We thought the Saab soap opera had ended when GM kyboshed a proposed sale of the beleaguered Swedish car brand for fear of its 'advanced' technologies falling into the hands of Chinese manufacturers. However, if the latest reports from the Reuters news agency are to believed that minor technicality has not deterred one of the original Chinese investors.
Over the weekend Zhejang Youngman Lotus apparently made an offer of €338m for the now bankrupt Saab and announced plans to restart production at the Trollhattan plant if successful. An unidentified source stated that to circumvent GM's technology veto Youngman would initially build a new 3 Series rivalling 9-3 model using pre-GM architecture.
While a near fourteen year old platform might work for the Chinese market we are not so sure it will catch on in Europe. However, with the PhoeniX platform that could underpin future Saab models apparently requiring some 18 months of development it seems to be the only real option.
That is of course if the sale goes through. Saab's receivers see more value in breaking up the company and selling it in parts than taking one overall bid for the entire company.