Saab resumes production after €30m shot in arm

Saab Automobile, the cash-strapped Swedish automaker owned by Spyker Cars NV, resumed production after a cash advance on an order from Pangda Automobile Trade Company ended a two-month manufacturing halt. Saab is working to fill the factory's order book totalling 6,500 vehicles, with daily capacity amounting to about 225 cars, Eric Geers, a spokesman said. Production will be increased "in the coming weeks," Saab said in a statement. Pangda, China's biggest car retailer by market capitalisation, paid €30 million (Dh157.6 million) in mid-May for 1,300 Saab models that it plans to sell in the country later this year. The money enabled Saab to revive ties with suppliers who had withheld parts because of late payments. Production was suspended on March 29 and, after a couple of short-lived restarts, the plant stopped operating on April 5. ‘Super-confident' "I am super-confident in the good future of Saab," Pangda chairman Pang Qinghua said at a press conference at the Trollhaettan plant. "I believe the new models will be popular in China." Under the agreement between Netherlands-based Spyker and Tangshan-based Pangda, the Chinese company aims to buy a 24 per cent stake in the Dutch supercar manufacturer for €65 million. Pangda is in talks on its plan to buy another €15 million of Saab cars, Geers said.