Chinese acquisition may hurt 'interests,' automaker says
General Motors Co. said Friday it might block the sale of troubled Swedish automaker Saab Automobile AB to a Chinese consortium.
Saab, which is reorganizing in Sweden under court protection from creditors, has faced mounting financial problems this year as several funding sources fell through. It has built few vehicles since late March, and its employees have suffered through payless paydays.
"GM would not be able to support a change in the ownership of Saab which could negatively impact GM's existing relationships in China or otherwise adversely affect GM's interests worldwide," said GM spokeswoman Renee Rashid-Merem.
GM is Saab's former parent company, and it was one of four brands GM opted to shed during its 2009 bankruptcy restructuring.
GM owns the technology Saab uses to produce two key models, which gives GM the upper hand.
Pang Da Automobile Trade Co. and Zhejiang Youngman Lotus Automobile Co. said last week they had agreed to buy Saab from its Dutch owner Swedish Automobile NV for $140 million.
GM is the largest automaker in China through its joint ventures and is concerned about the intellectual property it has licensed to Saab.
GM also has built the 9-4X for Saab in Mexico this year.
The deal must win approval from the European Investment Bank, the Swedish and Chinese governments and GM.
Saab CEO Victor Muller has been working to persuade its loyal U.S. customer base to try the brand again.
The company, whose North American headquarters is in Royal Oak, has struggled.
Saab's sales fell from 49,000 in the United States in 2003 to 5,800 in 2010, the year GM sold it. "The figures don't lie," Muller said in a Detroit News interview in May.
Through October, Saab has sold 4,984 vehicles in the United States.
There are 1.5 million Saabs on the road worldwide, including 300,000 in the United States.
