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Saab Will Get Aid if It Finds a New Owner

The Swedish government is considering offering support to the struggling Saab manufacturer provided that the company finds an investor to back up the loan, Reuters reports. With GM backing away slowly but surely, Sweden needs a private investor to take over Saab, as Industry minister Maud Olofsson told a news conference the state should not own car manufacturers.

"We need to know there is a secure ownership which takes responsibility for the business plan so that Saab can show a profit in 2012, 2013," Olofsson said on public service radio. Olofsson's reluctance to decide whether to fund Saab comes from GM's inability to convince the Swedish officials their plan regarding the Trollhattan based company is a viable one.

Saab CEO, Jan-Ake Jonsson told the Dagens Industry daily that there have been a number of companies that have taken interest in the carmaker, both from within and outside the automotive industry. But as the path from taking interest to actually buying the company is dark and treacherous, Olofsson hopes "those who have contacted Saab are the kind of interested parties who are prepared to step in."

The Swedish company has revised its production plans, and expects low production levels in the near term. "We revised down our estimated production volume by 10-15 percent, a little bit depending on what year you are talking about," Jonsson was quoted as saying by Autonews.

The manufacturer must undergo rapid restructuring to address losses forecasted to amount to $340 million dollars this year and find ways to ensure the necessary resources to revive its vehicle range.
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About the author: Daniel Patrascu
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Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies.
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