Saab Auto's New Owner to Launch an EV based on the 9-3 by Early 2014, will Initially Focus in China

Saab, the Swedish car brand that just refuses to die, will have a new pure-electric model based on the underpinnings of the 9-3 on the market by the end of 2013 or early 2014, according to the company's new owner, National Electric Vehicle Sweden AB (NEVS).

NEVS was specifically established by a consortium formed by Japanese, Swedish and Chinese stakeholders to acquire Saab assets including Saab Property AB, which owns the company's production facility in Trollhattan and Saab Powertrain AB.

It also owns some rights to the 9-3 and the company's incomplete Phoenix platform architecture but not the 9-5 sedan/station wagon and the 9-4x crossover that remain the intellectual property of General Motors.

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Saab UK Puts up for Sale the Last Remaining RHD 2012 9-3 Convertibles

Last May, amidst a mountain of problems, Saab celebrated the silver jubilee of its Convertible series that debuted as the 900 Cabrio in 1986 before the Swedes renamed the entire model lineup to 9-3 in 1998.

A year later, Saab is bankrupt and the company's Trollhättan plant idled, but if you live in the UK and are still interested in buying a brand new 9-3 Convertible, we have some good news for you.

Saab Parts UK announced today that it has successfully secured the sale of the last remaining 26 right-hand drive MY12 9-3 Convertibles, which will be available to buy through the company's national network of 87 Authorised Repairers.

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Saab UK Puts up for Sale the Last Remaining RHD 2012 9-3 Convertibles

Last May, amidst a mountain of problems, Saab celebrated the silver jubilee of its Convertible series that debuted as the 900 Cabrio in 1986 before the Swedes renamed the entire model lineup to 9-3 in 1998.

A year later, Saab is bankrupt and the company's Trollhättan plant idled, but if you live in the UK and are still interested in buying a brand new 9-3 Convertible, we have some good news for you.

Saab Parts UK announced today that it has successfully secured the sale of the last remaining 26 right-hand drive MY12 9-3 Convertibles, which will be available to buy through the company's national network of 87 Authorised Repairers.

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Watch the New Saab 9-3 TTA Racer at its First Shakedown Test in France

Saab was born from jets but this new 9-3 TTA racecar was born from the love and the passion that the people behind Flash Engineering and Team Tidö feel for the bankrupt Swedish brand.

The first of four racing examples of the Saab 9-3 sedan that will participate at the 2012 TTA Racing Elite League in Sweden completed its first shakedown tests at the Alés track in France.

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Saab Lives on the Racing Field as New 9-3 Sedans will Compete in Swedish Touring Car Championship

The brand may have gone bankrupt but Saab will continue to be represented on the racetracks as four-newly developed 9-3 sedans will participate in Sweden's TTA – Racing Elite League in the 2012 season.

Flash Engineering and Team Tidö will run the cars while the Saab Dealer Organisation will support their efforts. In addition, certain divisions of Saab that remain alive including Saab Parts, will also be involved in the racing program.

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Saab 9-3 gets Another Chance in Life in China as an All-Electric Model from BAIC

We have been critical of the clones produced by Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Co. (BAIC for short) such as its Mercedes B-Class doppelganger called the BC301Z, but the Saab 9-3 sedan pictured above is actually legit.

You see, GM sold the intellectual rights for Saab's older generation 9-5 and 9-3s along with select powertrain technology and tooling equipment to China's BAIC for US$200 million back in 2009, when it still owned the Swedish carmaker.

BAIC's subsidiary Beijing Auto Works (BAW) had previewed its own versions of the Saab 9-3 and 9-5 sedans with two separate concepts called the C60 and C71 respectively, during the 2010 Beijing Auto Show.

For its next move, BAIC is finishing work on a pure-electric model based on the Saab 9-3. Codenamed the Q60FB-C1, it will likely make its first public outing at the upcoming 2012 Beijing Auto Show in April.

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'Half Price' Saab Dealer Shutting Down, Publishes Letter Putting Part of the Blame on GM

You may remember our Saab post from earlier this week where we asked you if you'd buy 9-3 or 9-5 sedan at half price. Among the deals we listed were several low mileage loaners with a 50 percent discount from the Shaw Saab dealership in Norwell, Massachusetts.

