That Saab is in serious financial difficulty even under its new ownership of Spyker isn’t news to anyone, and neither are we surprised by reports that a Chinese car company could consider a Saab purchase. Despite news that Volvo was denying any negotiations over a Saab acquisition, we wouldn’t be surprised if Geely was interested in expanding its European car portfolio.

At the moment though there has been no company named as such, with Auto, Motor und Sport simply stating that the Chinese could be part of various interested parties. After the Geely purchase of Volvo it would be another example of how the Chinese seem to know how to value European brands that have been neglected and facing bankruptcy under their European or North American owners.

Recently, Saab was looking for funds from the Swedish government while also seeking financing elsewhere but red tape issues with the EIB (European Investment Bank), winding up the General Motors ownership and getting the right approvals have taken time. The details of the “several interested parties” (Eric Geers) in investment are scarce at the moment so we can’t be sure if this would be an outright sale of Saab, or a joint-venture with new owner Spyker.

Whatever the case, if Saab is to survive, it needs funds and soon. With suppliers unpaid and production delays it’s clear that the company is seriously losing money and that new Saab sales are not anywhere near to generating the kind of break-even situation that’s required at the moment.

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