Archive for the ‘Sweden’ Category

The good news for Saab keeps on rolling: last month, we mentioned that the company's sale to Koenigsegg was looking like a done deal (thanks to a €400 million loan from the European Investment Bank), and now comes word that Saab is developing a new, small concept vehicle to presage the company's future lineup.

The concept vehicle is set to debut within the next 12 months. Saab's Director of Global Operations, Knut Simonsson, says, "It's going to be very important and will indicate what the Saab message is going to be." In short, it will "define the new Saab".

Although Simonsson declined to elaborate on the vehicle's particulars, he did say...

A couple of weeks ago, we reported that Crown -- a consortium of American investors led by former auto industry executives -- is making a play for Volvo. The group's bid for the brand is substantially lower than that of current front-runner Geely, but we pointed out that the Americans do have some advantages at the bargaining table, especially when it comes to one of Ford's biggest concerns: intellectual property. China in general, and Geely in particular, aren't known for respecting IP rights, and as negotiations move forward, we suggested that could become a sticking point.

Apparently, it has become a sticking point.

Two sources close to...

The government of China may be angling hard to unseat the U.S. as the world's dominant economic power (case in point: itsstrong support of a plan to end oil trading in U.S. dollar formats), but China's homegrown companies don't have quite as much weight to throw around. As an example, look no further than Chinese automaker Geely and its drawn-out attempt to purchase Volvo from Ford. Today, Geely faces a bidding war with a consortium of former U.S. auto executives, and although the Americans' offer isn't quite as generous as Geely's is, they do have some distinct advantages at the bargaining table.

The U.S. consortium calls itself Crown, and...