Goodbye Saab. Hello NEVS.
It wasn't a big surprise! It had become increasingly clear in the past few weeks that Saab would not be back. There were talks between NEVS and Saab AB, but the direction was clear. NEVS would start by establishing its own brand.
Saab's story was always full of fractions. The Saab 99 was a radical departure, away from the round compact car to the edgy middle class. The 9000 was a cheeky break with the old luxury class tradition, the Turbo a revolution in drive technology. From this perspective, it can be tolerated that the Saab lettering can no longer be found on the work. Of course, this hurts as a Saab fan; it feels like you've lost your home - but it's a good thing.
A new label based on Saab foundations.
The decision creates clarity that has been missing for a long time, it clears the way for something new, perhaps for a revolution from Trollhättan. That Saab AB wants to protect its brand name is honorable and understandable. That NEVS is better advised with a new brand has been my opinion for months. There are more than 5 years without production between Saab Automobile AB and today. And when new NEVS electric cars roll off the production line in the Stallbacka in 2018 or 2019, then 7 or 8 years have already passed. Too much time in an industry in radical change to credibly pick up where the end was sealed in 2011.
At the same time, the tempting opportunity opens up to build a success story on Saab foundations. Audi emerged from several brands - Horch, Wanderer, DKW. Today the tradition of these brands is maintained at the Chemnitz location. Something similar could be achieved at NEVS. Saab DNA, Saab design, the roots deeply anchored in Västra Götland ... where aircraft were once built and the first 2-stroke engines carried the Saab name into the world. Just new technology, progressive solutions, another name.
NEVS seeks proximity to the Saab community
An email from yesterday suggests that this could be the case. Mark and I received an invitation from NEVS. Representatives of the Saab community were invited to be guests at the plant today. NEVS talks about the future, shows the future, answers questions. It would have been nice to have known this date in the medium term, because we would have loved to be there. More than 1.000 kilometers stood against this, as opposed to private and business scheduling. A flight booked at short notice in the morning with a return flight on the same day plus rental cars cannot be displayed for a fan blog.
As regrettable as the short-term nature of the invitation is, it shows a tendency. If the sustainable strategy behind this is to build on the long and great tradition of Saab, then that would be the right way to go. A lot of brand expertise is gathered in the former Saab plant. People who know how a Saab should feel, how it should look, design future products. That could be exciting, we could like the result.
Will we continue to support NEVS?
The question arises as to whether we will stick with it and continue to support NEVS in the media. Or whether we will change again and become a pure youngtimer and classic blog. The decision-making process is ongoing, and it largely depends on NEVS. Whether you are interested in the Saab legacy in the long term, whether you want to get involved in working with us. I'm excited about the future, but could live well with both options and a slightly quieter blog that only cares about the “old” cars. The coming weeks will bring a general decision about our future direction.
What is the résumé of yesterday? A new label is on the way, the new NEVS website gives an outlook and answers questions. NEVS faces the no small challenge of generating awareness and desirability for the brand. According to today's judgment, Saab is not coming back - which does not change anything about the enthusiasm and love for the brand. You can take two things with you from this: The excitement for the future, and for everyday life buy the best Saab that money can get.
... In 4-5 years, Sweden may still be talking about NEVS from time to time - primarily about how quickly the plant in Trollhättan was closed after having siphoned off all of its know-how.
How did the English bookmakers go? 85% against the Brexit. And then? I would be careful with bets of this kind, without any background knowledge. You could lose
Facts will be delivered to the blog next week, first-hand. Have a nice Weekend!
I bet never, so I can not lose synonymous. In 5 years, we can then write it here.
Nobody knows that at the moment, with or without “background knowledge”.
Maybe the glass ball?
Unfortunately I guessed it would end like this years ago! And I'll give you a brief outlook for the future: in 4-5 years nobody will talk about NEVZ anymore, bet.
At least not here anymore. I think in China and Sweden certainly, but there are other sizes that can not take the butter from bread and certainly not from NEVS.
I was only at the 16.06.16 in the SAAB MUSEUM. Everything was well done, but the mood was anything but optimistic. Very cloudy. After so many years, of course, the number of visitors goes back. Furthermore, there is currently a single construction site around the whole museum.
Also not very conducive. Greetings from the north!
By the way, the headline is “suboptimal” - it would be better:
Hello SAAB, Goodbye NEVS!
It's just wonderful to be able to live out his passion for SAAB. Not everything has to be factual and unnecessarily self-limiting, Scandinavia has many facets, not only the cool and functional elegance, but also the small, homely, human, imperfect, which emanates for me a SAAB 900.
