Yesterday we brought you the news about Saab’s filing for court protection and submitting a reorganization plan. Unfortunately, some of its divisions were not included –and one of them is Saab Cars North America.

The company’s president, Tim Colbeck, said in an interview with Automotive News that he is optimistic about its future despite the Swedish carmaker’s decision to exclude its North American operations from its restructuring plan.

“It is business as usual,” said Colbeck. “We want to communicate this, especially to the public, because I think there is a misperception that this is a bankruptcy proceeding and that the company is bankrupt. In essence, it is a transitional stage to really get us to re-launch the brand with new equity partners and recapitalize business.”

Colbeck’s optimism is shared by Saab’s North American dealers. Bernie Moreno is a member of the Saab dealer council and president of the Collection Auto Group in Cleveland, which also sells Acura, Buick, GMC, Lotus, Infiniti, Mercedes-Benz, Smart and Porsche cars. He doesn’t seem worried at all about the situation.

“You have to remember that two years ago everybody wrote off Chrysler –and now they almost outsold Toyota last month,” he said. “If this was happening in ’06 or ’07, before the economy tanked and GM and Chrysler went through bankruptcy, then I would really be concerned. But I think at the end of the day [Saab CEO] Victor Muller will pull it out and Saab will move forward.”

Still, the public is understandably confused after all the twists and turns that the Saab saga has taken in the past few months. And North American customers have every right to be worried after hearing the latest news. That’s why Saab opened a central call center today to answer customers’ questions about warranties, parts availability and other things, and a statement explaining the reorganization process was posted at saabusa.com. Colbeck stated that “communication is critical so that everybody knows exactly what is going on”.

Saab North America’s president does not worry about financing, as Ally Financial Inc. (formerly GMAC) is still supporting the company and its dealers, continuing, in Colbeck’s own words, “to lend for retail and wholesale to dealers that are creditworthy”.

But the question Colbeck and no one else at this point can answer is when production will restart in Saab’s Trollhättan plant in Sweden. Saab North America is particularly interested in the 9-4X crossover, which had its production disrupted right after the first cars reached the States. The 9-4X 2012 MY deliveries were initially scheduled to begin at the end of this month, but this is nearly impossible to happen.

Story source: Autonews