Another Chinese Bid Hopes to Revive Bankrupt Saab

China’s Jinhua-based Youngman Auto will bid for the estate of bankrupt Swedish carmaker Saab next week, reported Sweden’s Daily Industry Thursday.

Pang Qingnian and Pang Caiping, respectively, Youngman’s chairman and CEO of its auto division, will fly to Gothenburg, Sweden next week to present a 5 billion Swedish krona ($740 million)-bid to the bankruptcy administrators. Youngman is prepared to commit another 5 billion krona to developing new Saab models on the new Phoenix platform.

“Once an agreement has been signed with the bankruptcy administrator, the production of Saab 9-3 in the city of Trollhattan is hoped to start again within 15 weeks,” said the source.

Until production was halted last June due to a shortage of funds, General Motors had been supplying components and technology for Saab 9-3. Saab plans to switch to other suppliers when Youngman revives production. GM has refused to allow Saab to continue using its technology if Saab moves production to China due to a conflict with GM’s own joint venture with SAIC. Currently that joint venture sells more GM cars in China than GM does in the US.

Youngman believes that the amount of its bid will be more than enough to pay off about 800 Saab suppliers, according to Daily Industry.

Saab had stopped production altogether in mid-2011 as unpaid suppliers refused to continue shipments and back wages accumulated. Saab’s petition for discharge in bankruptcy was approved last month by Sweden’s Vanersborgs District Court.

A Swedish delegation of government officials and Saab representatives visited China Wednesday to meet with Youngman executives.

Youngman had been seeking to buy Saab for some time, but a deal was delayed due to GM’s refusal to license its technology to Saab if it was acquired by a Chinese buyer. The current deal was made possible by Youngman’s apparent decision that it can produce viable Saab models with non-GM technology.