Pang Da Sees Bright Future for Saab

Being one of the most important auto dealers on the Chinese market, Saab's wannabe rescuers, Pang Da, seems to know a thing or two about how to run an automotive operation in the world's largest market. Now that it plans to get involved with Saab, Pang Dap has all the intention to take all of its expertise to a whole new level.

Knowing how the Chinese market reacts and performs (Pang Da sell automobiles through a network of 1,100 dealerships), Chairman Qinghua Pang is confident that when the two companies kick off production of Saab models in China, the sky will be the limit.

"Starting up in China, I believe 100,000, 200,000, 300,000 [cars] will not be a dream - I am pretty confident in our collaboration," the chairman said in an interview with Swedish television station TV4.

"The Chinese government is very supportive. With the start of sales in China, investment will come back to the factory. China is a great market - last year China [went] past America to the number one country with 18m cars."

On Friday, the Swedish have resumed production at the plant in Trollhattan, in the presence of the Chinese officials from Pang Da. Saab is well behind schedule when it comes to deliveries, having to make up for a total of 6,500 orders. 1,300 of those have been placed by Pang Da themselves as one of the ways to get the much-needed money into Saab's bank accounts. The Chinese have so far spent EUR30 million to get things rolling in Sweden.