Gasgoo.com (Shanghai June 23) - Pang Qinghua, CEO of the Pangda Automobile Trade Corporation, the company hailed as Saab's savior, had a short interview with the Beijing Times where he answered questions regarding Pangda's proposed partnership:
Beijing Times: "When the four-way cooperation (between Pangda, Spyker, Saab and Youngman) agreed upon, what work needs to be done now?"
Mr. Pang: "Currently surveys are still being conducted, [according to which] Saab is doing very well. After [that] is completed, the official signing ceremony will take place, [with the document] being sent to the National Development and Reform Committee. Pangda and Youngman will be very cautious about the application process."
Beijing Times: "BAIC bought the intellectual rights to a part of Saab's technology in 2009, [now with] Pangda and Youngman about to bring over Saab models, is there any danger of copyright disputes arising?"
Mr. Pang: "BAIC bought the rights to the old 93 and 95 platforms, which are currently used in a portion of Saab's vehicles, and will not be phased out of production until 2014. The vehicles we are bringing over this year include a number built on [those] platforms]. We have agreed to cooperate with BAIC and we hope that [we can avoid] any legal disputes from arising. Actually, if we sold only vehicles based on the 93 and 95 platforms, we would not infringe on BAIC's property rights."
Beijing Times: "Youngman wants to cooperate with and control a part of Saab, are they thinking of using this channel to sell Youngman and Youngman Lotus cars?"
Mr. Pang: "I don't know what Pang Qingnian [head of Youngman] is thinking. [As far as] I am the head of the sales division, I can state clearly, [we] will only sell Saab vehicles. [Even if] Pang Qingnian gives me non-Saab vehicles, I will not sell them."
