Saab unable to pay wages as financing crisis deepens

Saab's money troubles have worsened to the point that the struggling car maker is unable to pay its employees' wages on the eve of the Swedish mid-summer vacation period.In a brief official statement last night, Saab's parent company Swedish Automobile N.V (formerly Spyker Cars) announced that it was 'will be unable to pay the wages to employees as it has not yet obtained the necessary short-term funding.'  While Swedish Automobile and Saab continue to pursue options for securing short-term financing to solve the cashflow crisis, the company admitted 'there can however be no assurance that these discussions will be successful or that the necessary funding will be obtained.' Saab share prices tumble, Swedish government will not intervene Reaction to the worsening financial crisis from stakeholders has been predictably bleak. Swedish Automobile's shares dropped 61% in value yesterday, and are currently trading at 0.948 euro. The Swedish government, already guaranteeing a €400m loan to Saab by the European Investment Bank, shows no inclination to bail-out Saab, which employs 3800 staff.

Audi Quattro concept (2010): the 21st century ur-Quattro

By Ben Pulman First Official Pictures 30 September 2010 22:29 This is the new Audi Quattro concept, just unveiled by Ingolstadt at the VW Group party on the eve of the 2010 Paris motor show. Built to celebrate 30 years of Quattro, it’s based on a shortened Audi RS5 platform (but built from aluminium and carbon) and features a tuned engine from the TT RS.This new Audi Quattro concept looks rather like a beefed-up Audi E-tron concept – is it? Nope, it’s actually based on the Audi RS5.

Fords at SEMA – A Preview

Ford has the biggest display space of any manufacturer at SEMA – 27,000 square feet – and plans to pack it with every kind of truck, tuner and Transit Connect. Yes, this year at SEMA Ford will have ten customized Transit Connect small business haulers in a celebration it's calling “Vandemonium.” So far we have a picture of just of one of them, the “TC – Pentech,” a Transit Connect with two driving simulators in the back. Info on the other nine hasn't been released yet but suffice to say Vandemonium could make the Transit Connect the PC Cruiser of the new millennium.