Saab: a welcome brand in Europe
Saab is a car brand that originates from Sweden. Its predecessor used to be a plane producer, and it in year 1947 successfully launched its first car, SAAB92, which was advanced in technology content then. Saab is different from other car making companies, in that it has the manufacturing technology of trucks and planes applied in sedan making.
Saab should be called up-and-coming youngster in automobile industry. In the 1970s, the world auto market was in recession, but Saab entered the market in a gentle and noble manner. Since it is energy saving and safe, it rose to reputation quickly. In late 1980s, Saab was confronted with difficulties in operation. But the launching of 9000-series cars made it still one of the leaders in world car market. GM bought Saab in year 2000. Saab’s sales greatly increased thanks to GM’s complete sales network.
Saab is still one of the high-end cars in Europe. Consumers’ recognition of Saab comes from the appreciation of its safety, its unique design, and its aeronautics technology.
Saab’s Cooperation with Chinese Brands
Due to the world financial crisis and its own internal financing problems, Saab Automobile AB, Saab Automobile Tools and Saab Powertrain AB submitted their bankruptcy application.
In October 12th, 2012, Dongfeng Automobiles announced that it has bought 70% of the stocks of TEngineering AB Company. The TEngineering AB Company’s predecessor was Saab Powertrain AB. Its study fields include: internal-combustion engine, hybrid car, electrombile, and drive system. By such cooperation with the former Saab, Dongfeng will have advantage in independent research and development, which will be greatly useful in its future internationalization.
Actually, after Saab declared bankruptcy, a lot of attention were attracted, and Youngman Car(青年汽车) wanted to buy it. But the trial was not successful, and Youngman only get 30% shareholding of Spyker, Saab’s parent company. After this, Beijing(北京) Automobile(北京汽车公司) and The Swedish National Electric Car Company also attempted to buy Saab, but al failed. Finally, it was National Energy Sweden Co. Ltd that successfully bought Saab as a whole. National Energy Sweden Co. Ltd has advantage in developing cars using new energy, but Saab is better at producing cars using traditional energy. By buying Saab, it will have access to different knowledge that it may be short of, and develop better products.
Edited by Amy Wang
Credit Photo： Pcauto
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