The Saab story continues under the NEVS banner and Emily GT model name, but we’re no less intrigued in the story’s outcome than when the company and its cars were called Saab. Last year, a Swedish company called Stenhaga Invest bought 80% the the Stallbacka factory and office complex in Trollhattan where Saab used to build its cars, while NEVS retained the last 20%. As for the products, an unknown European investor had signed a letter of intent to purchase two of NEVS’ 13 transport projects, the Emily GT and the PONS, an autonomous shuttle. Svante Andersson, who runs Stenhaga, is reported to have said the unnamed investor is interested in taking control of “a substantial area” of the Trollhattan facilities and employing “a significant number of people.”
The unnamed investor is actually Middle Eastern by way of Canada, a company called EV Electra, run by CEO Jihad Mohammed, headquartered in Ontario and with operations in three European countries. Mohammed said his company attempted to make a deal with Stenhaga for space in Trollhattan, aiming to keep the ghost of Saab Swedish, but the two parties couldn’t make a deal. EV Electra bought a factory in Italy, without saying where or what cars will be built. The company’s been touting its Quds Nostrum electric sports car even before the Emily and PONS acquisitions, making the Nostrum a candidate for Italy. And Mohammed wrote in a LinkedIn post that “We have more than [a] few models now, after multiple acquisitions that happened in [the] last two months, and one more is happening this week that will allow us to be on top of our game.”
The CEO’s already pledged to get the Emily GT running down factory lines this year, though, so we expect it to be one of the products. However, he plans to show versions of one of the EV products in June with delivery in August “for 2025 models.” That sounds too close to be the Emily GT.
PONS is likely a few years out, considering how much preparation and infrastructure autonomous shuttles need. And everyone in that business will be looking forward to Rimac’s Project3 autonomous shuttle launch this summer.
As a recap, specs for the standard Emily GT at the moment are four doors, five seats, a 175-kW battery, active air suspension, four in-wheel motors making 121 horsepower apiece for 484 hp in total, and a range of 621 miles on the WLTP cycle. A performance version would increase total output to 653 hp and 1623 lb-ft, hitting 62 miles per hour in 3.2 seconds. Rumored lower trims could get batteries sized at 140 kWh or 105 kWh. There are coupe, convertible and wagon mock-ups as well. Mohammed said that after investors have been informed of EV Electra’s plans, the company will put out a press release that answers our many questions.
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