Saab was pushed to the brink of collapse as it ran out of cash to pay suppliers, halting production on April 5 and leaving Dutch owner Spyker Cars NV scrambling to line up new financing.

"Production has restarted. Saab will make 100 cars on Friday and will reach a normal level of production of 218 cars on Monday," Spyker chief executive Victor Muller told Reuters last week.

Pang Da Automobile Trade Co. CEO Pang Qinghua visited the Trollhattan, Sweden, plant on Friday after making an advance payment of 30 million euros (278 million yuan) to Spyker in exchange for Saab cars to be sold in China.

"This is the first time I am in Sweden and at the Saab factory," Pang was quoted as saying by local news agency TT during his visit to the Trollhattan plant. "So far, I am very impressed."

Pang awaits regulatory approval at home for his planned rescue of Saab in a deal worth up to a billion yuan.

Pang did not provide details about his company's efforts to gain approval for the deal from Chinese authorities. But he said the government was supportive of companies that wished to invest abroad.

Pang met Sweden's industry minister and the Debt Office on Thursday. Sweden has guaranteed a loan from the European Investment Bank to Saab, so it must agree to any shareholder changes, as does the EIB and former owner General Motors Co.

Muller and Pang were present to see production restart as the first two cars, a 9-5 Aero XWD and 9-3 convertible, rolled off the assembly line.

"This is a great day for our company and it is great to see the plant running again. We have gone through a rough patch in recent weeks, but Saab is back in action again,'' Muller said in a statement.

Saab has been in intense negotiations with suppliers in recent days and said on Thursday agreements had been reached with a sufficient number to allow for output to resume at its Trollhattan plant.

Spyker said that as Saab's assembly line was restarted, the total number of outstanding orders worldwide for its Trollhattan factory topped 6,500 cars. The total order bank, including Pang Da's orders, was 8,100 cars.

"Given the complexity of re-establishing our supply chain there will most likely be some hiccups during this startup phase, but we will work hard together with our suppliers to minimize any disruptions to production in the coming weeks," Saab vice president Gunnar Brunius said.

Spyker has chased a variety of ways to resolve the cash crunch at Saab, which it bought last year from GM, but has had to wait for approvals from Swedish authorities and the European Investment Bank under the terms of an outstanding loan.

"All the approvals needed, included those from China, could take weeks and weeks. But we have no concerns. We will secure all the permits that are needed," Muller said.