I also had some newer generation SAABs. These correspond more to the statements of FT and are by no means less “saabish”, but different.
We all have to do factual and sensible things every day - it is an excellent way to compensate for just spinning your hobby.
The bloated technocrats of NEVS will never be able to produce that feeling, and I do not care less about what's going on in China for cars on the streets.
I don't attach this to the drive either - even though I love the Sopund on my 900 and I therefore mostly don't use the radio, I just don't consider today's state of the art in electric vehicles to be in line with the market.
For the pure city enterprise it may concern, but if one lives in the country and also still campers, these are surely no solutions.
The glossed ranges melt like butter in the sun during operation with light, heating, or climate together.
In my opinion, hydrogen drives would be far more interesting, but are currently not able to displace the mainstream and the hype on electric drives, because the development is always directed by this mainstream, or must judge.
If you read the comments like this, you wonder where does ideology begin and where does the passion end?
For me, Saab is more than a brand, but also Scandinavia, cool, timeless elegance, safety, etc. And in the end, it's this kind of emotion that you look for in a car. Yes, Saab as a logo will not be on any new car and whether NEVS can arouse the same emotions and passion as Saab before remains to be seen. And after having been to Asia a lot and also working with the Chinese, I see it that having a lot of staying power and the will to invest in the long term comes mainly from Chinese investors - that's a good prerequisite.
So I think it's good to keep NEVS information as part of the blog, maybe in a separate area, but just because of the naming rights now to renounce, I would be a pity.
I would be interested to know what exactly “timeless, Scandinavian elegance” means on a Saab. Saab has produced quite different vehicles. The whole scrap +99 and 901 are rather bizarre or unusual. The optics of the 9000 are a boring philistine, just like the 9-5I Limosine. At the same time, the 9-3I and 9-5SC are still different and chic. From 9-3II the cars could be from any other manufacturer. The 9-5II is again significantly different from, for example, the German competition. Nice, but not elegant, because it looks like an empty weight of 100 tons from a distance of 2m. The cars are all great but you should look at them without all the marketing gimmicks. Anyone who has ever sat in an airplane cockpit will also have to realize that the Saab cockpit, apart from “Nightpanel” and “Fasten Seatbelts”, doesn't really have much in common with an airplane cockpit. Saab itself does not have an airplane that is even remotely similar to the dashboard any Saab automobile has. It's nothing more than a catchy marketing slogan. Born from jets sounds good ...
Regarding the blog, you could develop this into a “pure electric car blog” and then regularly post news about all electric cars. The classic blog is reserved for Saab and this is where the future takes place ...
Sad but liberating at the same time.
NEVS now lives in the stablebacka, but in my eyes the Saab spirit is gone and yes, for a car lover like me, it plays a role which emblem chooses the front of the car.
Maybe some people may rate it as vindictive and conservative, but for me the paths are now definitely different. The bottom line is that I think it's superfluous to report back from NEVS and the company does not (yet) deserve such supportive work anyway. So why?
Can understand it well, now again with the used Zuschuschlagen. Who knows what it looks like in 10-20 years ago. Maybe then electric motors are mandatory
+1
Saab remains for me; More than a car, as it is so beautiful on the T-shirt from Orio.
So everything has to do with Saab goes; I'm right (Saabs, people who drive Saab, stories, Saab dealers, Saab clubs, etc.)
Now no more newly built Saabs ...... then we are looking, if necessary, a used Saab car that can still be driven really well. And so there are still many.
For me it's easy: After NEVS has never cared about the SAAB drivers, I do not care about NEVS. The shown narrow-mindedness is unbearable for me.
Can not show anything, but make thick cheeks. In time, other manufacturers redesign entire cars.
Maybe it has a positive aspect: So it is possible that at some point a car with the SAAB lettering comes on the market, like as a second brand of VOLVO. There would be enough room for an enues work in Trollhättan.
As long as I drive in everyday life a good foreign brand and my heart depends on my SAAB 900 Turbo 16s.
There is already Sweden in the name. The S in NEVS stands for that. Like the I in Fiat for Italy. Only Fiat has been around for a long time and is better known. Well, let's see how long the S will remain justified or how long it shouldn't be called NEVC
Wait and see what products come to the market.
The conventionally designed gas-guzzling internal combustion engine really doesn't fit our ailing world anymore - not to mention the diesel vehicles that are turning around the world millions of times. Some of the former SAAB enthusiasts have already migrated to TESLA in recent years. Maybe some of them will come back - the workmanship of the TESLA fleet is on an American level and could well be topped by NEVS.
