No, this isn't the last car they ever built, but the 2014 9-3 will be the last new Saab ever sold.
This is the Saab story you’ve been looking for. Your chance to buy one of the most historic cars ever built by the late automaker. And the last Saab ever to leave the factory at NEVS.
No, this isn’t the last car they ever built, but the 2014 9-3 will be the last new Saab ever sold. Since it’s still owned by the factory now, it’ll be the last new one to leave.
The end days of Saab cars were an especially sad chapter for fans of the brand. General Motors, who had owned the company since 1989 was trying to sell it off fast in the wake of the Great Recession. But they had trouble finding a buyer, and it took until 2010 for GM to finally find one. That’s after a deal with Koenigsegg had fallen through, and the company had been pushed into administration.
Then a Chinese automaker tried to buy only the company’s intellectual property. Finally, what was left of the company was sold to Spyker.
Who promptly ran out of money.
Then, sale attempts and lawsuits were the name of the day until 2012 when it was announced that a Chinese company called National Electric Vehicle Sweden would be buying just about everything that was left. Including a planned new 9-3, but not the 9-5 and 9-4X, which GM wouldn’t license.
In August of 2013, the Saab plant in Trollhättan reopened and started production. Cars started to roll out of the factory in December, sold to customers in Sweden. By May of 2014, production was stopped again. That run of just a few hundred cars was the end of the Saab name. At least on cars. Though NEVS still has the right to build the 9-3 under a different name, which it is doing now. An EV 9-3, with no Saab branding, for sale exclusively in China.
So back to this car. One of the cars built in that very last run, it was intended to go to crash testing. But that testing never happened, so the car sat. It’s a 2014 model. A 9-3 Aero.
NEVS says that the car has just a few km on the odometer. Because once it was put aside, it was never used.
Now, NEVS is planning to show off the 9-3. This weekend, during the Saab Car Museum Festival in Trollhättan. The annual event is a celebration of the brand and the museum which is located in the home town of Saab when it was in operation.
While the company could always use the extra cash, it appears that this one will be auctioned for charity, not NEVS. It seems like this may have been a slightly last minute decision because the company hasn’t yet decided who will auction the car, or when exactly it will happen, but they are planning to reveal the terms of the five year old new car’s sale soon.
Keyword: NEVS is Selling the Last New Saab