Saab restarting production with 9-3, including EV
If you thought Swedish car brand Saab was dead and gone, think again. The Saab 9-3 is back, with a little help from the Chinese.
If you thought Swedish car brand Saab was dead and gone, think again. The Saab 9-3 is back, with a little help from the Chinese.
Saab, an iconic Swedish automobile manufacturer, which dwindled over time into the wrath of bankruptcy, may be in for a possible resurrection, as National Electric Vehicle Sweden (NEVS), a Chinese-Japanese consortium who currently owns SAAB, has announced its intentions to introduce an electric version of the Saab 9-3 Convertible.
In the interest of salvaging bankrupt Saab’s museum collection in Sweden, three parties have stepped up for the cause, namely the city of Trollhättan, SAAB AB and The Wallenberg Foundation. They have purchased the ownership rights for US$ 4.15 million.
Recalls are boring news. They’re in fact so boring that we only cover them once in a while now. The number of recalls per month has actually reduced since the last time we did a rundown, by about 35%. Of course, the general media still chooses to sensationalise some recalls more than others, especially anything to do with Toyota. In the past two months, there have been recalls by Lexus, Land Rover, General Motors, Ford, Honda, Suzuki, Chrysler, Saab and even Mazda, the last of which is a hilarious one.
Ailing Swedish brand Saab, recently sold by General Motors to exotic Dutch carmaker Spyker, has announced that they have signed an agreement with BMW. The Germans will supply engines to be used in next-generation Saab vehicles.
So General Motors went bankrupt, and part of its effort to save itself was to sell loss-making Saab to any schmuck who’d buy it. Spyker came along and bought it, so now they have a handful of new models with GM platforms that the General had pretty much finished developing before selling off the brand. Now the Swedish firm is debuting the new 2012 Saab 9-4X, based on the Cadillac SRX platform, at next month’s 2010 Los Angeles Auto Show.