Saab celebrates a new era

Swedish car maker Saab has restarted its production line in Trollhattan today, marking what the company hopes will be a prosperous new era after leaving the General Motors family and becoming an independent car company.

America's largest car maker, General Motors, bought Saab in 1990 and sold it to Dutch sports car company Spyker in early 2010, lending the ailing car maker a second chance. GM had planned to shut the company down, had a buyer not been found.

With the production line at Trollhattan now operational again, morale at the company has been buoyed. "Today's resumption of production is a milestone in the history of our company," said Jan Åke Jonsson, Saab Automobile CEO. "We are up and running as an independent manufacturer and I am delighted to share the experience on the line alongside our workforce. They have shown tremendous commitment to the company and we are all now focused on ramping up production to meet customer demand."

The first vehicle to roll down the assembly line was an all-new Saab 9-5 sedan, the vehicle that many within the company are pinning their hopes on. The first vehicles will be part of a test fleet to evaluate the new 9-5, which will begin official production later in 2010.

The Trollhattan plant also see the Saab Convertible and all-new 9-5 SportCombi arriving in due course, with a some five different models to be manufactured at the plant. By concentrating its model line at one plant, Saab's costs will be reduced -- one of many efficiency gains that will be crucial to the company's turnaround.

"We have a highly flexible, world-class facility here at Trollhättan," said Plant Director Gunnar Brunius. "Our ability to build so many different models in one location improves plant utilisation and will deliver valuable efficiency gains. With these state-of-the-art facilities and a dedicated workforce, we are in excellent shape."

Victor Muller, the CEO of Spyker Cars put it succintly: "Everyone at Saab has worked extremely hard to reach this important point. Today production restarted with a new 9-5 first down the line -- a fitting symbol that a new era has begun."

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