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Saab Trying to Stay Alive with Upfront Payments on New Orders


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ZEEWOLDE, The Netherlands - June 27, 2011: Swedish Automobile N.V. (Swedish Automobile, formerly Spyker Cars N.V.) announces that a Chinese company placed an order to purchase 582 Saab vehicles with a total value of EUR 13 million from Saab Automobile AB (Saab Automobile) and the full pre-payment is expected to be received this week, providing Saab Automobile with short-term funding to pay the wages to its employees and make partial supplier payments.

Swedish Automobile and Saab Automobile continue their discussions with several parties to secure additional short-term funding to restart production. There can, however, be no assurance that these discussions will be successful or that additional short-term funding will be obtained. Discussions on the sale and lease-back of the real estate of Saab Automobile are ongoing.Â

Victor Muller, CEO of Saab Automobile and Swedish Automobile said: "I am pleased to announce this agreement, as it secures part of the necessary short-term funding for Saab Automobile and allows us to pay our employees' wages before the end of this month. The management of Saab Automobile is deeply committed to the company and its employees. I respect the decision of the union members to resign from the board of Saab Automobile. We very much regret the current cash shortage which is causing undeserved hardship to all and we are working relentlessly to resolve the current situation. We hope to secure additional short-term funding, necessary to reach agreement with all of our suppliers to restart production, soon.

Mr. Vladimir Antonov's interest in participating as an investor/financier in Swedish Automobile remains unwavering, but he is still awaiting a decision on his clearance from parties at interest following the Swedish National Debt Office (NDO) recommendation to clear him over 8 weeks ago. Once clearance has been obtained, Mr. Antonov can provide much needed financing and/or capital to Swedish Automobile/Saab Automobile at this critical time. We are pushing hard to obtain this vital clearance as soon as practically possible"