National Electric Vehicle Sweden AB has started the production of the Saab 9-3 Aero Sedan with a petrol powerhouse. The first car will roll out of the assembly lines in the re-opened Trollhattan plant in Sweden on 2 December 2013.
The Saab 9-3 Aero is the first Saab model to leave the plant since it shut down in April 2011. Saab filed for 
bankruptcy eight months later.
With a look that is almost identical to the Saab 9-3 that ceased production in 2011, the model built by the Chinese consortium does not carry the company’s griffin head logo – the result of a 2012 agreement with truck maker Scania and defence and aerospace group Saab, which continue to use the original logo.
NEVS, which bought Saab out of bankruptcy in August 2012, also plans to build all-electric cars next year, but has not stated when production will start.
Hong Kong-based National Modern Energy Holdings is majority shareholder of NEVS with a 78-per-cent stake. The investment arm of the city of the eastern Chinese port city Qingdao, Shangdong province, owns the rest.
