Saab Officially Dead – Long Live NEVS

Saab devotees waiting patiently for the carmaker’s new owner to find its feet and kick the production line into gear, will have to settle for a new car that isn’t wearing the famous Griffin badge.

In fact, not even Saab’s newer ‘Griffin-less’ badge (pictured, below) will adorn its new models, as the new owner reveals it has lost the rights to the ‘Saab’ name.

National Electric Vehicle Sweden - Saab’s owner since 2012 - will instead rely on its own name as the company’s trademark, shortened to “NEVS”, for new models from here on.

Whether this impacts sales or not in any of NEVS’ intended markets will be revealed as the next chapter as Saab’s story plays out. But for Saab fans, the idea of owning a ‘new Saab’ wearing a Saab badge is surely now dead and buried.

NEVS’ strategy for Saab involved a quickly-reborn 9-3 to keep sales ticking over, due to be joined eventually by all-electric versions of the 9-3 for buyers in Sweden and NEVS’ home market of China.  

Bankruptcy