NEVS, a Swedish electric-vehicle startup most widely recognized for its attempt to restart production of Saab cars early last decade, shut down this month.
In a terse statement on the NEVS website, the company said it is closing down its production development activities as part of a “hibernation plan.” The company also said it is taking inquires about the sale of its properties.
Automobilwoche (subscription required) reported last week that Polestar has applied to use a former Saab R&D facility in Trollhättan, Sweden, for development of electric powertrains.
NEVS was last owned by Evergrande Group, the Chinese conglomerate whose main property development arm ran into financial trouble in 2021 with debts of more than $300 billion. At that time, with funding drying up, NEVS began to look for a buyer.
NEVS starts production of 2014 Saab 9-3
Evergrande managed to stay afloat and in late 2022 another of its EV startups, Hengchi, started customer deliveries of vehicles in China.
NEVS had also planned to launch its own electric vehicles, but the company later focused on developing mobility services, including a self-driving taxi service.
NEVS originally acquired the assets of Saab in 2012 after the automaker went bankrupt the previous year. The original plan was to continue production of Saab cars in both Sweden and China, and while NEVS managed to briefly restart production of the Saab 9-3 in 2013 at Saab's own plant in Trollhättan, production came to a stop less than two years later after NEVS ran out of funds.
NEVS then lost the rights to the use of the Saab name (the rights are owned a consortium that includes the Swedish defense group also known as Saab) in 2014, and later tried to launch EVs under its own name but ultimately failed to do so.
