It has been just over a week since Spyker Cars announced that they were entering into a partnership with Chinese firm Hawtai Motors – a move which many expected would preserve the Swedish automakers short term future – but this morning Spyker announced that the deal with Hawtai has been terminated.
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Spyker/Saab has not offered a clear indication as to exactly what caused the termination of this partnership, but today’s announcement simply stated that the May 3rd agreement between the two companies was terminated. In the fine print of the partnership paperwork, the deal was “subject to definitive transaction documentation and certain conditions, which included the consent of different stakeholders”. Spyker goes on to explain that Hawtai was unable to obtain the consent of everyone involved and because of that, the partnership as it was planned to exist has been terminated. However, Spyker points out that there are continued talks between themselves and Hawtai so some dealings between the two are not out of the question, along with possible non-exclusive partnerships with a variety of other Chinese firms.
For Saab and Spyker, this is bad news. Saab was relying on the money coming from the new partnership with Hawtai to make good on the unpaid bills with their suppliers. In light of this deal falling through, we can expect that production at the Trollhattan facility will continue to be shut down unless the company can either talk suppliers into providing more components without payment up-front (which, from the tone of the quotes from suppliers…isn’t very likely). Otherwise, it is up to Saab to figure out where to get the funds needed to both pay suppliers the money already owed and pay for the items needed to resume production.
The good news is that prior to the deal with Hawtai Motors, a possible partnership with Russian investor Vladimir Antonov had seemingly received the green light from all parties involved, including the Swedish government and General Motors. Perhaps Spyker and Saab can fall back on the assistance of Antonov to keep things moving until another partnership with a Chinese firm has been reached.
The bad news is that right now, the short- and mid-term financing that Spyker was expecting to use to resume production has fallen through – leaving the company in a very awkward position regarding the future of the brand.
Source: Saab
Other Saab News:
Saab names new Chief Operating Officer for North America
Spyker sells part of Saab to Chinese Hawtai Motors
Spyker may join forces with Chinese to save Saab, GM approves Russian investor
Saab suppliers claim the automaker owes tens of millions
Saab production halted as supplier problems continue
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