‘Turkish Saab’ would stay in Trollhättan: report
If Saab gets Turkish owners, the company will continue to build cars in Trollhättan, according to Turkish company Brightwell Holdings, which recently entered in the competition over the cash-strapped carmaker.
“We are interested in the whole company, not just small components or the brand,“ said Brightwell board member Zarnier Ahmed to Swedish business paper Dagens Industri (DI).
Ahmed and Brightwell are now waiting to hear from the two official Saab bankruptcy receivers to initiate negotiations.
According to Ahmed, the company intends to continue manufacturing cars in Trollhättan, although he couldn’t say on what scale.
The company needs to know more about the structure of Saab first. It might be that some components would need to be produced somewhere else in order to save money.
Ahmed is not anticipating any problems with former owners General Motors, GM, despite the company’s objections having constituted the largest obstacle for a Chinese sale, due to their blocking of the necessary transfer of technology licences to the two Chinese firms interested.
But Zamier Ahmed says that although familiar with Saab’s long history and tradition, he is critical to how the company was run prior to the bankruptcy petition.
“By the end, the company was handled very badly,” he said,
Despite not wanting to mention any names Ahmed said that in the end the responsibility lies with CEO Victor Muller, just as it would anyone else in his position.
“Mr Muller does not have a background in the car industry. To use an example: If you have heart trouble you see a heart specialist not an orthopedic surgeon,” said Ahmed to DI.
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“We are interested in the whole company, not just small components or the brand,“ said Brightwell board member Zarnier Ahmed to Swedish business paper Dagens Industri (DI).
Ahmed and Brightwell are now waiting to hear from the two official Saab bankruptcy receivers to initiate negotiations.
According to Ahmed, the company intends to continue manufacturing cars in Trollhättan, although he couldn’t say on what scale.
The company needs to know more about the structure of Saab first. It might be that some components would need to be produced somewhere else in order to save money.
Ahmed is not anticipating any problems with former owners General Motors, GM, despite the company’s objections having constituted the largest obstacle for a Chinese sale, due to their blocking of the necessary transfer of technology licences to the two Chinese firms interested.
But Zamier Ahmed says that although familiar with Saab’s long history and tradition, he is critical to how the company was run prior to the bankruptcy petition.
“By the end, the company was handled very badly,” he said,
Despite not wanting to mention any names Ahmed said that in the end the responsibility lies with CEO Victor Muller, just as it would anyone else in his position.
“Mr Muller does not have a background in the car industry. To use an example: If you have heart trouble you see a heart specialist not an orthopedic surgeon,” said Ahmed to DI.
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