With regard to the Marekenname additions such as Scandic or similar should be included. With the sole name NEVS, hardly any consumer would come across the Nordic context or origin - unless the future PR work at NEVS would exceed all expectations and establish the name NEVS as a Swedish product worldwide.
That's how I see it. I do not want to spend money on a new combustion engine from the last millennium.
Maybe NEVS will put something attractive on our bikes for us. Working in the background with Chinese people does not have to be a disadvantage as you see in Gothenburg. The mindset is certainly more modern than in the encrusted structures of the domestic lobby-driven auto industry
The old SAAB will still stay as long as possible, but then may not have to do the day-to-day work anymore.
Hello.
I just stumbled across it by accident….
The "SAABschied" is worth a short article even SPON:
http://www.spiegel.de/auto/aktuell/saab-eigentuemer-nevs-beerdigt-markennamen-a-1099061.html
If you think so, then you can go Borgward in the future. It has been learned that old Saab genes have been boiled up in the rice cooker
"Honestly? I miss the bottom, which emblem sticks on it, as long as Saab is in it. "
How frugal - if not desperate - can you still be in terms of SAAB?
Following this logic, I would have to buy an Opel Insignia, because there is a relationship to the 9-5 NG. And after all, I could buy the Insignia as a station wagon.
NEVZ, Opel, Turkey, China. The SAAB genes and licenses are diluting and distributing in the future and already far around the globe. I'm not sure that these vehicles would actually be SAABs or insult SAAB by tagging such a vehicle with Saab emblems.
Honestly? I think that's distasteful.
Dito. I read with amusement how some here are trying to carve a follow-up idol from NEVS for the fading Saab brand. There is some DNA drumming and blessed roots to be preserved, instead of even wondering why you have become such a fire victim.
To put it another way: What must some “Saab enthusiast” lack in life that he is ready to be even remotely interested in this messed-up situation in his free time without paying? Even more: To write yourself in rapture? With so few substantial things, how can you seriously develop an increased interest or even sympathy for a profit-oriented company that has 99,9 percent nothing to do with the Saab automobiles on the streets? Just because the company recycles leftovers from Saab and is in Sweden? And because maybe a few ex-Saab engineers are still working there? That should be enough to move Nevs close to Saab?
Nothing against this company Nevs. Let her do what she thinks right. But every halfway empathetic man is recommended to free himself from a bent brand fetishism, which knows only one winner: the profit-oriented company. On the other hand, you do not gain anything by worshiping such monstrants. Neither does the spare parts situation improve, nor does the Saab gain in value in the garage.
He does not have to do the latter either. For who drives his car due to personal affection, so is a real enthusiast, interested in a loss of value in cars in this price range but not anyway.
Conclusion: Nothing prevents you from being and remaining Saab friend. You do not need a Chinese company for that. And if Nevs ever sells interesting products through a German dealer network, then go to the showroom and drive a Nevs sample. If you like it, buy it. And if it still pleases you then, you may actually develop new sympathies, from which eventually enthusiasm grows.
But with Saab it has absolutely nothing to do.
Saab emblems are still available from Orio as consolation for saying goodbye
Honestly? I pass the popo, which emblem sticks to it, as long as Saab is in it.
Of course it is unpleasant for supporters of the brand that SAAB and NEVS could not agree on the controversial points in the negotiations, we will still be able to speculate.
Does that bring something? Nope.
But maybe in the future small traders on a well-known internet exchange (starting with eb, ending with ay) will offer SAAB emblems for retrofitting.
I myself will wait and see what kind of things (cars) will eventually run off the line before I speak out for or against them. Air is always up, down due to the stable predecessor prevails rather vacuum. However, the new investors and developers are likely to know that very well. They are not stupid.
.
Nevs is no longer SAAB (maybe it was never right) - here others should step in the breach, but nothing has lost on a SAAB blog.
So I read that: http://www.expressen.se/motor/berggren-sa-kan-saab-bli-volvo-syskon/
But I think it's a "fake" ...
Saab as another brand in the Volvo Group ... The rumor keeps coming up. Also due to the fact that Volvo and Geely are planning a third brand, which is to be priced between Volvo and Geely, and which is to celebrate its premiere during the motor show in Paris. But: The Expressen is close to the Bild-Zeitung, the author is not a fan of NEVS. In principle, nothing is impossible, but I would classify it as a rumor in the summer slump.
Especially since Volvo still holds the naming rights to DAF and therefore the probability is higher that this will be used ...
The SAAB book was finally closed yesterday.