As we learned today from the Saabsunited enthusiast site, the aforementioned dealership is closing shop on February 3 after 44 years as an exclusive Saab seller.

Fred Shaw, the owner, posted a letter on the company's Facebook page where he announces the shut down and outlines his future plans, which include the selling of the real estate to Herb Chambers (the car shop equivalent of Dunkin Donuts in Massachusetts), who will turn it into a Lexus shop.

Nothing unexpected there, but in his letter, Shaw also refers to General Motors and the role it played in the outcome of Saab's failed reorganization efforts. Being an official dealer, Shaw's view on the matter makes for an interesting read. You can check out the letter right after the break.

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2011 Saab 9-3 and 9-5 Sedans for Half Price, but Would You Buy Them?

Ever since we learned about Saab's bankruptcy, many pondered whether it would be a good idea to buy a brand new or a very low mileage example from dealers that wanted to get rid of the cars they had in stock at marked down prices.

The problem is that these cars are offered without a manufactures warranty while we're still not certain what's going on with parts, because sure you can get an awesome deal, but what happens if something breaks or needs replacement on your car; will you find a part in a timely manner and equally important, at what cost?

It's good to keep in mind that being an older model, it's much easier to find replacement parts for the 9-3 series than it is for the newer 9-5.

Lots of questions not too many answers, and this is something that will likely make most mainstream buyers wary.

What we can say is that over the past few weeks that we have been following the subject, prices of the remaining Saab cars in the U.S. have dropped significantly.

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Always Look on the Bright Side of Life: What Saab’s Demise May Mean for Buyers

"If Saab’s future seems jolly rotten
There's something you've forgotten
You can buy a heavily discounted brand new car
When you're feeling in the dumps
Don't be silly chumps
Just walk into your nearest Saab dealership - that's the thing.

And...always look on the bright side of life...
Always look on the light side of life..."

First of all, we hope Monty Python won’t mind altering their song from The Life of Brian. We'd also like to note that we are in no way making fun of the fact that, unless something unexpected happens, Saab is closing shop – for good this time, leaving thousands of workers unemployed.

We’re just trying to say that, in the event the liquidation of the car company goes through, there are consequences but not all of them are bad for consumers.

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Saab Files for Bankruptcy After All Rescue Plans Fail, This Could be the End

It is sad news for the automotive world to learn of the demise of a company. Unfortunately, Monday December 19, will mark the end of the road for Swedish carmaker Saab – and this time it looks like it is final.

Earlier this morning, Swedish Automotive N.V. (Swan) announced that Saab Automobile, Saab Automobile Tools and Saab Powertrain filed for bankruptcy with the District Court in Vanersborg, Sweden.

This comes after Youngman, the Chinese company which last week promised to pay for the carmaker’s restructuring, informed Saab that it cannot provide the funding necessary for the continuation of the process.

Therefore, Swan concluded that, with GM vetoing any proposed plan until now, and without the essential funding, it would be insolvent. Thus, it was better for its creditors to file for bankruptcy.

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Attention, Serious Buyers Only: 1995 Cadillac 900S Convertible

From the 1980s right through to the beginning of the 21st century, General Motors tried its best to simplify the art of badge engineering as a cheap and easy way to expand its offerings and increase its profits.

Apparently, some of GM's enthusiasm for badge-trickery managed to rub off on certain consumers like the owner of this 1995 Saab who artfully transformed the open-top model into the Cadillac 900S Convertible in a way that a 1990s GM exec would say, "why didn't I think of that?"

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2013 Saab 9-3 Design Proposal Leaks on the Internet

The past two years have been a very bumpy ride for Saab. However, after the rain comes the rainbow – and after narrowly escaping bankruptcy and making a deal with Pang Da and Youngman, a sketch for a replacement of the ageing 9-3 has appeared online.

The image was discovered by Swedish daily newspaper SvD Naringsliv that managed to get access to a power point presentation that was made by the automaker to the National Debt Office and the European Investment Bank back in January.

