Saab will not display at the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show

Putting together a display at the world’s biggest auto shows does not come cheap so it should be no big surprise that Saab has announced that they will not display at the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show next month.

Frankfurt is one of the key European motor shows so for the Saab to announce that they will not be making it to the show – it looks like another strike against the company’s success. However, while it shows how bad things really are for the Swedish automaker it also shows that they are focusing on rthe massive amount of debt that needs to be settled before they can get back to business. Saab owes a lot of people a lot of money and these people are standing between Saab and restarting production, so the company has opted to hold onto their money…or the money they’ve not yet paid to angry debtors…rather than spending the money on an auto show display.

Saab is millions of dollars in debt even though they have sold their plant and a large chunk of the company to try to raise enough money to pay that debt but this should prove to be a good decision for the company (provided that they survive). Simply reserving a space in a major world motor show comes with a high price but when you consider some of the other expenses – providing and transporting cars to the show, manpower to work the show during the event, setup/teardown costs – having a fancy display at a big show proves to be a very expensive venture. Not to mention, the company hasn’t built a car at the Trollhattan facility in months so they might have a hard time getting their hands on enough vehicles to put together a real display.

Also, Saab has struggled to pay both suppliers and workers so you have to wonder if the company has anything good to show along the lines of future products or concepts since business has seemingly been at such a standstill since April. Now that more companies have come forward, attempting to force Saab and parent company Swedish Automobiles into bankruptcy to collect their monies owed, Saab’s hard times haven’t loosened up much even though they have managed to pay off some of those debtors.

It will be interesting to see how Saab proceeds with business over the next few months as they are running out of assets and company ownership to sell and those bills are still coming in.

Other Saab News:
Saab pays the workers, avoids bankruptcy for now
European Investment Bank refuses access of Saab to Russian Antonov
Saab cannot pay salaried workers this month
Saab secures another $35 million loan, production could begin soon
Breaking: Saab sells plant to investment group
Sale of Saab plant to investment firm nears