Saab's last cars are now up for auction

The very last vestiges of the car company once known as Saab are up for sale, offering fans of the brand one last chance to own a piece of automotive history.

Seven 9-3s have been put up for auction by NEVS, the successor company to Saab.

There are three petrol-powered pre-production cars built in Trollhättan in 2014 with between 18,000 and 58,000km on the clock. Another is a Chinese-built NEVS-branded 9-3 EV with 38,000km on the odometer. These four cars were used primarily for “internal transport”.

The other three NEVS development prototypes dating from 2018 are even more unique. One car has four in-wheel motors, while another has range extender EV drivetrain with a petrol engine acting as a generator to recharge the on-board battery pack when it starts running low.

While the last car looks like a Google Street View car, it’s actually an autonomous driving development vehicle with LIDAR equipment that’s almost a decade old.

There are videos and more details about the cars on the Klaravik auction website. Interested parties, Saab fans and car nerds can check out the cars in person at special event at Trollhättan factory on May 30. NEVS personnel will be in attendance to answer any questions from bidders.

The bidding process starts on May 21 and closes on May 30 during the in-person event. No reserve price has been set by NEVS, so, in theory, the cars could be sold for a little as a krona.

Bidders who aren’t Swedish residents will need to register as a business.

Born from jets and the General

All the cars available at the auction are from Saab’s NEVS era, and are based on the second-generation 9-3, which made its debut way back in 2003 and is based on the third-generation Opel Vectra.

As Saab’s advertising was wont to tell us, the company began life in 1937 as a plane maker. Indeed its name stands for Svenska Aeroplan Aktiebolaget or Swedish Airplane Company.

The company began dabbling in cars after World War II, and the 92 entered production in 1949. Saab merged with truck maker Scania in 1969.

With vehicle development costs rising, Scania sought outside investment. GM bought a 50 per cent stake in Saab in 1989, and in 2000 GM exercised its right to purchase the rest of the automaker.

As Opel/Vauxhall was constantly mired in red ink since the turn of the millenium, Saab never got quite the investment it needed to stay competitive in the luxury segment.

Ironically, just as the company was preparing to launch the 9-4X (below), its first car-based SUV, and the second-generation 9-5 (above), GM was careening towards to bankruptcy due to the sub-prime housing crisis and rising pension costs, and Saab was put up for sale in 2007.

After a deal with Koenigsegg backed by Chinese automaker BAIC fell through, GM finally settled on Dutch supercar maker Spyker.

The sale was completed in 2010, with Spyker acquiring the Trollhättan factory, full rights to the aging 9-3, and a licence for 9-5, which would continue to be produced in Trollhättan. GM would also make 9-4X at its factory in Mexico.

Within a year, though, Spyker ran into money troubles, and the Dutch firm desperately tried to stitch together a deal with Chinese firms Youngman and Pang Da, but this was kiboshed by the General which refused to licence its technology if these Chinese companies were involved.

At the end of 2011 Saab fell into receivership, and the company was brought a year later by National Electric Vehicle Sweden (NEVS) lead by Kai Johan Jiang, a Swedish-Chinese businessman.

While it was able to negotiate rights to the Saab name, but not the Griffin logo, from Scania, NEVS was limited to working on the 9-3 as General Motors didn’t allow it access to the new 9-5 or 9-4X.

NEVS restarted production of the petrol and diesel 9-3, and hoped to use funds generated by sales to finance 9-3 EV development. Given the age of the 9-3, and the company’s uncertain prospects, by 2014 the automaker was back in bankruptcy protection where it lost the rights to the Saab name.

After investments from various Chinese firms and government investment firms, NEVS was bought Chinese real estate developer Evergrande in 2019. Hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, the bursting of China’s property bubble, and Evergrande failed efforts to diversify, the real estate giant collapsed in 2021.

Despite repeated attempts to sell NEVS, the automaker was put into “hibernation” with minimal staff and no plans to restart car production.