The National Electric Vehicle Sweden AB (NEVS) parent company of the automotive brand SAAB has entered into a strategic cooperation agreement with Dongfeng Motor Corporation to strengthen business areas of which both companies find it is lacking in.
Mattias Bergman, president of NEVS highlighted that the cooperation will be focused on the development of electric vehicles. The agreement outlines that Dongfeng will assist NEVS in its plans to create eco-friendly vehicles, this includes; mass production, research and development, as well as sales and service support through Dongfeng’s network.
On the other hand, NEVS will work together with Dongfeng to “meet regulations and technical specifications” of various international markets as well as opening up its own dealer network to Dongfeng to help the Chinese car manufacturer sell its cars in key markets like Europe and North America.
Both companies have already been working together closely on vehicle development before this with the aim to improve Dongfeng’s technical strengths as well as NEVS own capabilities. This new agreement will broaden the cooperation further, covering technical development to global purchasing and distribution network, among the many areas.
Dongfeng has a 14% stake in PSA Peugeot Citroen, in addition to that, the Chinese automotive manufacturing giant has several other joint ventures with Renault, Nissan, Infiniti, Honda and Kia in recent years – it produced a total of 3.83 million vehicles in 2014 alone, which signifies the importance of the tie up for NEVS.
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RIP Saab. Expect a mediocre bargain-bin product around 2025 (when they’re finally done with the whole corporate dance), and for the company to go into Chapter 11 again the year after.
At this point, it would be kind to just let the brand fade into obscurity.