Nothing new in Trollhättan, the NEVS saga continues in a rather negative direction. For almost 10 years, since the Chinese took over the legacy of Saab Automobiles, the entire activity in Trollhättan has been based on hints, futile announcements, research whose results have nowhere been publicly used in some projects.
NEVS, at least in Sweden, did not go far from the beginning, and in China they boasted that they had built some factories for the production of cars designed in Trollhättan, but there is nothing from that to this day. The only product that NEVS allegedly presented to the market is NEVS 9-3, whose sales allegedly started in China. But, there is no information on the total number of NEVS 9-3 models produced and sold (Ten cars arrived in Sweden for testing). And yesterday, The car manufacturer NEVS warns 300 people of possible job loss in Trollhättan, reports SVT Nyheter Väst.
The electric car manufacturer Nevs was founded in 2012, when it bought the majority of the assets in Saab’s bankruptcy estate. Since 2020, the company is 100% owned by the Chinese company Evegrande Health. We would say, the story from ten years ago is repeated and the agony continues. 200 salaried employees and 100 public employees are now at risk of losing their jobs. The reason is that the company wants “to advance its technical transformation“.
NEVS officials point out to the Swedish public, and especially to the local community in Trollhattan, that this is just a “technical improvement” and that the matter is not tragic, but union representatives are not convinced of that. For the union, this news did not come as a complete bolt from the blue – and the employees themselves saw that the development was very slow and that there were no concrete results – products, and years and years passed.
According to the representatives of the union in the company NEVS, this move of the management only speaks of a bad financial situation and accumulated debts: – “We know that the owner has large debts, but I do not know exactly how bad it is“, said Ronnie Hermansson, president of the Union for Swedish Radio. And he adds – “It is still just a notice and now we will start negotiations with the management. But of course this raises concerns among colleagues”. The message worries employees.
As recently as two weeks ago, Dagens industri wrote about Evergrande’s “debt mountain”, and its possible consequences for NEVS. – “Evergrande has invested around SEK 25 billion in NEVS and promised to continue investing so we do not feel worried, even if it is a tough situation. We have not received any signals that they want to reduce or change our business. We work as a development company for them“, Nev’s CEO Stefan Tilk told the newspaper then.
“Technical Transformation” sounds rather unpleasantly like “Technical Relocation”. 😥😥😥
Have been waiting 10 years for another new Saab, looks like I’m going to say goodbye to my 11 plate 93 Aero for good and buy another brand.
It’s a matter of time, SAAB cars Will roll out of the same factory, but this might take many years.
However a New SWEDISH CAR BRAND might start anytime soon… i am close to the GUYS that are working on this project.
And will this ‘New Swedish Car Brand’ have anything to do with Saab?
I could imagine a ‘New Saab’ concentrating primarily on Hydrogen technology, technologically somewhat different than most other regular brands..
That’s great and all but we all want Saab back. Not Nevs. Not some other Swedish brand. Saab. How is it there is not someone with the wherewithal to make this happen? There is still to this day a tremendous amount of love for the brand.
looks like Xiomi and another chinese company have bought 65-75 % of Nevs.