2002 Saab 9-5 Arc Sedan 4-door 3.0l on 2040-cars

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Saab owner may speed up relaunch with gas-powered 9-3

National Electric Vehicle Sweden, the new owner of Saab, has good news for you if you happened to miss out on picking up a 9-3 before the company plummeted through bankruptcy. Automotive News Europe reports NEVS may offer a gasoline-powered 9-3 in 2013. That move would effectively step up the brand's re-launch plan by a full year. Originally, the company planned to introduce an electric vehicle in 2014, but NEVS is currently investigating ways to start production next summer using "a 9-3 with a traditional powertrain" in order to generate more cash for the electrification effort.
NEVS purchased Saab earlier this year with the intent of resurrecting the brand with a fully electric product portfolio. The new EVs would theoretically ride on the Saab Phoenix platform and be manufactured at the automaker's plant in Trollhattan, Sweden. The report of a resurrected gasoline model came courtesy of Mikael Oestlund, a company spokesperson familiar with the company's workings.

Saab owners NEVS denied creditor protection by Swedish court

The story of Saab is practically a Greek tragedy at this point. The quirky Swedish automaker that was once known as a pioneer of affordable turbocharging has been followed by years of news that just seemed to keep getting worse. At this point, maybe the brand name should be allowed to fade away into the ether and be remembered for the good times that it gave us.
Saab's latest predicament is that its parent National Electric Vehicle Sweden (or NEVS) has been denied protection from its creditors by the Swedish courts. According to Reuters, the judges called the business' financing plan "vague and completely undocumented." A company spokesperson told Reuters that it plans to appeal.
Seemingly in reaction to the court's decision, NEVS posted a press release on its website announcing that the company had applied "for a reorganization to create more time for the ongoing negotiations." The automaker continues to claim that it's negotiating with two global automakers to sell a portion of the company, possibly Mahindra, but the process is taking longer than it originally predicted. It seems a distinct possibility that this reorganization attempt is simply a way to buy extra time.

Saab begins 9-3 EV pilot production

To say that Saab has had a tough time lately would be like saying that it's been a little colder than usual this winter. After General Motors finally gave up and sold it to Spyker in 2010, Saab declared bankruptcy the following year. GM successfully blocked Spyker from selling Saab to Chinese automaker Youngman the following year, but ultimately it ended up in the hands of another Chinese consortium called NEVS. Standing as it does for National Electric Vehicle Sweden, the new owners promised not only to restart production of the long-suffering 9-3, but also to turn it into an electric vehicle. And that's just what it's doing.
The latest news coming out of Sweden indicates that NEVS/Saab has started building the first examples of the 9-3 EV. These first 200 or so examples are set to be shipped off to Qingdao - the Chinese city that is home to the Tsingtao brewery, hosted the sailing components of the 2008 summer games on Beijing, was supposed to host an IndyCar race in 2012 before it was canceled, and also itself just happens to own 22 percent of NEVS.
These first EVs have their batteries mounted down low in the chassis for a low center of gravity and have a range of about 20 miles on a full charge. That's absolutely paltry compared to the other EVs on the market: a Nissan Leaf will travel more than four times that distance, and a Tesla Model S will go ten times farther on a charge.