Wide interest has been shown in investing in loss-making General Motors unit Saab, a top executive has said.
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“They have been of different kinds, from pure investors to interested parties in the auto industry, but also other carmakers,” Saab chief executive Jan-Ake Jonsson was quoted as saying by business daily Dagens Industri, according to Reuters.
Saab said last week, as it was granted protection from creditors by a Swedish court, it had been approached by potential investors, but did not elaborate.
GM has made clear it wants to cut the unit loose and Saab has said it must carry out a rapid restructuring to address losses seen at SKR3bn (US$340m) this year and find new funding from either private or public sources in order to launch new and more competitive models.
Ater the Swedish government said it didn’t have enough information to provide the carmaker with loan guarantees, and that its business plan was too optimistic, Jonsson told the paper Saab’s business plans had been revised down substantially in recent weeks and foresaw very low production levels in the near term.
“We revised down our estimated production volume by 10-15%, a little bit depending on what year you are talking about,” he said.
The newspaper reported, without disclosing its sources, that Saab’s business plan called for the company to sell 65,000 to 70,000 cars this year, down from 94,000 in 2008, but that sales volumes were seen rising to 150,000 units in three to four years, Reuters said.
