NEVS news

[Tweek's Turbos]

In a nut shell, the 9-3 is a 10 year old car, the new 9-5 is a 3 year old car and is still the basis of many many current GM models.

[Dave T]

A ten year old car is fine. Maybe add auto stop and start, the latest "in" thing, work on the suspension, add some LED lights, fix the rubbery knobs, tweek safety and it's a 2015 worthy model.

[#1SAAB12-17-11]

This whole situation seems very much half-baked, and the explanations for why NEVS is proceeding with the 9-3 aren't much better. Any way you cut it this car is not a Saab.

[nordwulf]

From P4 West yesterday:



Per Svantesson. Photo: Victor Jensen / Swedish Radio.

Production start approaching for Nevs

A start of series production is drawing ever closer to Nevs. The company has now ordered parts from hundreds of suppliers in order to start building Saab cars. Within the next few weeks will deal with all suppliers to be ready, says purchasing manager Per Svantesson to P4 West.

- We have orders placed several hundred subcontractors and we will continue very strongly in the coming weeks, says Per Svantesson to P4 West.

How are the negotiations with subcontractors?
- It goes forward and it goes really well. We have about 400 subcontractors that we should start up now before the year end. Now we have dozens of suppliers where we have a number of outstanding issues to sort out in the next few weeks, but otherwise it looks very good.

The goal is still to start series production in the factory in Trollhattan Stallbacka before year-end. It takes about 2 000 components to build the model 9-3 and they will be delivered from around 400 suppliers. So far Nevs signed agreements with virtually all, only about a dozen remain. A ll agreements will be completed within six to eight weeks, according Svantesson.

Nevs has now built 15 cars as part of a test production to ensure that the factory is working properly. But the cars do not contain all the elements of the series-produced car to have.

Nevs will first start building a upgrade version of the Saab 9-3, for the next year to launch the first electric car. In the introduction, the company focuses on the Chinese market.

Production start-up can be a win for the Swedish subcontractors. For Nevs will use more Swedish suppliers compared to what Saab was under GM o'clock, tells Svantesson.

- I think we will see an increasing number of Swedish suppliers to Nevs come.

He also says that Nevs want to reduce the number of suppliers.
- An explicit goal is to consolidate our business so we can do more and better business with fewer suppliers, says Nevs Purchasing Per Svantesson.

[nordwulf]

From Just-Auto:

NEVS mulls Saab Parts acquisition for aftermarket business

National Electric Vehicle Sweden (NEVS) says it is not ruling out a bid for Saab Parts, to provide the appropriate level of aftermarket service to future customers.

The new Saab owners made the comments to just-auto on a visit to the automaker's Trollhattan plant in Western Sweden this week, ahead of the 9-3 model launch, which is due to take place shortly.

"We have dialogue with the government of Sweden concerning the future of Saab Parts," a NEVS spokesman told just-auto in Trollhattan. "We think it could be interesting to us as we were bidding for the company when it was for sale. It could be positive for us to own Saab Parts logistics.

"The aftermarket is very important and we want to be talking about a very good brand in relation to customers - it is going to be easy to be a Saab car owner in the future - that you will be taken care of."

The NEVS spokesman underlined the company's determination to revisit the Saab Parts question, noting: "It is in our interest to acquire the company in one way of another - we have to have the aftermarket obviously."

The automaker added it enjoyed positive relations with its Trollhattan hometown as the company gradually starts to hire staff ahead of the imminent relaunch of the 9-3 model.

Around 4,000 staff were made redundant as Saab Automobile entered bankruptcy, with significant implications for the town and region and against a backdrop of overall European recession.

"We have very good dialogue with the region and Trollhattan [as well as] the Council of Gothenburg," said the NEVS spokesman.

"We have not received any finance [from them]."

[Dave T]

I think the above post shows that NEVS is having problems.

Development of the Saab Phoenix Electric is not so easy. It is taking longer than they thought. They probably even considered building a Saab Phoenix gasoline car as an interim measure but that is not so easy, either.

