SaabWay - Il forum degli appassionati Saab italiani

We put our resource our resources to implement the vision for us. Then when you like at what kind of resources we will be building our future from, of course our buildings and machinery are great assets but the key really is our people. Today we are 350 people, just the bare minimum with key competences in manufacturing and design, purchasing and marketing. But it is key to continuing the journey. Anyone can buy the same machines, anyone can buy the same software to develop cars, but not anyone can use them the way we can. This is because of our many years of developing and building SAAB cars that is now also securing that the cars we are doing today are of really high quality, safe and –meeting the DNA of SAAB- are fun to drive. The people we have in the company aren’t just very competent, they also have a unique attitude. This “we can do it” attitude. We believe in the vision, we believe in where we are going. When I talk to other people in the industry, they are actually very impressed with our staff. We have a really difficult year behind us, but we haven’t lost anyone, maybe 4 or 5 people, but we’re all so proud of what we do. This stubbornness and flexibility is a key resource.

To understand what this modularity gives for advantages we have to understand that we’ll have a product range that will be larger than what SAAB Automobile had before. That means you’ll have to make C, D and E segment cars, so different sizes of cars, but we’ll also have to be able to utilise this in the different models, different chassis, different powertrains, different body structures, different interiors, etc. We have to have these modules to have very clear interfaces so they can be reused. So if we have these interfaces very clear, and understand the different requirements as we do, then we need to look at is it for a premium car or is it for a volume brand. Say we decide to make a C-segment car with a conventional engine, not under the SAAB brand but for a partner of us then we will be able to utilise this kind of transmission, powertrains, this kind of chassis modules and this kind of body structure. And if we then decide that for us, this is an EV SUV for our brand, our premium brand, then you will use this kind of powertrain module, this kind of chassis and body structure, but some of the modules are the same and this is there you have the power in creating this approach. Because we are very clear: our future is electric cars. Electric cars is the only way for us to implement the vision; that have sustainable powertrains but are not compromising on the fun to drive, the driving experience. So there are not only 100% EV’s, there are also hybrids, and there are different stages of hybrids. Our focus is on light hybrids that can have an electric range extender. The battery technology is developing fast, the Watthours per kilo is improving, costs per battery kilo is decreasing and by doing that we can get more power into the battery pack. Then we have a choice: either we are utilising this to go from a range that is 300km today to 400-500kms, or we keep the weight the same. Today the batteries weigh about 400 kilos. Or we decide for a lighter battery, which means lower costs and a more affordable car. Different customers, different needs.

You’ve seen it outside and you can see it throughout the day, this is our first EV. We’re really proud of it. When we talk to journalists who compare it to BMW i3 and Nissan Leaf, it is a very good car. We are meeting their performance and it has the capabilities of a larger car; we even have a longer driving range than the competitors.

So last week the first part of the ketchup came out: two strategic partnerships, with the city of Tianjin and with SRIT. Let me introduce those two partners:
Tianjin is the harbour city outside of Bejing. but also Beijing and Tianjin our now merging into one big city and a 100 million people. On the pictures I showed you earlier, because of all this air pollution and because you have the political power here, there was the highest pressure to make a change and reduce the pollution. There is a lot of pressure to introduce electric cars and by doing that, there are a lot of incentives. You can basically get a minimum of 10,000 Euro in government subsidy on the Chinese market, compared to 3,000 on the Swedish market. Of course that makes a big difference on the business case.

The other company is SRIT: State Research Information & Technology. It’s a government-owned company, owned in part by the State Council of the central government and by China Unicom. China Unicom is the 3rd largest mobile operator in the world. They will be providing with the area that I pointed out earlier, the future of making the cars connected and then gradually self-driving.
So this is for us an important step to stabilise the owner structure, stabilise the financial situation and also to get access to such an important market and access to key technology.

I also want to point out that China and Sweden aren’t contradictions. It’s not going to be China OR Sweden, it’s going to be China AND Sweden. When Geely bought Volvo, people believed that Geely would close down everything in Sweden and they haven’t done that.
I firmly believe you cannot take away the roots and believe that the seeds will grow somewhere else, but it’s really all based on the people and the DNA of SAAB, and that is here. Yet, when we see a growing market for EV’s in China and we have to pay 30% import duties, we’re not going to be competitive so we need to have production there, and we need to have production here. We need to have R&D there and here. But the head office and control will remain from Trollhättan.

We’re not going to announce today exactly which week, which model will be produced in which plant. We will be communicating more details when everything is ready, but today we have a message from Jonas Hernqvist and our marketing team that one important input is YOUR input.
Your input on why you drive SAAB, why you have such a passion for SAAB and our product, and we want to listen to that. So please tell your stories, either directly to some of our staff carrying the white NEVS T-shirts, or send it in to mystory@saabcars.com.
So we are now continuing the journey to make a difference. Thank you very much.

Q: What about the SAAB name?
A: First of all, SAAB as a brand name is extremely important to us, as it is important to you and to Trollhättan and it is still our focus. We continue our dialogue with SAAB AB -who owns the brand name-, on how we can use it in the future.

Non saranno più prodotte auto convenzionali con il marchio Saab, ma soltanto per altri brand (..deduco siano cinesi). Con il nostro marchio solo auto elettriche o ibride leggere. Non siamo una società cinese ma una società svedese con proprietari cinesi. In Cina stiamo mettendo un secondo impianto di produzione e un secondo centro di Ricerca e Sviluppo. Stiamo per fornire al mercato cinese auto elettriche di buona qualità e affidabili.

Q (the representative from Shanghai): Is the plan of SAAB to only produce electric cars or will you also be doing conventional engines? If you were to do electric cars only, have you considered that the market may not be ready yet? Finally: why did you select China as your new main market and not other markets like India, will you apply the same business model as Volvo?
A: Under our own brand, we will not produce conventional cars anymore. But we will put our assets to work, which means that from an engineering perspective we are developing cars also for other brands that will use conventional powertrains. So EV and light-hybrids under our own brand only.
We are not a Chinese company, we do have owners from China but we are a Swedish company, but we are willing to share our competence to make a difference also in China when it comes to environmental pollution. And they like what we say and therefore we are putting up a second production facility and a second R&D and are going to provide good quality cars with electric powertrains that will be affordable for a larger number of Chinese customers.

legio ha scritto:
Non vi è certezza che potrà essere usato il marchio Saab. Sono in corso colloqui con Saab AB in tal senso.