Saab resumed production last Friday (27 May) at its Trollhattan factory following several weeks at idle as the automaker wrestled with supplier payment issues. Saab GB managing director Charles Toosey spoke to Simon Warburton about the challenges the enforced stoppage posed and the future now that CEO Victor Muller has secured investment from Chinese distributor Pang Da.
j-a: How has the recent shut-down affected Saab GB?
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CT: A lot has happened during the last few months…an unexpected shortage of short-term cash flow. There is money in the bank. We needed short-term funds and that is now in place. The essence of what Victor Muller is working on is a very large dealer network in China but also manufacturing on a third party basis in China.
I think there is a three to four-month period where China will consider Pang Da approval. When you are building a long-term relationship, there a lot of due diligence. Although Victor Muller works very fast, creating a long-term [relationship] needs some understanding.
The way business relationships are created in China is perhaps a little different. I am sure it is of great interest to us to have some manufacturing base in China.
j-a: How has the stoppage affected Saab stocks in the UK?
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By GlobalDataCT: We have reasonable levels of stock so we have been able to provide supply to a good level of customers in the UK. We have quite short production-to-delivery time for Saab customers – there has been little impact.
In the UK we have a very stable organisation. Of course we need the stock. I believe we know what we are doing. We had a challenging recovery plan for Saab considering the start of Saab last year and…we have tracked for six months in a row so we are very proud of that. The 9-3 next year is really the foundation and a large part of our portfolio.
j-a: Some of Saab’s suppliers have had some tough words to say during the stoppage, were you surprised by that?
CT: Swedish suppliers [are] perceived as quite aggressive by UK terms. That is something that exists in the Nordic region – suppliers have a big influence.
j-a: As well as Pang Da’s interest, Saab has been courted by Russian businessman, Vladimir Antonov. Why do you think he is so keen to buy into Saab?
CT: Vladimir Antonov has never shied away from his interest in investing in Saab – he is passionate about Saab.
j-a: What has the feedback been from your 62 UK dealers during the stoppage and what sort of volumes are you looking at?
CT: People are continuing to come into our dealers – the momentum is still there but is definitely lower since we got a production block [but] 15,000 cars is a very realistic ambition.
j-a: Why do you think the UK has stuck with Saab despite all the recent difficulties?
CT: We have a real loyal network. We are different from the mainstream, the Swedish and aircraft heritage you still see in our cars [and] Victor Muller is a big influence [on] where we go in the future.
