Investment group buys bankrupt Saab

A Chinese-Sweden investment group with Japanese backing has agreed to buy bankrupt car maker Saab Automobile and will aim to make electric vehicles, the administrator of the bankruptcy process said yesterday.
By The Newsroom
Published 14th Jun 2012, 07:00 BST

In a statement, the administrator gave no details on how much the buyer, National Electric Vehicle Sweden AB, was paying for Saab or how much it would invest.

“The company will start a new operation in Trollhattan (home to Saab in western Sweden) where all development and production will be focused on electric cars,” the administrators said.

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Saab, a maker of iconic cars since 1947, crashed into bankruptcy at the end of 2011, less than two years after former owner General Motors sold it to Dutch group Spyker.

NEVS AB beat off a bid from Chinese group Zhejiang Youngman Lotus Automobile.

The chief executive and main owner of NEVS is a Chinese businessman with Swedish citizenship, Kai Johan Jiang.

NEVS is owned by National Modern Energy Holdings, which has 51 per cent, and Sun Investment, with 49 per cent.

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National Modern Energy Holdings is owned from Hong Kong and focuses on alternative energy sources for China, using high-efficiency biomass power plant designs.

Sun Investment is a Japanese investment firm, focused on high-technology projects in environmental and sustainable solutions.

The chairman of NEVS is Karl-Erling Trogen, a former head of the truck division of truck and construction equipment maker Volvo.