Machinery from former Saab factory listed for sale

Production machinery from the former Saab factory in Trollhättan, Sweden, has been listed for sale amid the plant’s liquidation.

Trollhättan was idled after its occupier, National Electric Vehicle Sweden (NEVS), went into "hibernation mode" last year, laying off 320 of its 340 staff.

NEVS implied the decision to idle the plant – while laying off 320 of its 340 staff – was down to its inability to raise investment.

“Our decision comes after our owners, Evergrande, and our investor prospects were unable to finalise negotiations accordingly to our contract,” said CEO Nina Selander.

Evergrande was China's second-largest property developer but became embroiled in a debt criris after the Covid pandemic.

NEVS had come around 18 months away from completing the development of its first all-new car, the Emily GT, before hitting trouble.

Shortly thereafter, it announced that the electric saloon project had been acquired by start-up EV Electra.

At the time, EV Electra CEO Jihad Mohammad said: “We will have cars coming out of Trollhättan again. We did this acquisition fully aware that we will need to back it all the way through development to mass production. I'm a firm believer in in-house production and strong balance sheets. I also believe Trollhättan has the personnel that can make our visions come true.”

However, as reported by website Saab Planet, NEVS terminated its deal with EV Electra this May, with Selander reportedly saying that “no technical data, intellectual property [or] hardware etc have ever been sent or handed over to EV Electra”.

The Trollhättan site is currently owned by Swedish firm Stenhaga Invest.

Local media reports that Stenhaga is in talks about its future, with the potential for a Chinese car maker to move in as a means of avoiding new EU import tariffs on Chinese-made EVs.