A Swedish court has today rejected Saab’s application for protection from creditors, pushing it a step closer to bankruptcy.

One of its unions said it would decide within a few days whether to now ask that Saab be declared bankrupt.

Saab and two subsidiaries had petitioned the district court in Vanersborg on Wednesday for ‘'voluntary reorganization', a move to gain time for Chinese partners to decide on long-term financing and prevent a legal challenge from unions that could force the breakup of the company.

But the court was not convinced by the plans.

With Saab having undergone restructuring in 2009, when owned by General Motors, "the court did not see sufficient reason to believe that the chances were any better today than they were then," Cecilia Tisell, a court spokeswoman, said.

The financing plans of Saab’s parent, Swedish Automobile, relying as they did on Chinese companies that have not yet received Beijing’s approval, were not concrete enough, Tisell also said.