New Saab Owner Plans EV Model

A Chinese-Japanese investment group has agreed to acquire the major assets of bankrupt Saab Automobile AB and plans to use them to make electric cars for the Chinese market. Financial details were not disclosed. The parties aim to close the deal within a few months.

The consortium, National Electric Vehicle Sweden AB, made a bid for the carmaker last month. The group is 51% owned by Hong Kong-based National Modern Energy Holdings Ltd., a developer of alternative energy plants in China, and 49% owned by Japan's Sun Investment LLC, which invests in environmental technology.

The new owners will acquire Saab Property AB, which owns the Saab's factory in Trollhattan, Sweden, and the company's tooling and powertrain units and rights to the 9-3 compact car platform. They also will buy the unfinished PhoeniX scalable platform, which Saab was developing to underpin future midsize and compact cars and crossover vehicles. Reports say NEVS continues to negotiate for rights to the Saab brand name, which is co-owned by Saab Automobile, truckmaker Scania AB and defense company Saab AB.

General Motors Co. which retained a stake in Saab when it sold the company to Dutch supercar maker Spyker Cars NV in February 2010 holds rights to the tooling and technology for the 9-4 and 9-5 cars and the conventional powertrain in the 9-3 compact sedan, all of which it helped develop. The deal also excludes the 9-4X crossover, a variant of the Cadillac SRX that GM made in Mexico. GM blocked previous bids for Saab by refusing to license its technology to others. The company says the NEVS deal doesn't involve any GM licenses.

Saab's court-appointed administrator says the new owners intend to relaunch car operations at the Trollhattan plant by producing electric cars based on the 9-3. Sales are expected to begin in early 2014 in China, eventually expanding to global markets. NEVS also promises an all-new EV, which analysts expect to ride on the PhoeniX platform.

Demand for Saab cars plunged to fewer than 32,000 units in 2010 from a peak of about 133,000 units four years earlier. The company suspended production in March 2011 and filed for bankruptcy in December.