Autoweek.nl posted an article based on a picture taken of one of their readers outside the factory in Trollhattanon June 22nd. And today the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet wrote an article about the same picture coming from the same source, with the headline “Saabs new sectret prototype”. The article has created great discussions in the Saab world, but what we see in the picture is not a Saab, but more likely a Geely GC9.
We must not forget that NEVS currently rents out parts of the factory to other vehicle manufacturers in order to get an extra income until their own production has started.
Picture taken at Technical Center. Probably vehicle heading for tests – most likely the climate windtunnel.
Would love to see Geely take Saab from NEVS.
SAAB is already taken from NEVS, and with the new situation with Mahindra out and Tianjin= Beijing=China in, it is very good news for NEVS, but Saab AB will never let China lease the SAAB brand.
Geely is, probably, just utilising a rare test facility.
Good point Rolf. I’ve evolved on this. At one point, I was willing to see a Saab branded car from ANYONE—-if Yugo re-emerged, I would have been willing to see them start production of a new Saab. But I’ve now determined that we’re better off without Saab cars at all—-a final ending—-than we would be if NEVS was producing electric Saabs only. I’d rather read about Saabs in history books than see the name on current Chinese golf carts.
Angelo, there is a lot about SAAB still to be told, e.g. what cars did not GM allow SAAB to develop – and why. Also – why were SAAB forced to develop the halfway- good -only cars that came out of Trollhattan after the GM take over.
We can definitely talk about how GM held Saab back. But I think we’d be remiss in not also pointing out how much money GM did spend on Saab. It was a lot. It maybe should have been deployed differently—-but the fact remains that they pumped a lot of cash into Saab for a lot of years—-without which Saab would have died a lot sooner.
Angelo, I understand your points, however you miss one key thing. GM caused those problems for itself by NOT investing in those concepts, technologies, and marketing. They knew Saab couldn’t compete without those things but continued for 20 years (especially once the original 9-5 was released…good lord) without correction. How was that Saab’s fault when mommy dearest is holding the change purse?
If you were a kid going to school and had raggedy (American speak) clothes but your parents wouldn’t buy you new clothes, is that your fault or the parents fault?
Alright, move along folks. Nothing to see here, nothing SAAB-related. Move along, people.