Saab buyer aims for agreement on China market

Saab Automobile, the carmaker being sold by General Motors Co., aims to reach an agreement within weeks that will give the Swedish manufacturer access to the Chinese market after the sale, its new owner said.

Saab has used GM's distribution network in China with limited success and may need to rely on co-investor Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Co. to gain customers in the world's largest car market, said Christian von Koenigsegg, founder of Koenigsegg Automotive AB, which is leading a group of investors in a takeover of Trollhaettan-based Saab.

Saab plans to become profitable by 2012 with annual sales of about 100,000 cars, von Koenigsegg said. The executive said he doesn't expect GM to impose restrictions on Saab's sales in China similar to those facing GM's Opel unit. Detroit-based GM blocked Opel from selling its Astra and Insignia models in China as a condition of handing over the German division to Magna International Inc. and OAO Sberbank.

GM is "open to the idea to make it work" for Saab, von Koenigsegg said late yesterday in an interview at the Frankfurt Motor Show. "We are in the process of finding an agreement within the next few weeks."

An agreement with GM will unlock a growing market with sales of 12 million cars this year, almost 50 times larger than Saab's home market, according to China's top planning agency. Saab plans to use Beijing Automotive's sales network to sell its sedans and station wagons, and will share technology with the Chinese manufacturer, Koenigsegg Group said last week.

Augie Fabela II

Saab sold less than 900 cars in China last year and its models were introduced in China about five years ago by GM.

"Beijing Automotive is an opportunity for us to establish ourselves in the Chinese market with their experience," Saab Chief Executive Officer Jan-Aake Jonsson said at a news conference in Frankfurt yesterday.

Beijing Automotive, China's fastest-growing carmaker, announced plans on Sept. 9 to take a minority stake in the bidding team of Koenigsegg and investor Augie Fabela II for Saab. The partners and GM are working through the "final pieces" of a transaction, and the purchase should be completed by Oct. 31, Jonsson said yesterday.

Koenigsegg still needs to secure a loan from the European Investment Bank as well as Swedish government guarantees for that loan to acquire Saab.