Saab in strong position to rebuild sales, make profit

The newly reorganized Saab is steadily reducing its breakeven point and has more than enough cash to survive as it begins to rebuild sales, its chief executive officer said Tuesday.

After a near-liquidation by former parent General Motors, Saab must rebuild its sales from scratch and is focused on restructuring its operations, said Jan Ake Jonsson, SAAB president and ceo.

"We had been closed down for seven weeks," Jonsson told reporters in Detroit.

"We couldn't order any material or do any advertising because we were in liquidation," he said. "Now we have about 4,500 cars in inventory. We're completely focused on getting our products out as quickly as possible."

The company is currently living on reserves, including loans from the European banks and a 200 million dollar technology deal with Beijing Auto.

But Jonsson said the storied Swedish brand should be able to break even in the second half of 2011.

While Jonsson hopes to reduce operating costs to the point where Saab can break even with annual sales of 80,000 to 85,000 vehicles, he said its potential sales are significantly higher.

Jonsson is confident Saab could sell as many as 125,000 units annually "at which point we would be quite profitable."

"These are very conservative estimates," he said, noting that Saab had sold 98,000 cars in 2008 when it was still owned by GM.