Saab reportedly bought by Chinese-led consortium

A Chinese-controlled consortium has completed a deal to buy the assets of bankrupt Swedish carmaker Saab, media reports said.

National Electric Vehicle Sweden (NEVS) will pay 1.5 billion to 1.8 billion kronor ($210 million to $250 million) for Saab, excluding spare parts company Saab Automobile Parts AB, according to reports in Sweden.

NEVS did not confirm the reports. “I can only say we are bidding for Saab,” spokesman Mikael Ostlund told Automotive News Europe.

Saab's bankruptcy administrator, Hans Bergqvist, was unavailable for comment.

According to its Web site, NEVS is 51 percent owned by Hong Kong-based National Modern Energy Holdings, which focuses on alternative energy sources for China. The other 49 percent is owned by Sun Investment, a Japanese company that backs alternative energy enterprises.

NEVS was created in April “with the only purpose of buying Saab's assets,” according to the company, whose chairman is Karl-Erling Trogen, a former executive at Volvo Trucks.

NEVS has not talked about its plans for Saab, declining even to say whether it plans mainly to build electric cars at the automaker's factory in Trollh

By Nick Gibbs- Automotive News Europe