Sweden will come to the rescue of its US-owned carmakers crippled by the financial crisis, Saab and Volvo, to secure the future of an automobile industry that accounts for 15 percent of exports, officials say.
“Of course the Swedish government is committed to supporting the carmakers. We can guarantee that we will have car manufacturing in Sweden because it is an important part of our economy,” said Frank Nilsson, a spokesman for the Enterprise and Energy Ministry.
Volvo Cars’ owner, US giant Ford, said on Monday it was considering selling the marque given the challenges facing the US auto sector, clouding the future for the Swedish brand.
But no matter who ends up as the owner, the government is committed to supporting the industry, well aware that Volvo and Saab and their hundreds of suppliers are “big employers” in Sweden with “lots of know-how,” Nilsson said.
“We want to keep that here and to protect it,” he said, adding that Enterprise and Energy Minister Maud Olofsson had developed “close connections and a close dialogue” with the Swedish manufacturers and their US owners, General Motors (GM) for Saab, and Ford for Volvo.
The Swedish car industry employs 140,000 people in a country of just 9 million.
It counts some 700 companies, including internationally renowned truckmakers Volvo Trucks and Scania, as well as airbag and safety belt manufacturer Autoliv, special steels maker SSAB and the world’s leading manufacturer of ballbearings, SKF.
In recent months, as the financial crisis has widened in Europe and the US, the sector has seen numerous savings and restructuring programs involving thousands of job cuts.
At the end of July, Autoliv announced 3,000 jobs would go.
Volvo Cars, which was sold to Ford in 1999, has announced it will slash 6,000 jobs, including 3,900 in Sweden, out of 24,400 employees worldwide.
Ford and GM, as well as the third-largest US carmaker Chrysler, have been hit head-on by a collapse in demand for their gas-guzzling models and this week will ask US lawmakers for a bailout of US$25 billion in government-backed low-cost loans.
Ford said the possible sale of loss-making Volvo Cars was part of its restructuring efforts.
“Given the unprecedented external challenges facing Ford and the entire industry, it is prudent for Ford to evaluate options for Volvo as we implement our ONE Ford plan,” Ford president and chief executive Alan Mulally said in a statement.
A poll published at the weekend showed that seven of 10 Swedes want the state to take over Volvo Cars temporarily.
Meanwhile, Saab, fully owned by GM since 2000, has tried to avoid lay-offs at its Trollhaettan plant in southwestern Sweden, which employs some 1,200 people, by reducing its two shifts to one.
“We have held intense negotiations with the Swedish government,” Saab spokesman Eric Geers said, adding that the center-right government planned to increase its subsidies for research and development.
Nilsson said these subsidies will amount to 450 million kronor (US$55 million) annually for next year through 2012, compared with 430 million kronor this year.
People can preregister to receive their NT$10,000 (US$325) cash distributed from the central government on Nov. 5 after President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday signed the Special Budget for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience, the Executive Yuan told a news conference last night. The special budget, passed by the Legislative Yuan on Friday last week with a cash handout budget of NT$236 billion, was officially submitted to the Executive Yuan and the Presidential Office yesterday afternoon. People can register through the official Web site at https://10000.gov.tw to have the funds deposited into their bank accounts, withdraw the funds at automated teller
PEACE AND STABILITY: Maintaining the cross-strait ‘status quo’ has long been the government’s position, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Taiwan is committed to maintaining the cross-strait “status quo” and seeks no escalation of tensions, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday, rebutting a Time magazine opinion piece that described President William Lai (賴清德) as a “reckless leader.” The article, titled “The US Must Beware of Taiwan’s Reckless Leader,” was written by Lyle Goldstein, director of the Asia Program at the Washington-based Defense Priorities think tank. Goldstein wrote that Taiwan is “the world’s most dangerous flashpoint” amid ongoing conflicts in the Middle East and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He said that the situation in the Taiwan Strait has become less stable
REASSURANCE: The US said Taiwan’s interests would not be harmed during the talk and that it remains steadfast in its support for the nation, the foreign minister said US President Donald Trump on Friday said he would bring up Taiwan with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) during a meeting on the sidelines of the APEC Summit in South Korea this week. “I will be talking about Taiwan [with Xi],” Trump told reporters before he departed for his trip to Asia, adding that he had “a lot of respect for Taiwan.” “We have a lot to talk about with President Xi, and he has a lot to talk about with us. I think we’ll have a good meeting,” Trump said. Taiwan has long been a contentious issue between the US and China.
FRESH LOOK: A committee would gather expert and public input on the themes and visual motifs that would appear on the notes, the central bank governor said The central bank has launched a comprehensive redesign of New Taiwan dollar banknotes to enhance anti-counterfeiting measures, improve accessibility and align the bills with global sustainability standards, Governor Yang Chin-long (楊金龍) told a meeting of the legislature’s Finance Committee yesterday. The overhaul would affect all five denominations — NT$100, NT$200, NT$500, NT$1,000 and NT$2,000 notes — but not coins, Yang said. It would be the first major update to the banknotes in 24 years, as the current series, introduced in 2001, has remained in circulation amid rapid advances in printing technology and security standards. “Updating the notes is essential to safeguard the integrity
RSS