Reuters (Amsterdam) - Spyker Cars (SPYKR.AS), the Dutch parent of Swedish premium carmaker Saab, reported a first-quarter net loss of 72 million euros on Friday and warned it was unlikely to meet its 2011 production target.
Spyker bought Saab from General Motors (GM.N) a year ago, but has struggled to turn the Swedish carmaker around. It has scrambled in recent weeks to find new sources of funding so that it can pay its suppliers, after several of them stopped delivering parts
This week, Spyker was thrown a lifeline when Sweden's Debt Office and General Motors both said they approved a plan for Russian businessman Vladimir Antonov to invest 30 million euros in Spyker in return for a 29.9 percent stake.
But Spyker said its cash position remained tight, and that it was in talks with various parties, including Chinese car manufacturers, as well as raising funds from current shareholders, to improve its liquidity.
"We have opened up alternative routes to fund the company mid and short term including, but not limited to, discussions with Chinese car manufacturers," said Victor Muller, chief executive, in a statement.
"We are hopeful that these discussions will result in a solution very shortly so we can resume production."
As recently as late March, Spyker stuck to its target for Saab to sell 80,000 cars this year, versus about 30,000 last year.
But on Friday, Spyker said that target was no longer realistic. Work at Saab's plant, which produces more than 200 cars a day, has been severely disrupted for much of April.
"It is unclear at this time what the consequences of the recent production stoppages and funding issues will be for our full year 2011 forecast but it is realistic to assume that realising our 80,000 cars sales forecast is no longer feasible," Muller said in a statement.
Saab sold 9,674 cars in the first quarter, up 167 percent from a year ago when production was disrupted.
