Ailing Saab Looks for a White Knight

Drew Price, a 24-year-old mechanic who runs the Los Angeles Saab Club, celebrated the Swedish carmaker's sale to Spyker Cars last year by getting a tattoo. He had an airplane with oversized propellers—Saab's logo for its classic Sonett and 96 models made in the 1950s and 1960s—inked on his right arm. Price might have considered a less permanent way to show his enthusiasm. A little more than a year after General Motors (GM) sold the brand, Saab is again fighting for survival. Starved of cash, it's been forced to halt production and is trying to raise funds in a complex transaction involving the Swedish government, the European Union, GM, and a Russian billionaire. "I'd be crushed" if Saab doesn't make it this time, says Price, who owns seven of its cars.

Saab's Trollhättan factory in southwest Sweden has been idle all but a few days since Mar. 29 after some suppliers halted shipments and demanded payment. Saab owes at least 300 million kronor ($48.1 million) to suppliers, estimates FKG, a trade group representing Swedish auto suppliers. The man who says he can get Saab back in gear is Vladimir Antonov, a 35-year-old Russian banker with deep pockets and a love of fast cars. Antonov, a former Spyker chairman, was forced to sell his roughly 30 percent share of Spyker as part of the GM agreement.