GM sells parts of Saab to Beijing Automotive

General Motors (GM) said today that its Swedish venture, Saab Automobile AB, has sold certain portion of its Saab 9-3, current 9-5 and powertrain technology and tooling, to Beijing Automotive Industry Holdings Co. Ltd (BAIC).

Jan Åke Jonsson, managing director of Saab Automobile said in a statement, ''This arrangement is excellent for both parties, now and for the future. We have developed a good relationship with BAIC and look forward to working with them to integrate this Saab technology into their future vehicles.''

State-owned BAIC, the holding company of Chinese automobile and machine manufacturer, Beijing Automotive Import & Export Corporation will also acquire turbine engines and gearbox technology from Saab, as well as some of the brand's manufacturing equipment, while Saab will assist BAIC to integrate this technology into future BAIC vehicles.

Neither GM nor BAIC disclosed the financial details of the transaction, but BAIC plans to finance the acquisition partly through loans from Chinese state banks. BAIC has already secured a $2.93 billion credit line from Bank of China recently.

In July, BAIC, China's fifth-largest automaker, was in the race to acquire the Opel brand from GM, (See: Beijing automotive bids for GM's Opel), when the deal was swung in favour of Canadian-Austrian auto parts maker Magna led consortium, that included Russia's Sberbank, by German chancellor Angella Merkel, with an eye to the forthcoming polls.  However, the US automaker abandoned plans to sell Opel last month. (See: GM says 'No' to Magna; decides to keep Opel)

BAIC had lost out on Opel as the deal failed on issues concerning intellectual property.