(Source: Green Car Congress & NGVA Europe)

Image via Apture

The monthly sales rate of natural gas vehicles in Sweden has increased from about 150 to more than 700 units,according to NGVA Europe. The results are largely driven by the new Volkswagen TSI Passat EcoFuel (earlier post) (60% of sales) and the Mercedes B 170 NGT (earlier post) (24% of sales).

Most of the company cars are medium sized sedans or wagons. Cars like the new Volkswagen Passat TSI EcoFuel, and the Mercedes B 170 NGT (see picture on the right while refuelling at a NG/biomethane filling station of Fordonsgas), belong in this category, and explain the strong growth this year of the Swedish NGV sales. More than 50 % of all new cars sold in the Swedish market are company cars supplied to employees and used both for company and private purposes.

The employee pays income tax based on the assessed value of the car and the value of any fuel paid for by the company. For hybrids and for NGVs the value of the car is reduced by 40 % and for flex fuel cars by 20 %, to stimulate the use of environmentally superior technologies. The 40 % reduction is limited to maximum 16.000 SEK annually which, with a marginal tax rate of 50 %, means a net tax saving of 8.000 SEK (some 800 EUR) annually. The lower fuelling costs also mean a corresponding reduction of tax on the value of fuel paid for by the company. A reduction of the annual fuel costs by say 600 EUR thus normally means a 300 EUR tax saving.

Sweden at the end of 2008 had just under 17.000 NGVs and the Swedish NGV sales in June ran at an annual rate of 8.700 vehicles. Sales of new NGVs are now accelerating and may soon reach about 800 units monthly, corresponding with an annual sales rate of close to 10.000 vehicles. The graph shown below clearly illustrates the importance of the now available new models in the company cars segment (also well suited for the Swedish taxi cab segment).

In June 2.9 % of all new passenger cars sold in Sweden were NGVs!

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(Source: AP via Yahoo, Forbes & Autoblog)

TransportGooru was one of the earliest portals that notified about the Swedish love affair that originally reported by the Swedish National Television.  Though it was not officially confirmed by the companies involved (GM & Koenigsegg), pretty much everyone knew what is coming.  General Motors made it official this morning, Saab will soon be back in Swedish hands. In many respects, this is the most fitting result for quirky brand. Koenigsegg is an oddball itself, building insanely fast supercars in a Scandinavian country where you can’t legally drive over about 60 mph.

GM said in a memorandum of understanding that the sale would include an expected $600 million funding commitment from theEuropean Investment Bank, guaranteed by the Swedish government. Additional funding for Saab’s operations and investments would be provided by GM and Koenigsegg Group AB, it said.The sale is expected to be completed by the end of the third quarter and is subject to regulatory approvals by authorities.

Image Courtesy: Autoblog

“This is yet another significant step in the reinvention of GM and its European operations,” GM Europe President, Carl-Peter Forster, said in a statement. “Closing this deal represents the best chance for Saab to emerge a stronger company,” he said, adding “Koenigsegg Group’s unique combination of innovation, entrepreneurial spirit and financial strength, combined with Koenigsegg’s proven ability to create world-class Swedish performance cars in a highly efficient manner, made it the right choice for Saab as well as for General Motors.”

The company behind the consortium, Koenigsegg Automotive, was founded in 1994 by Christian von Koenigsegg, a Swedish sports carfanatic and entrepreneur, who remains the chief executive. It makesluxury sports cars at its headquarters, a former air force base near Angelholm, in southern Sweden.

With a full-time staff of 45, Koenigsegg makes around a dozen cars a year, customized for every buyer. The company doesn’t advertise prices for its models, but they are believed to range between 8 million and 18 million kronor ($1 million-$2.3 million) each.  Saab, on the other hand, has more than 4,000 staff worldwide, is represented in some 50 countries, and typically produces more than 100,000 cars a year.

One of the key details about the deal is the now obligatory government backing, this time in the form of a $600 million loan from the European Investment Bank, guaranteed of course by the Swedish government. That explains why minuscule Koenigsegg picked up Saab for free. It’s all about being Swedish.

“‘Saab needs to be left alone to proceed with its strategy,” says Matts Carlsson, an analyst of Goteborg Management Institute, noting that any tampering with its five-year plan to produce premium cars that are not aimed at competing with luxury brands such as BMW or Lexus ‘could destroy it.’

Crucially GM is pledging Koenigsegg its “platform and powertrain technology.” It’s very likely to include the “Epsilon 2” platform — the model (metal frame, geer box, technology) on which the latest GM European cars are based, such as the Opel and Vauxhall Insignias, says Tim Urquhart, an analyst at IHS Global Insight in London. That’s hugely significant for Koenigsegg as research and development of these platforms are a massive expenditure for automakers, he added.

