plus 4, Beijing Autos to buy Saab car, engine technology - Richmond Times-Dispatch

Beijing Autos to buy Saab car, engine technology - Richmond Times-Dispatch
BAIC Paid $197 mln for Saab Assets - The Auto Chanel
Authorities: 2 arrested in Granite City slaying - KMOV
Source: GM in talks to sell old Saab technology - Asbury Park Press
Automotive Industries (AI) speaks to Jerker Adeberg, Executive Vice ... - Automotive Industries Online

Beijing Autos to buy Saab car, engine technology - Richmond Times-Dispatch

Posted: 14 Dec 2009 03:17 AM PST

SHANGHAI -- Beijing Automotive Industry Holdings says it has agreed to buy car and engine technology from GM's Saab Automobile, in a major step forward for the Chinese automaker.

An announcement from the state-owned company today gave no details about the cost or timing of the acquisition, which may clear the way for General Motors Co. to sell the rest of Saab to another buyer.

Beijing Autos said it plans to buy the rights to the technology for Saab's 9-5 and 9-3 sedans, including engine and gear-box technology and some production equipment. Saab will also support Beijing Auto's efforts to build up its own car brands.

-- The Associated Press

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BAIC Paid $197 mln for Saab Assets - The Auto Chanel

Posted: 14 Dec 2009 07:59 PM PST

STOCKHOLM, Dec 14, 2009; Reuters reported that Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Co (BAIC) paid 1.4 billion crowns ($197 million) to buy the intellectual property rights and equipment to make Saab's 9-5 and 9-3 sedans, daily Dagens Industri reported on Monday.

BAIC, China's fifth-largest automaker, said earlier on Monday it had acquired some assets of General Motors' Saab as part of a push to develop its own-brand cars.

"The purchase price is 1.4 billion crowns and the money was in Saab's account already on Friday," the paper quoted a source who was involved in the process as saying.

The money is enough to keep Saab running for three months, the source said, meaning there is no immediate threat of the company going under.

Saab, one of Sweden's best-known brands, has been hoping an 11th-hour savior would turn up after parent GM said in late November it would wind down the firm if a buyer did not appear before the end of this month.

The deal with BAIC gives Saab breathing room to finalise a deal.

Luxury car maker Spyker has been tipped as the likely buyer and the Dutch company's chief executive told Reuters on Sunday that talks with GM about buying Saab were continuing despite the BAIC deal.

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Authorities: 2 arrested in Granite City slaying - KMOV

Posted: 13 Dec 2009 02:02 PM PST

by The Associated Press

Posted on December 13, 2009 at 4:07 PM

GRANITE CITY, Ill. (AP) -- Investigators believe they've cracked the case of the shooting death of a 19-year-old Illinois college student in southwestern Illinois' Granite City.

Authorities with the Major Case Squad of Greater St. Louis say they've arrested two suspects in Thursday night's killing of Stephen Nemsky.

The suspects' names haven't been released. Authorities expect charges to be filed Monday.

Police say Nemsky was shot in the neck in his car and crashed. Nemsky managed to get out of the vehicle but collapsed in the road.

Nemsky was studying automotive collision repair at Southwestern Illinois College.

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fivefilters.org featured article: Normalising the crime of the century by John Pilger

Source: GM in talks to sell old Saab technology - Asbury Park Press

Posted: 13 Dec 2009 01:48 PM PST

STOCKHOLM — General Motors Co. is in talks to sell parts of Saab Automobile's old technology to a Chinese company and the entire brand to another buyer, a person familiar with the negotiations said Sunday.

The person said GM plans to sell the technology behind the Saab models 93 and 95 to Beijing Automotive Industry Holdings. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about the deals.

The person said the sale of the old technology to Beijing Automotive Industry Holdings will help GM financially but won't stand in the way of a deal to sell the entire Saab brand and its current production to another buyer. Negotiations for such a deal are also taking place, the source said, but declined to say with whom.

General Motors earlier this month said it will phase out the Saab brand if it doesn't find a buyer for the brand before the end of December. About 4,500 jobs at Saab are at stake.

