Koenigsegg drawn to Saab innovation, heritage

Saab is more than the sum of its assets, according to the view of the man on a self-appointed mission to save the Swedish car manufacturer.

A Swede himself, Christian von Koenigsegg is the CEO of the company that bears his name, the Koenigsegg Group. That company, also the parent for the specialist builder of high-performance road cars, is currently engaged in liberating Saab from its current owner, General Motors.

Koenigsegg, the man, recently took part in a video interview outlining his aspirations for Saab and his reasons for saving the company, which was in strife even before GM's own Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings.

In the interview, Koenigsegg refutes that the rescue operation for Saab has dragged on too long.

"Well actually, from our perspective, we think we've moved quite fast," he argues.

"It was only about eight or nine weeks ago since we started getting into the process of looking at all the details of Saab -- and now we've reached so far as to sign... a share purchase agreement. We're very proud and happy to have reached this point..."

In the new scenario, Saab employees are safer, but not necessarily out of the woods yet. Koenigsegg makes no guarantee for the job security of anyone currently employed at Saab, other than implying their prospects are much better once Koenigsegg's in the driver's seat.

"We have great plans for the future of Saab, we'll do our utmost to build an exciting, strong company and, of course, that's good for the Saab employees as well."

Koenigsegg is more forthright about how Saab will fit into the structure of the Koenigsegg Group and how closely the volume-selling company can work with the supercar builder.

"It's actually not Koenigsegg, the supercar manufacturer, who is buying Saab," explains Koenigsegg.

"It's a company called Koenigsegg Group, [which] I personally and the supercar manufacturer are a part of.

"We consist of a group of entrepreneurs -- Swedish, Norwegian, American. Of course, it's a Swedish company, but it's an international base behind [it].

"Within that group, we have the strength and energy -- and know-how and will -- to get this job done."

What was the attraction for Saab in the first instance, Koenigsegg is asked in the interview.

"[Saab] is a very unique brand and it's got a great heritage. Actually, I heard the other day that Sweden has the most innovations per capita in the world -- and that has been seen through Saab's history. You can see that with their products, and we want to reinvigorate that; make it unique, Swedish, innovative, environmentally friendly and, of course, fun to drive.

"I think that goes very well together with Saab's brand values."

We read that to suggest that Saab's reputation for innovation has been sullied during the time it has been a subsidiary of GM. The company's models have been built on existing Opel platforms and it in turn has lent its prowess to building such cars as the Cadillac BLS, which has been less than a stellar success in Europe and has been recently canned.

Koenigsegg is looking forward to new Saab product reaching the market in the near future, but other than the 'known knowns', is not in a position to discuss future models.

"The first one coming out... is of course the new 9-5, which I've personally driven over the summer and tested. I think it's a great car. It's very important for Saab's future.

"Then we have the 9-3X that has just been launched, which is also a good complement in the product line-up.

"Then we have a few other cars coming out in the near future... in the pipeline, so to speak. You can't get into too many details right now, but we have a lot of new products coming."

Returning to the question of whether the minnow can resuscitate the whale, Koenigsegg admits that money is a major issue for both Saab and Koenigsegg, but enough progress has been made to justify the signing of the SPA.

"Money's, of course, an important factor," he said.

"We've been working together with the Swedish government, GM and within our group to secure finance for Saab. And we're well on our way and it was enough to sign the SPA and we have the next important step in front of us, during the next month, to get the whole deal done.

"It's a huge challenge, but it's a rewarding challenge -- and we're very confident that we will make this work."

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