China’s BAIC buys Saab technology for $200m

China’s BAIC buys Saab technology for $200m
© Reuters Limited
December 23, 2009
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/3ef7964a-ef6e-11de-86c4-00144feab49a.html


BEIJING/HONG KONG – Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Corp (BAIC) said it paid $200m for technology from General Motors’ Saab unit, allowing it to roll out Saab-based cars as soon as 2011.

The intellectual property bought by BAIC, China’s fifth-largest automaker, includes the rights to three overall vehicle platforms, two engine technologies and two transmission systems, BAIC said in a statement ahead of a news conference on Wednesday.

BAIC, which hastily arranged the purchase after a group led by Swedish sports car maker Koenigsegg pulled out from a deal to buy all of Saab, plans to immediately start integrating the Saab technology into its vehicles.

“The overseas technology takeover by BAIC is not only targeted at simple technology, such as manufacturing blueprints, but also the management systems that will enable BAIC to continuously develop and produce high quality vehicles,” the company said in the statement.

BAIC, which had been a part of the Koenigsegg group bidding for Saab, expects commercial production for Saab-based cars to begin as soon as 2011.

The acquisition includes the intellectual property for Saab’s 9-5 and 9-3 sedans and some equipment to make them, leaving the fate of the Swedish-based automaker up in the air.

Luxury car maker Spyker was in talks to buy Saab from GM, but those negotiations broke down last week with GM saying it would close down the Swedish automaker.

But Russia-backed Spyker came back this week and said it was still interested in pressing ahead with a deal for Saab, fanning the Swedish carmaker’s faint hopes for an eleventh-hour reprieve.