However, GM said new potential buyers had emerged after Sweden's Koenigsegg Automotive AB dropped out of a deal to buy the company in November.

Beijing Automotive Industry Holdings was originally part of the Koenigsegg team and said it would re-evaluate Saab after that deal fell through. The Chinese company didn't return calls seeking comment Sunday.

Private equity firm The Renco Group Inc. and investor group Merbanco Inc. are reportedly also interested in Saab.

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Automotive Industries (AI) speaks to Jerker Adeberg, Executive Vice ... - Automotive Industries Online

Posted: 14 Dec 2009 09:54 PM PST

Issue: Jul 2007

Automotive Industries (AI) speaks to Jerker Adeberg, Executive Vice-President, Luvata

The 2.8 billion Euro Luvata Group recently restructured its Heat Transfer Automotive division, which manufactures copper and brass strip for applications such as car radiators.

by Steve Barclay

Luvata comprises 35 companies that employ 6,500 people in 27 factories in 13 countries. Recently it started producing resistance welding consumables in Suzhou, China. Luvata products under the brand names of Nitrode, Z-Trode, A-Trode, C-Trode, Cupal, and Nitrode Composite are used by leading manufacturers in the Asia Pacific region, including Honda, General Motors, Volkswagen, Toyota and Citroen.

Suzhou is Luvata's third such plant, and incorporates technology found in Luvata's facilities in Delaware, the USA and Welwyn Garden City in Britain. "Suzhou will enable us to focus on the ongoing, huge demand for welding electrodes in this region. It's an aggressive industry, often with very short lead times, so we need to be close to where the action is," says Jussi Helavirta, executive vice-president of Luvata's electrical and industrial division.

Automotive Industries (AI) asked Jerker Adeberg, president of the Heat Transfer Automotive division to tell us more about the restructuring.

Adeberg: We currently have two factories manufacturing products for the division. This will not change. Both of these factories manufacture for global markets, with a combined sales-force supported by R&D teams and technical engineers. The restructuring exercise simply aims to streamline our Heat Transfer Automotive operations to ensure our continuing profitability.

AI: How important is the automotive part of your business?

Adeberg: Due to its global growth, the automotive sector is a key priority for Luvata. Our work in the sector does not focus solely on copper and brass - we have to look at other materials like aluminium to be able to fully support the total automotive sector and utilise our skills, applications and engineering expertise.

AI: It looks like Luvata's Heat Transfer Automotive division is shifting out of high-cost Europe to low-cost Asia?

Adeberg: This is not the case at all. We want to develop and utilise our techniques for Heat Transfer Automotive in Europe further, rather than move this work to Asia. Our main two production facilities in Sweden and Holland remain central to Luvata's Heat Transfer Automotive division. We are working to make these more competitive by working on 'optimisation' projects - for example, Luvata's production system. We have excellent quality standards in Europe and we are confident that our facilities will bring to market products of an excellent quality. Our integrated and vertical casting gives us an advantage when producing thinner gauges.

AI: Apart from Asia, what are the other regions in which Luvata is expanding?

Adeberg: Europe and the US remain key focus areas for expanding our manufacturing base. In terms of future sales, we will continue to view their potential globally and our specific focus will be driven by individual customer needs.

The Heat Transfer Automotive division has many global customers who have production plants in Europe, the Far East, the USA and Australia, and they want to use the same quality products across all their plants worldwide, and for this they need us to supply consistent quality products to all plants.

AI: What are some of the Heat Transfer Automotive
division's strategies in increasing its global client base?

Adeberg: We are running development projects with some truly global players like Denso, Modine, Behr etc. We follow them when they restructure and centralise. For example, if they introduce global purchasing and R&D, we can support these customers with our global capabilities. For each individual customer we reshape our business model and approach and can adapt to reflect their requirements. As for new customers, we have the best understanding of our customers' customers' customer! We know what the final end user wants - and what they expect from our products, particularly the added value they can bring. Luvata's Heat Transfer Automotive division has the reputation for being 'the supplier of choice' for many international organisations.