Sweden's Saab Automobile and China's Hawtai Motor Group plans for a partnership fell through due to "commercial and economic realities," not failure to get approval from the government, Hawtai said in a statement Friday.

Zhang Ruijun, vice president of Hawtai, said cooperation with Saab still remains as a top priority, and the company is still considering an investment plan.

"Saab needs help, and we strongly believe we are its best partner in this regard," he added.

According to a May 12 statement by Skyper Cars, Saab's owner, the deal fizzled after the proposal failed to get the green light from the Chinese government.

Under a previous agreement reached on May 3, Hawtai planned to invest 150 million euros (US$212 million) for a stake of as much as 29.9 percent in Spyker Cars, easing Saab's cash shortage.

Saab was forced to halt production in April and badly in need of capital to resume production.

The Swedish firm quit talks with its suppliers after the investment plan collapsed.

Because of lack of cash to pay to auto parts suppliers, Skyper said it is also exploring partnership possibilities with other potential investors including Chinese automaker Great Wall Motor and Russian banker Vladimire Antonov.

浙江華泰汽車(chē)13日發(fā)布"澄清聲明"：華泰汽車(chē)與薩博汽車(chē)閃電"離婚"的原因，并非政府部門(mén)不予審批，而是"商業(yè)和經(jīng)濟(jì)因素"。

華泰汽車(chē)副總裁張睿君在聲明中還稱(chēng)，仍將就與荷蘭跑車(chē)制造商世爵汽車(chē)的合作及薩博汽車(chē)的投資方案進(jìn)行探討，"并將此作為目前的首要工作"。

"薩博汽車(chē)需要幫助，而我們堅(jiān)定地相信我們是其最好的合作伙伴。"

5月12日，華泰和薩博汽車(chē)的母公司——世爵汽車(chē)同時(shí)宣布，終止雙方于5月3日簽署的戰(zhàn)略協(xié)議。

根據(jù)這一被廢止的協(xié)議，世爵汽車(chē)原本將從華泰汽車(chē)獲得1.5億歐元的投資。

由于無(wú)力向供應(yīng)商支付零部件貨款，薩博汽車(chē)4月初被迫停產(chǎn)，目前急需現(xiàn)金來(lái)恢復(fù)生產(chǎn)。

在投資協(xié)議終止后，薩博已擱置了與供應(yīng)商的談判。

除了華泰，世爵稱(chēng)，其正與其他中國(guó)車(chē)企討論合作可能性。長(zhǎng)城汽車(chē)正在與世爵就潛在合作進(jìn)行磋商。而俄羅斯商人Vladimir Antonov也表示仍對(duì)薩博感興趣。