. Patents (including Trionic, Direct Ignition, etc.). Unfortunately owned by GM.
4) The developing hybrid powertrains are also the result of Saabs brains, including Tommy Lindholm. Patents owned by GM.
5) The Ecotec engine that equips some Saab, Cadillac, Chevrolet and Opel is the result of collaboration between a research department Saab, and GM Europe design office, which include Opel. Patents owned by GM.
6) The design of internal parts and body come from the office of Saab design, by Simon Padian, Anthony Lo (now Renault), etc.. Patents owned by GM.
This list is not complete.

Sad reading, isn't it ? This seems to be just a part of the things developed by Saab, owned by GM and one of the main reasons, why Saab is now bankrupt. 

Let's see what happens.

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Change of traffic rules in Austria : emergency corridor on the highway

This is a heads-up for everyone driving to Austria. After 1.1.2012 there is a change in austrian traffic rules.

In principle it says, that if you are on a highway and see, that a traffic jam will come, you have to create an emergency corridor (Rettungsgasse) for rescue cars immediately.

Until now, the corridor was in the parking/emergency lane, but this was often jammed through cars with failure or around arrival/departure lanes. This is the main reason for the change.

The fines for not respecting this are pretty high, from 726€ up.

There is a multilanguage document [pdf, 2.5MB] explaining the new rule. Download it here.

The picture and video below explaining the system :

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Saab files for bankruptcy ...

The newest press release of Saab is very sad. Today Saab filed for bankruptcy with the District Court in Vänersborg, Sweden. The court will decide very shortly.

This happened after several attempts to configure a deal with the chinese companies Pang Da and Youngman as well as other bodies, which would fund a restart of Saab in exchange of ownership rights in Saab. All attempts were vetoed by GM, which holds copyrights and patents for many technologies used in the current Saab models.

The saga lasts since april 2011, when Saab was forced to stop production and on the road were many ups and downs. Now we are in the same situation than 2 years ago, when GM, the former owner of Saab, decided to close the brand.

But it wasn't closed, so there is still a very small chance, that this is a part of the plan. Very very small. More a desire. The costs to re-run Saab are astronomical, but even in that position there were possibilities to do that. All of them were smashed down by GMs veto, which clearly protects its interest on the chinese market.

It seems, that they weren't ready to approve anything which could lead to a Saab restart in chinese hands.

Hate GM ? Not necessarily, but buy a car from them ? Not necessarily.

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Headlight bulbs change

I'm quiet in the saabism blog in the last weeks, unfortunately I have to solve important things for living, so not too much time and motivation left to write. Ups and downs.

One thing, best tagged as "practical" happened last week. One of my xenon headlights started to change color from white to pink/red and the light intensity got lower. That is usually a sign of soon death. But not always you can change it immediately for various reasons. (weekend, no time slot in the service, no bulbs on stock etc). In my case I noticed it one evening and the next day in the early morning I had to drive 330km to other city.

So how long it lasted ? From being absolutely sure the light changed from white to pink, it took around 5-6 hours of functioning / drive to the definitive end.

When I came to the service (in the other city - Prague) the headlamp lighted somehow. After restarting the engine for going into the service garage it was dead. Good timing.

The service work was about 30 minutes : changing for Philips D2S, setting up & calibration. It is recommended to change both headlights because they have to have the same color and intensity of the light. Life expectation : 2400 hours. It happened after 4 years and 85.000 km of the Saab 9-3 convertible.

So advice : if your xenon lights are changing color, go to change them as soon as possible. You don't have too much time.

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