Trollhattan, Sweden - The consortium that bought bankrupt carmaker Saab says it plans to finish assembling 100 cars that have sat idle on the production line since May.
The Chinese-backed consortium National Electric Vehicle Sweden has also said it will apply for an extension of its current bankruptcy protection, which will end on 2 March.
National Electric Vehicle Sweden said on Thursday the extension would give it more time for talks with an unnamed Asian carmaker that is interested in becoming the new majority owner.
Chief executive Mattias Bergman said: “Even if we complete the talks during this period, we have to get out of the reorganisation. That means settling with all the suppliers.”
PLAYING FOR TIME
“We think this will take time and therefore we will ask for more time,” Bergman said.
About 100 cars were in production at the Trollhattan plant when the assembly lines fell silent in May.
Bergman said National Electric Vehicle had been able to pay salaries and taxes for February with funding from the current owners.
Hong Kong-based National Modern Energy Holdings is majority owner of National Electric Vehicle, with a 78 percent stake; Qingbo Investment owns the rest.
Saab belonged to General Motors until the beginning of 2010 and was later taken over by Spyker; it filed for bankruptcy in December 2011, although the production lines had fallen silent months earlier, and was sold to National Electric Vehicle in June 2012.
Sapa-dpa