Saab Group has said China’s National Electric Vehicle Sweden (NEVS), which has signed a deal with Turkey to help produce the country’s first “national car,” does not represent the Saab brand, but only owns the company’s car production plant.
Turkey’s “national car” agreement worth 40 million euros with China’s NEVS has enabled the company to recover from its financial difficulties, the firm has said.
Saab group spokesperson Sebastian Carlsson said: “We do not have any deal with Turkey for the production of the country’s national car. We do not understand why Turkish Science, Industry and Technology Minister Fikri Işık has insistently voiced the ‘Saab’ brand when talking about the project“.
But, Turkish Minister never said that has to do with the company Saab AB, he just said that Turkey bought Intellectual Property of what was once a car Saab 9-3:
“We bought the Saab 9-3’s intellectual property rights, but not its name,” Işık said in a televised interview on Oct. 15. “The brand of the car to be developed will be a Turkish brand, it will not be Saab. We’ll develop the technology in Turkey,” he added, as quoted by Anadolu Agency.
Carlsson said NEVS, with which Turkey has signed the deal, does not represent the Saab brand. Carlsson noted the Saab Group does not produce cars or have any activities in car development.
GM on the agreement between NEVS and Turkey
“The sale did not cover the transfer of Saab’s brand rights in our deal, which was inked four years ago. Our deal with NEVS only covers the sale of some of the Saab facilities in Sweden and the sale of the patterns and the intellectual property rights of the 9-3 model, which was created by us. The Saab brand is still owned by the Saab Aviation and Defense Company,” said GM spokesperson Jim Cain.
Nevs on the agreement with Turkey
“The development of Turkey’s first national car will take around three years. All test vehicles and prototypes as well as pre-produced vehicles will be made by us. We’ll make the production until a production facility is established in Turkey. NEVS will continue to support the initiative with a potential industrial partner in Turkey by sharing the know-how it has. The mass production will not be undertaken by NEVS,” said NEVS Communications Director Mikael Östlund.
He noted TÜBİTAK did not buy all the rights, but only the intellectual property rights of the 9-3 sedan platform.
keep us informed
There is now an article in the Daily Sabah which indicates most of what the Hürriyet published, written by Kenny Lama, was hogwash. Saab’s Sebastian Carlsonn stated that he is very proud of the deal Turkey made with Nevs and wished success to both parties and that he had not said what Hürriyet quoted him as saying. He added that he believed the Swedish automobile industry will benefit a great deal from the deal with Turkey. See here:
http://www.dailysabah.com/automotive/2015/10/28/saab-refutes-hurriyet-claim-over-domestic-car
Further, regarding GM, Lama must have spent too much time smoking a Turkish shisha pipe. What deal did GM make with NEVS four years ago, or ever? Correct me if wrong, but GM sold rights and tooling for the 9-3 to Spyker more than four years ago, and NEVS acquired same from the bankruptcy administrators.
Why does the front end resemble 2005-08 Cadillac CTS?