Pretoria - Delta Motor Corporation, the Port Elizabeth-based motor manufacturer in which global motor giant General Motors (GM) has a 49 percent stake, is involved in talks with Saab Automobile in Sweden about the future distribution of Saab products in South Africa.
Saab Automobile is a GM-owned company.
Denise van Huyssteen, a Delta spokesperson, confirmed this last Thursday, adding that these discussions were still in an early stage but that "one of the focus points will be around ensuring that the service and maintenance needs of the Saab customer base are catered for".
Delta was not prepared to comment on whether GM imposed this on the company. It relinquished the distributorship of Saab in South Africa towards the end of 1999 in favour of Absolut Motor Holdings, the Cape-based family motor business.
Confirmation by Delta that it was involved in talks with Saab Automobile follows Business Report's article that banks that had provided finance to Saab South Africa, the importer and distributor of the Swedish premium luxury car brand, had taken control of the company's vehicle stock to prevent them disappearing.
This followed the closure of Saab dealerships in Northcliff and Sandton in Johannesburg and in Hatfield, Pretoria late last week after an application was made for the liquidation of Saab SA but later withdrawn.
The Saab dealership in Cape Town was not affected as was previously reported.
Adele Summers, the chief financial officer of Autohaus Gobel, which owned Cape Saab, said the dealership's doors were open for business, it was trading and had "more than enough stock to sell, and would in future have enough parts and stock to sell".
Summers stressed that Cape Saab was not in any financial trouble and was not planning to close its doors.
She confirmed Autohaus Gobel was owned by Karl Heinz Gobel, whose brother Peter Gobel was the chairman of Absolut Motor Holdings. But Summers emphasised that Autohaus Gobel and Absolut Motor Holdings were "two separate entities" and not connected.
Absolut Motor Holdings is believed to be the ultimate owner of the Northcliff, Sandton and Pretoria dealerships that were closed during negotiations with Delta. Summers was not in a position to say what was happening to Saab SA.