NEVS to build electric Saab in Sweden
NEVS wants to rehome the electric Saab in Sweden. Production at the iconic Trollhättan factory shall start as early as 2018 and is part of a push to increase the firm’s EV output massively on a global scale.
Only days after National Electric Vehicle Sweden (NEVS) kicked off serial production of the 9-3 EV in Tianjin in China, CEO Kai Johan Jiang appointed the facility in Swedish Trollhättan to get the electric Saab next.
The lines are to roll from the second half of 2018, when NEVS wants to make what is essentially the iconic Saab 9-3 under its own brand name. NEVS pledged last year not to use the Saab name following claims by the aerospace and defence company Saab AB (originally Svenska Aeroplan AB) that did not want to see its logo on NEVS’ cars (we reported).
The NEVS factory in northern China has initial capacity of 50,000 units a year and will be expanded to 220,000 vehicles by 2019, said Jiang, who also announced a first round of funding is imminent.
But NEVS is not only looking for investors for growth. With demands for electric vehicles rising, the Chinese company says it is in talks with cities such as Shanghai, Hangzhou and Chengdu to set up a second production facility in China.
Furthermore, NEVS set eyes on Turkey and may start to produce electric cars there as well.
So far, NEVS has received orders for about 300,000 EVs from ride-sharing firm Panda New Energy worth about 12bn dollars, reportedly and due for delivery by 2020.
CEO Jiang claims cost for EVs built by NEVS have already reached price parity with comparable conventionally powered cars due to decreased battery prices. In fact, NEVS has spent years on development at its Trollhättan headquarter before finally releasing the 9-3 EV that was initially set for on sale in 2015.
With mass production underway now, the only open question is whether the electric Saab can repeat the success of its predecessor.
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