When it rains it pours, especially in the case of Saab that seems to have brighter days ahead of itself, but in comes Bavarian automaker – BMW, having just filed for a 2.6 million Euro lawsuit with the Swedish district court against Saab Automobile Parts for parts deliveries that have yet been paid for.
Although National Electric Vehicle Sweden (NEVS) may be close to sealing a deal that would see NEVS owning the remainder of Saab’s assets, it was earlier reported that the deal has been delayed, but it does seem that it may soon fall-through (fingers crossed). We’re no business consultants, but it with the deal close to completion and NEVS keeping mum about the details till its been finalised, it’s somehow sent BMW scurrying to file the suit before it does.
Saab Automobile AB had in fact signed an agreement that would have BMW’s 4-cylinder petrol engines finding their way under the hood of a Saab 9-3. Apparently, Saab had also ordered a considerable amount of spare parts from BMW, but they weren’t ideally liquid enough at that point in time to make payments to BMW and the situation turned for the worse when they were forced to file for bankruptcy in Dec 2011, having accumulated debts of around USD$2 billion when they only have USD$500 million in assets.
In response to the latest lawsuit, Lennart Stahl, CEO of Saab Automobile Parts AB has mentioned that his company has repeatedly repelled attempts by BMW to obtain money from it and stated: “Saab Automobile Parts AB have not ordered or received any spare parts or components from BMW. Why would a spare part company order components for a car model that’s not yet in production? Our lawyers will now go through the lawsuit carefully and see if anything new has been added before we decide what to do.”
However, Saab’s owner, Spyker, had also recently filed a law suit against General Motors amounting to USD$3 billion, claiming that the U.S. automaker was the main cause for sending the Swedish brand into receivership, by blocking potential Chinese Investors from helping input cash into the far from liquid Swedish company. Spyker also claimed that GM didn’t want Saab to gain access to the huge Chinese market and end up competing for a piece of the pie with GM by refusing to supply any more parts that would go into building the 9-4 SUV till 2014; forcing the potential investors to pull out of the deal. An accusation that GM stands firm on being ‘without merit’.
