The very last vestiges of the automobile company once generally known as Saab are up on the market, offering fans of the Swedish brand one last probability to own a chunk of automotive history.
Seven 9-3s have been put up for auction by NEVS, the successor company to Saab.
There are three petrol-powered pre-production cars inbuilt Trollhättan in 2014 with between 18,000 and 58,000km on the clock. One other is a Chinese-built, NEVS-branded electric 9-3 with 38,000km on the odometer. These 4 cars were used primarily for “internal transport”.
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The opposite three NEVS development prototypes dating from 2018 are much more unique. One automobile has 4 in-wheel motors, while one other has a range-extender EV drivetrain with a petroleum engine acting as a generator to recharge the on-board battery pack when it starts running low.
While the last automobile looks like a Google Street View automobile, it’s actually an autonomous driving development vehicle with LiDAR equipment that’s almost a decade old.
There are videos and more details concerning the cars on the Klaravik auction website. Interested parties, Saab fans and automobile nerds can take a look at the cars in person at special event on the factory on May 30. NEVS personnel can be in attendance to reply any questions from bidders.
The bidding process starts on May 21 and closes on May 30 throughout the in-person event. No reserve price has been set by NEVS so, in theory, the cars may very well be sold for somewhat as a krona.
Bidders who aren’t Swedish residents might want to register as a business.
Born from jets and the General
All of the cars available on the auction are from Saab’s NEVS era, and are based on the second-generation 9-3, which made its debut way back in 2003 and relies on the third-generation Opel Vectra.
Saab began life in 1937 as an aircraft maker. Indeed, its name stands for Svenska Aeroplan Aktiebolaget or Swedish Airplane Company.
The corporate began dabbling in cars after World War II, and the 92 entered production in 1949. Saab merged with truck maker Scania in 1969.
With vehicle development costs rising, Scania sought outside investment. General Motors bought a 50 per cent stake in Saab in 1989, and in 2000 it exercised its right to buy the remaining of the automaker.
As Opel/Vauxhall was consistently mired in red ink for the reason that turn of the millenium, Saab never got quite the investment it needed to remain competitive in the posh segment.
Satirically, just as the corporate was preparing to launch the 9-4X (below), its first car-based SUV, and the second-generation 9-5 (above), GM was careening towards bankruptcy resulting from the sub-prime housing crisis and rising pension costs, and Saab was put up on the market in 2007.
After a cope with Koenigsegg backed by Chinese automaker BAIC fell through, GM finally settled on Dutch supercar maker Spyker.
The sale was accomplished in 2010, with Spyker acquiring the Trollhättan factory, full rights to the aging 9-3, and a licence for 9-5, which might proceed to be produced in Trollhättan. GM would also make 9-4X at its factory in Mexico.
Inside a yr, though, Spyker bumped into money troubles, and the Dutch firm desperately tried to stitch together a cope with Chinese firms Youngman and Pang Da, but this was kyboshed by GM which refused to licence its technology if these Chinese firms were involved.
At the tip of 2011 Saab fell into receivership, and the corporate was bought a yr later by National Electric Vehicle Sweden (NEVS) led by Kai Johan Jiang, a Swedish-Chinese businessman.
While it was capable of negotiate rights to the Saab name, but not the Griffin logo, from Scania, NEVS was limited to working on the 9-3 as GM didn’t allow it access to the brand new 9-5 or 9-4X.
NEVS restarted production of the petrol and diesel 9-3, and hoped to make use of funds generated by sales to finance 9-3 EV development. Given the age of the 9-3, and the corporate’s uncertain prospects, by 2014 the automaker was back in bankruptcy protection and it lost the rights to the Saab name.
After investments from various Chinese firms and government investment firms, NEVS was bought Chinese real estate developer Evergrande in 2019. Hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, the bursting of China’s property bubble, and Evergrande’s failed efforts to diversify, the actual estate giant collapsed in 2021.
Despite repeated attempts to sell NEVS, the automaker was put into “hibernation” with minimal staff and no plans to restart automobile production.
This Article First Appeared At www.carexpert.com.au