The next best thing is then to build the 9-3SS but this requires after sales parts support so Saab Parts, now named Oreo Sandwich Cookie and Parts Company (ok, not quite), is needed. Before Saab Parts was just an expendable component not central to the Saab Phoenix Electric goal.

Look for the Swedish government taking a loss if they sell it. There are fewer Saab owners as cars are slowly scrapped.

Good luck, NEVS! Surprise us with some good news!

[nordwulf]

The NEVS spokesman underlined the company's determination to revisit the Saab Parts question, noting: "It is in our interest to acquire the company in one way of another - we have to have the aftermarket obviously."

Sure, it is in NEVS' interest to control Saab spare parts but I am not looking forward to a Chinese company controlling the part supply for our Saabs. They haven't shown any interest in the current Saab owners so that leaves me without a warm feeling.

And looking at the press release from Saab Parts last week, they make it sound like they want to do more besides Saab parts. That's understandable for the long-term because, as Dave mentioned, there are going to be less and less Saabs on the roads and they'll have to replace that business with something else.

http://saabworld.net/f85/saab-automo...orio-ab-29102/

[nordwulf]

From P4 West today:

NEVS aims to start series production of Saab cars in three weeks, experiencing P4 West.But the company would not comment on any date. Meanwhile, the company continues to hire a car builder. Nevs do not want to provide any estimated date when the company will start mass production. But the plan to start it this year remains unchanged.

- We intend to start series production in humble scale this year in case everything goes without a hitch, says Nevs press officer Mikael Östlund P4 West.

Several sources state for P4 West to aiming for the launching of week 48, that is about three weeks. But there are hurdles remain to cross before the cars can begin construction. Nevs must be done with negotiations with all suppliers. There are fewer and fewer suppliers who are left, but all contracts are not finished yet, according to press secretary Mikael Östlund.

- We still have some remaining dialogues with subcontractors to quit, says Östlund.

Already, 30 pre-series of model Saab 9-3 has been built, there are cars that we produce in order to test that everything works in production.

But the cars do not contain exactly the same elements as the Saab 9-3 to be series produced and sold. Meanwhile Nevs to hire people to plant on Stallbacka area in Trollhättan. Altogether, almost 600 people at the car manufacturer, of which 200 are consultants. Now the company seeks further around 50 people, including nearly 30 car builder.

Persons who may be employed at the beginning of next year, says Mikael Östlund.

- Today we have enough to start production, but to allow for a gradual increase in the rate of production we now begin the process of recruiting new employees, mainly car builder says Östlund.

[nordwulf]

The first Saab car will be produced before year end

Expectations were high when the purchasing manager for Nevs in the Swedish town of Trollhättan, Per Svantesson, took the stage at Elmia Subcontractor. When would the production of new Saabs start and who would be given the opportunity to supply parts to the company in the future?
The series production of new Saab cars should start in Trollhättan by the end of 2013, said Nevs’ purchasing manager Per Svantesson when he visited Elmia Subcontractor.

“We’ve deliberately kept a low profile to the media,” he said. “Our motto is to deliver first and talk later. But I can tell you that we now have all our suppliers organised to start series production. The first Saab car should roll off the line before year end.”

The 9-3, which was the latest model under the former owners, GM, will be the first to be put into production in Trollhättan.
“Some improvements have already been made and various facelifts will be added gradually,” Svantesson said.

It is no coincidence that the new owners of the Saab brand are from China, which is seen to be the growth market for the car industry. But the factory in Trollhättan will stay open in future.
“Our intention is to have a presence in both China and Sweden, to supply both the Asian and European markets with cars,” Svantesson said.

At a trade fair like Elmia Subcontractor a natural question was whether there was any need for new suppliers. Nevs has kept the 510 suppliers used by GM but this may change.

“We have too many suppliers and will work to have fewer but ones with greater expertise. We hope to get more Swedish suppliers. We just have to find ones that have the capacity to keep up with us.”



“With access to the Chinese market we can more easily drive the development of electric cars,” said Per Svantesson, purchasing manager for Nevs.

Source: Elmia Subcontractor

[bullet]

I wonder what those "various facelifts" will be