Reports Say Saab Successor Plans Swedish-built EV

National Electric Vehicle Sweden (NEVS), the company born out of the bankruptcy of Saab in 2012, is set to begin assembly of its first production model, a sedan meant to rival the BMW i5 and Mercedes-Benz EQE, according to reports in the Swedish media.

The reported move comes eight months after NEVS was placed for sale by its owner Evergrande Group, the financially embattled Chinese real estate and health services conglomerate.

NEVS’ electric- vehicle production plans are said to center around its Emily GT prototype – a 4-door electric-powered sedan developed in secrecy and first revealed in April 2023. It is claimed to form the basis of the company’s first production model, which Swedish magazine and newspaper reports say will be assembled at the former Saab factory in Trollhättan.

The Emily GT was developed by a team of former Saab and NEVS engineers with funding from the Evergrande Group. They also created an autonomous robo-taxi concept called PONS.

NEVS emilygt5 cabin

Technical details released by NEVS reveal the Emily GT prototype uses four electric motors – one powering each wheel – with an overall output of up to 477 hp. It has also been designed to accept batteries ranging from 105 kWh up to 175 kWh in capacity – the latter claimed to provide it with a driving range of over 620 miles (998 km).

News of the NEVS production plans was first reported by the Swedish magazine Auto Motor und Sport. It reports an unidentified investor has already signed a letter of intent to purchase both the Emily GT sedan and the PONS robo-taxi projects from NEVS contingent on their production.

According to Auto Motor und Sport, the investor has requested for NEVS to continue the development of the Emily GT at its engineering base in Trollhättan, the home of Saab production from 1949 to 2013.

Speculation on an imminent announcement of the production plans for the new sedan model intensified last week following the publishing of an interview by the Swedish newspaper TTELA with the owner of the former Saab factory, Svante Andersson.

A millionaire real estate investor, Andersson heads up Stenhaga Invest, which bought an 80% holding in the Trollhättan site from NEVS in May 2023.

NEVS emilygt rear3.4

TTELA quotes Andersson as saying the long-dormant factory will be in “full activity” later this year. It claims part of the site will be used for vehicle production by the new owners of NEVS, while other areas will be occupied by unrelated companies.

“I know who (the investors) are, but it’s not something I want to talk about,” he says.

Further intrigue was added to NEVS’ plans when Swedish Saab enthusiast website Saab Planet more recently revealed a new Swedish company called Stallbacka Mobility had been established, with its CEO listed as Stefan Andersson Tilk, the president of NEVS, and its address the same as that of NEVS.

Stallbacka is the suburb in which the former Saab factory is located in Trollhättan, Sweden.

At this stage, it is not known who holds the intellectual property rights to the Emily GT. Despite being developed by NEVS, it is claimed its development was largely funded by its parent company of the time, the Evergrande Group.

The Chinese real estate and health services company, which recently reported losses of $81 billion over the past two years, has established its own electric vehicle company, Hengchi, in China.

It is not known what name the production version of the Emily GT is planned to take into production, though it appears unlikely it will resurrect the Saab name within the automotive ranks.

Despite NEVS’ strong links with Saab, it was denied the use of the name by the Swedish defense and aerospace company that owns the rights to the Saab brand, Saab AB, in 2016.

Saab continues to operate globally, developing and producing anti-tank weapons, submarines and fighter jets.