The Swedish automaker Saab, has left the ownership of Gneral Motors, more than a year ago and is now in a near to death situation. It has temporarily shut down its production lines as it is negotiating with its suppliers who have gone unpaid.
Saab is hoping to revive ties with a Russian businessman whose participation had been a deal breaker during the negotiations when the Spyker purchased Saab from General Motors. The Russian investor, Vladimir Antonov, chairman of Snoras Bank is willing to invest up to $21 million in return he expects nearly thirty stake in Saab but this deal requires an approval from Swedish Government. Saab was acquired by Spykar which is a very small specialty sports car maker from General Motors in 2010 in an unusual deal. In February, Spyker said it would sell its sport cars business to CPP which is a British coach builder controlled by Mr. Antonov, for 32 million euros, or about $46 million, to shift its focus completely on Saab.
Sales of Saab increased slightly to 31,696 cars at wholesale in 2010 when compared to 2009 in which the company sold 27,482 units. This increase in sales for Saab is not enough to prevent a loss of $308 million in 2010 incurred by the company. Saab is planning to sell 80,000 units in 2011 which may not be possible for the company and it wants to return to profitability, which it sees possible with sales of 120,000 vehicles annually, in 2012. In March, Saab sold 830 cars in the United States.