Evergrande's Swedish Saab assets owner in sale talks

[nordwulf]

NEVS and the assets of the awesome automobile company formerly known as Saab are for sale.

STOCKHOLM -- The Swedish electric vehicle unit of China Evergrande Group, which owns the assets of Saab, is in talks with U.S. and European venture capital firms and industrial partners to find new owners, as its Chinese parent battles default on more than $300 billion in debts.

National Electric Vehicle Sweden (NEVS), owned by the cash-strapped Chinese property developer, has funds to last "for a good while," its CEO Stefan Tilk said, adding that several investors were showing interest in the company.

Read more: https://www.autonews.com/china/everg...talks-ceo-says

[Dave T]

Evergrande's financial troubles have been in the news lately but not much in the U.S. press. Their main problem is real estate development. They are building thousands of apartments (condos) but previous buyers have left them empty. NEVS is only a small part of Evergrande.

NEVS' gasoline powered car knowledge is based on the Saab 9-3SS. It is old and not particularly useful. The engineering knowledge for turbos and car safety is long gone. The engineers in Trollhattan have moved on with life. Besides, ramping up gasoline powered car development may have a limited lifespan so it is probably more wise to work on electric cars.

There is certainly an untapped market for electric cars. I briefly considered a Tesla Model 3 but, on paper and not driving one, I decided against it. There are no competitors for the Model 3 yet. I consider a competitor a car, not a SUV, that is medium sized and a sports sedan.

I do not like the overly complex Tesla exterior door handles. Why have a motor to retract them? A simple mechanical exterior door handle is fine. I do not like touchscreens in a car, particularly for controls. Maybe ok for the front passenger but not for the driver.