Saab – Sink Or Swim?
The Swedish town of Trollhattan is set some 70 miles or so inland from the port of Gothenburg – Sweden’s second largest city. It’s situated on the banks of the Gota Canal and just above Trollhattan Locks and the area around is magnificent. There are the Trollhattan Falls – a spectacular sight when the sluices are opened and the water cascades down the valley, by-passed by an equally impressive flight of locks, blasted into the rock of the hillside, rise up in staircase style with pine forests and pastel-painted houses accompanying the journey up from the locks into a bright and picturesque town.
In the summer, pleasure boaters moor there for a while, to restock and enjoy the area before continuing on towards the crossing of Lake Vanern and eventually across Sweden and “out the other side” – Baltic bound. In the winter the traffic is solely commercial and as the canal can be frozen for months, a passage is kept open by the ice-breakers, making a terrific din as massive sheets of ice are forced to either side to allow the boats a passage through.
As you leave the town, there’s a massive road bridge and then on one side of the canal there’s a Volvo plant. On the other the Saab factory seems like its own small town and occupies a vast area.
There’s a black cloud hanging over the winter blue skies in the Saab area at present – and no doubt in Trollhattan in general, following an emergency meeting by the Saab board. Trollhattan loves Saab and are the Swedish people are very faithful to their brand. Saab’s been a way of life and they’ve been there since 1940.
General Motors have owned Saab for some years now and they have to cut 47,000 jobs worldwide to shore up its home base and to assure Congress that US federal aid will save American jobs rather than leaking overseas. As a result, the company have made the threat of walking away from Saab unless the Swedish government help out.
Maud Olofsson is the Swedish enterprise minister and she made the statement “The Swedish state is not prepared to own car factories. “We are very disappointed in General Motors. But we are not prepared to risk taxpayers’ money; this is not a game of Monopoly,”
GM has long struggled to make money from its Swedish venture, but the losses have become a torrent in recent months. This begs the question “Has there been a level playing field or have Saab become a pawn in the game?”
For the people of Trollhattan it is beyond belief that their own government is not prepared to back their beloved brand. The future of which is very much in the balance.
