SAAB Could Be Resurrected Within Months

October 10, 2013

Drew Dowdell

Managing Editor - CheersandGears.com

It is October 10th, a bit too early for Halloween, and yet here is a zombie starting to show signs of being undead. National Electric Vehicles Sweden (NEVS) has confirmed that they have most of the agreements in place with parts suppliers to restart production of the 9-3 in Trollhättan, Sweden within a few months. NEVS is focusing primarily on suppliers in or close to Sweden to allow for shorter lead times, lower cost, and to bring greater benefit to the local economy.

NEVS Purchasing Manager, Per Svantesson says, "We have 400 supplier agreements in place with only a few dozen left to complete in the next six to eight weeks." Production is set to start before the end of 2013.

NEVS has recently completed 15 pre-production SAAB 9-3s as test run of the Trollhättan assembly line.

In spite of the "Electric" in the name, these initial cars still have traditional gasoline engines. The exact engine has not been specified, but it is unlikely to be the familiar GM based Ecotec units found in earlier SAAB 9-3s. NEVS plans to add an electric model 9-3 later next year. Following that will be a launch of an all new car built on the still-born SAAB PhoeniX platform.

Those of you in the U.S. can put your checkbooks away however, NEVS initial marketing push will be in China.

Happy early Halloween, Zombie lovers!

Source: Radio P4West (in Swedish) via SaabsUnited

Also Via SaabsUnited.com - The first pre-production Saab 9-3 rolling off the production line.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCd_VsK9MvY

Drew Dowdell is Managing Editor of CheersandGears.com and can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter as @cheersngears