Koeningsegg’s technology could prove valuable to Saab too. Koeningsegg has made a big push into green technology, making low emission, high-efficiency cars such as a flex fuel super car operating on both ethanol and petrol. It’s an area where Saab has been lagging behind its competitors, and could eventually help the company sell more cars.

It should help it increase sales volumes at Saab, which have fallen off sharply in recent years. Having access to GM’s technology will give the Swedish car maker several years to come up with a model for the future.

Koeningsegg also appears to have trumped other suitors, including Italy’s Fiat ( FIATY.PK – news – people ), which was interested in buying Saab after losing out in the race for Opel to Canada’s Magna International ( MGA – news – people ). (See “Fiat Keeps An Eye On Saab.”)

The sale of Saab to Koeningsegg marks a return to Swedish ownership after nine years in GM hands. Last year Saab posted a loss of 3 billion Swedish kronors ($384 million). It says it needs $1 billion to overhaul its business.

(Source: The Jakarta Globe)

Swedish luxury sports car maker Koenigsegg will buy Saab Automobile from US giant General Motors with the backing of Norwegian investors, Swedish television reported on Thursday.

The buyers have signed a letter of intention to buy Saab, SVT said on its website, citing anonymous sources and naming Koenigsegg and added that the negotiations could last for months.

“We are getting close to a deal done, but there are some final steps to be taken,” a source close to the matter told AFP, but would not confirm the identity of the leading bidder.

Both Saab and its parent company GM declined comment. Saab was put up for sale by General Motors, which filed for bankruptcy after being brought to its knees by falling demand amid the world economic downturn.  Saab’s reorganisation process began separately in Swedish courts in February.

Koenigsegg, set up in 1994, produces just 20 of its deluxe sports cars a year and sells each one for more than a million euros (1.4 million dollars).

Saab’s sell-off drew a little closer on Thursday after Stockholm announced it had authorised the Swedish Debt Office, which acts as a public bank to the state, to discuss guaranteeing a 500-million-euro loan made to Saab by the European Investment Bank (EIB).

“We have always said that the debt office could start negotiations on guaranteeing the loan when Saab has a new owner,” state secretary for business Joran Hagglund said in a statement.

Media reports had also said Italy’s Fiat was keen on buying Saab, but observers say such a move is now unlikely because of Fiat’s failure to acquire GM’s other European brand Opel.

Opel and its sister marque, Vauxhall, share a lot of technology with Saab.  The Saab automaker — not to be confused with a Swedish defence company also called Saab — sold 93,000 cars worldwide in 2008, according to its website.

It owes 9.7 billion kronor (1.3 billion dollars, 924 million euros) to GM — its largest individual creditor — as well as 347 million kronor to the Swedish government. Other creditors are owed 647 million kronor.

Saab, the automaker, employs about 3,400 people in Sweden. Including suppliers, some 15,000 jobs in the country are believed to be at risk if the company were to disappear.

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(Source: Autobloggreen)

Th!nk details U.S. manufacturing, sales plans: hopes to sell City EV for under $20,000

This morning at the Michigan Information Technology Center in Ann Arbor, Th!nk finally gave the media the details of it’s planned expansion into the U.S. market. The short version: by 2010, Th!nk North America hopes to be building electric vehicles in the U.S. These City models (seen above) will be able to go around 70 mph, pass all required safety standards and be targeted at fleet customers, initially. Th!nk NA will be submitting a loan application to the Department of Energy on March 31, and its U.S. plans are dependent on getting this money. Well, Th!nk officials were hesitant to put a firm number out, but Th!nk CEO Richard Canny said that the price to consumers, after government incentives, would probably be under $20,000, but you’ll need to figure in an $80-90 per month fee to lease the battery. 

Click here to read more about this “North American Invasion” plan. 

(Source: TreeHugger)

TH!NK Electric Car Maker Wants to Move to Sweden (or the U.K.)

 Norway’s electric vehicle manufacturer TH!NK has a long and troubled history – gone bankrupt twice, changed hands a couple of times (including a short stormy marriage with Ford) and stopped its production line late last year when the economic crisis hit. But TH!NK’s woes are far from over, it seems, as the company’s leaders try a novel idea: an offer to move TH!NK lock, stock and batteries to a nation willing to prop it up until propserity re-appears. The two current contenders? Battered Britain andSlumping Sweden. Sweden may be in the lead, as Saab has tanked, and Swedish King Carl Gustaf has already reportedly purchased two TH!NK electric vehicles – in blue and gold, of course.

Click here to read more about this “migration” plan.