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New Saab 9-3 to Debut in Early 2013 with a Different Name, 9-2 Successor Still on the Table

Refreshingly enough, this isn’t a story about Saab’s troubles. Instead, it is a ray of hope as the Swedish carmaker lays out its plans for the future. These include a replacement for the aging 9-3 sedan, which according to Saab’s North American president, Tim Colbeck, will debut in the first quarter of 2013. Read more »

Saab Says it Can’t Pay Workers, Company’s Survival in Doubt

New clouds are forming over Saab as the automaker’s parent company, Swedish Automobile N.V., formerly known as Spyker Cars N.V., said on Thursday it will be unable to pay its 3,800 employees their wages because it has not yet obtained the necessary short-term funding.

Swedish Automobile said it and Saab “are in discussions with various parties” to secure short-term funding, including through a sale and lease-back of Saab’s real estate assets.

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Saab Production on Hold for at least Two More Weeks

Ailing Swedish car manufacturer Saab will not be producing new vehicles for at least two more weeks until it resolves the problems with its suppliers, the company said on Monday.

"There will be no normal production during weeks 25 and 26 (June 20th-July 3rd)," Saab spokeswoman Gunilla Gustavs told Reuters. "We are still negotiating with all suppliers and we need to get everyone on board at the same time. The weeks of 27-29 (July 4th-24th) are planned to be normal working weeks".

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Saab Temporarily Suspends Production Again while it Seeks Parts

The on-off production drama over at Saab’s Trollhättan facility in Sweden continues as the troubled automaker said Wednesday that it temporarily halted production due to a lack of components from its suppliers only two weeks after resuming making cars following a seven-week shutdown.

Saab said that it anticipated production hiccups in the start-up phase, as the supply chain still is not fully operational with some suppliers holding back until they get paid and others trying to re-stock.

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China’s Pang Da Places a New €15 Million Order for Saab Vehicles

Chinese distributor Pang Da Automobile is pumping more cash into Spyker NV's ailing Swedish unit Saab by placing a new order for 630 vehicles valued at €15 million or US$21.5 million. This latest order comes after an earlier one last week for 1,300 cars worth €30 million (US$43.2 million) and is part of a broader deal in which Pang Da agreed to buy a 24 percent stake in Saab’s parent company Spyker for €65 million (US$93.5 million).

The Swedish automaker said that as with the first order, Pang Da will pay the additional €15 million order up front with the funds expected to be received by the end of this week. Delivery of the vehicles ordered by Pang Da will start in the fall of this year.

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Saab Returns from the Dead…Again, Restarts Production at its Trollhättan Factory

Saab is back in the business of making cars again -at least for now- almost two months after production came to a halt on April 6 when the company’s suppliers stopped deliveries of parts in protest over unpaid bills. The Swedish company was able to restart production after receiving €30 million (US$42.8 million) in advance on a deal it has signed with Chinese car distributor Pang Da Automobile.

The China company’s CEO, Mr. Pang Qinghua, visited the Trollhättan factory today together with CEO and Chairman of Saab Automobile, Victor Muller, and witnessed the first vehicle to roll off the assembly line. Saab said around 100 cars were built today but plans to “increase the daily production rate in the coming weeks in parallel with the full re-establishment of the supply chain”.

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What Lies Ahead in Saab’s Future?

Saab is in trouble. With mounting debts and limited capital investment, the Swedish company is a prime candidate to go the way of the dinosaurs. The troubled automaker has not built a single vehicle since the 1st of April, and a much touted deal with China’s Hawtai Motor Group has fallen through. They did however sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with another Chinese company called Pang Da Automobile Trade Co. Ltd, earlier this week, but we will have to wait and see if the deal goes through.

In light of this, I’ve thought up four plausible (though unlikely) scenarios for Saab. These range from the hugely cynical all the way to the brazenly optimistic. After all, isn’t it better than Saab has some future rather than no future at all? Without further ado, here are your options:

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Saab’s 900 / 9-3 Convertible Turns 25 this Year

This year marks the 25 anniversary of Saab’s Convertible model that was first launched under the 900 nameplate and later on, the 9-3 moniker, which is still used today. And while the Swedish firm’s current financial woes don’t allow for a more appropriate celebration, Saab released some key facts and figures on its drop top model.

The convertible’s history started in 1983 at the Frankfurt Motor Show, where Saab unveiled a new concept model with a powered soft-top based on the 900 liftback. After gauging the public’s reaction, Saab decided to introduce a production version of the four-seater model, which was built by Finland’s Valmet Automotive.

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