Saab Could Reappear in 2014
A Hong Kong-based consortium has finished acquiring bankrupt carmaker Saab, including tooling and platforms for the Saab 9-3 and Saab's facilities in Trollhättan, Sweden. The consortium, National Electric Vehicle Sweden, announced plans on Monday to introduce an electric vehicle based on the 9-3 in around 18 months. Reuters reports the car won't have Saab's iconic griffin logo, however, because of an agreement with former owners, Scania and a Saab aerospace group.
Saab's bumpy past includes ownership under GM and Dutch automaker Spyker, with last-minute attempts before liquidation to find Chinese investors. What remains and who owns it gets complicated. Hong Kong-based National Modern Energy Holdings owns National Electric Vehicle Sweden, but NMEH is itself a subsidiary of another entity, China Dragon Base Holdings.
The new EV will primarily target the Chinese market, Reuters reports. Would anyone here buy the next Saab? Though shuttered, the brand still has plenty of faithful: The U.S. has some 300,000 Saabs on the road, the Detroit News reports.
We'll keep you posted on more news of the eventual car.
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I won't buy one. Not now, not ever.
I will buy one. Have in the past, will again.
If they decide to sell them here, its going to be about price and how much advanced technology it has. The true hard sell would be convincing someone to purchase a car that's using a 10 year old platform. Does it drive better than the last model they built?
I don't think the fact that Saab has a loyal following will help sell this in the US, as the electric market is a different, smaller niche. I'm thinking that I'm not alone in believing that the recipe for a Saab is somewhere along the lines of efficient yet powerful turbocharged, smaller displacement engines, quirky styling, sporty handling, and innovative features. But they aren't targeting the same markets, so why even call it Saab? 'Should let the name RIP.
I also don't think the magic e-word will help, but the fact that the Saab 9-3 is a proven, SAFE platform, as long as they use high enough strength steel and reinforce and don't cut corners, it would be a lot better than the tinfoil they've tried to get past US DOT and the comprehensive FMVSS so far.
Never had one. Kinda want one.
I like my over priced, too expensive to fix, gas guzzling SAABy because when I think I want to go faster, it takes off. And because it is pretty. If they can supply looks and performance in an electric, fine, but really, electric cars harm the heck out of the environment before they zoom their first mile - electric cars savage the environment to build, and the production of electricity is not benign.
I hope the new emblem is a dragon.
I like my over priced, too expensive to fix, gas guzzling SAABy because when I think I want to go faster, it takes off. And because it is pretty. If they can supply looks and performance in an electric, fine, but really, electric cars harm the heck out of the environment before they zoom their first mile - electric cars savage the environment to build, and the production of electricity is not benign.
We have a 9-5 in the family, she is our beauty.
Sorry, but a Chinese electric car is NO Saab. It needs to be Swedish and eccentric, like the cool old 900's of the 1980's. Putting the Saab name on this thing is a disgrace to the memory of Saab.
It will be Swedish, made at the original factory. The build and design is supposed to be Swedish. The tech is Japanese. Only the money behind it is Chinese. They're hitting that market first, then over here hopefully.
Just because the chinese buy the name,does not mean it's the real thing. Saab died when GM bought them.
should bring back the essence of the Saab 99 turbo. Small, Sporty, super Safe, and no cut corners and innovative. They should stop marketing it like it has anything to do with airplanes, the average Saab loyalists would only be insulted by that notion.
I have 4 saabs I am also a saab technition and if they do come back i hope they come back strond and kick GM in the back side