Beijing Automotive, one of the few Chinese carmakers without its own car brand, yesterday hailed its deal to buy assets from Saab Automobile as an “important milestone” towards developing its own independent production capability.
The state-owned company, which makes cars in joint ventures with Daimler and Hyundai, confirmed that it had acquired the intellectual property and production equipment behind two older Saab models as General Motors tries to offload its lossmaking Swedish unit.
Talks are continuing between GM and other bidders, including Spyker Cars, the Dutch sports car maker, for the rest of Saab, with the threat of liquidation hanging over the company if a buyer is not found by the end of the year.