A new one called NEVS will be opened. The question is how many are willing to read it.
Many will not like what NEVS has in mind and I count myself there. I will refuse E mobility as long as possible. In the distant future my SAABs will become a hobby and will drive any other brand.
Everyone solves the problem in their own way ... I decided today to buy a SAAB 9-5 NG. Especially now, and because nothing follows. Preserve it cleverly and then drive until we are forced into the electrical boxes by law.
So I think that was long overdue and should have happened after the first insolvency of Nevs.
Also, one has watched for too long, as the Chinese Saab have bleed out, then then let foolish cheap plagiarism on it.
Unfortunately, as is so often the case in Sweden, people were hoping for a turnaround (as is usual in Swedish industry ... I'll remind you of Ericsson, the Kingdom of Crystal around Växjö and so on) . have the still existing belief in it taken away.
A pity, but that's the way it is.
For my part, I will cherish and cherish my Swedish automobile treasures in the good conscience that will come from the northern part of Gothenburg.
Or who of you buys a Chinese electric bins at an overpriced price?
In this sense,
Greetings from the Baltic Sea
Well, my 2009er 9.3 TTiD is still running fine and looks like that, but the end as a Saab driver has been predictable since yesterday.
As a native of Bremen I have to get used to living with Borward sooner or later. Comes then also from China but still has (or again) the old brand name.
gruß
Thomas
When I saw the new NEVS website, I had to laugh aloud. Typical Marketig Geschwubbel without substance. Alone the reference to the Saab story with which one identifies. That's ridiculous, the cheap have taken over the store and maybe before again quickly read the model story at wikipedia.
They just hope to keep talking and to bait former Saab drivers. You probably think that they buy everything that is somehow “saaby” (that's what I think the term is).
They should first set something up!
That is how I see it too. Just because a few former Saab employees work at NEVs does not mean that the store suddenly has Saabgene in it! NEVS is nothing.
These comments remind me every time Saab has launched a new product. "This is no longer a real Saab," it was very often among the connoisseurs. The Saab driver himself is just conservative (which I don't find negative) and needs time to get used to changes (see “Prototype” of a Saab driver, Ove).
I think NEVS acts very consistently. And please show me a manufacturer, who after a decision (which had to be made and I do not think the NEVS had a choice, well maybe in the new name choice) invites the community to talk to you about it. And if the conversation still results for the other common way, I find that very remarkable and unique. The comparisons with Tesla also hook a little. Tesla was only perceived after you had a product on the market (by the way, it was just an electrified Lotus Elise back then, so also an outdated model, does anyone here see parallel to the first Nevs product? And today's profitability of Tesla is also questionable.
Here we have the opportunity to be more or less involved in the creation of a new company and that is something unique, wonderful. And what had to change fundamentally was actually clear with the Spyker bankruptcy.
What I've decided for myself is to wait and see what's coming from Trollhättan and only then to judge, because as Tom already wrote. “The history of Saab has always been full of ruptures …….
I can imagine that the decision to sail under the NEVS name in Trollhättan is like a liberation. Being dependent on a licensor is always a tricky future, even if we liked the Saab comeback.
I always hear from Trollhättan that NEVS wants to do many things differently and wants to be leaner than Autoindustrie 2.0. The alliance with the Saab community, the invitation of the blogs, that is in my eyes and adds excitement to more.
Long live Nevs, a better future without Saab AB and still having good quality products, safe and good looking EV cars with Saab gens made in Trollhättan.
A car without an internal combustion engine does not trigger emotions. Nice design and great quality interiors are not enough. And if the future really is electro, then quite different brands - especially the Germans - have a huge problem. I think EV's shit boring, but if it should be and the environment helps ok. But then it is completely short for me what a battery bird in the garage. I will be able to drive my Saab for another two or three years until the blue sticker says no and I can not go to town anymore. So now every meter is enjoyed.
I see it differently - when I recently switched, an electric vehicle was among the last 2 - it was close. The fascination was definitely there - also because I want to feel “good” while driving. This has to do with driving (the characteristics of an electric vehicle are fantastic, I can happily do without the turbo lag and the roar) but also out of responsibility towards the environment and future generations.
Environmental balance? I know, there are different opinions.
If NEVS / SAAB had something clever, you would have been on the shortlist anyway. At least 4 years would have been yes. But nothing came from there. That was just investor-dumb.
However, power points and gaps in spare parts supply are definitely not enough. Would have been and the sky is blue is over now and another manufacturer has filled the gap in real terms.
If you do not care about the time, you will keep up with the times.
Funny, that I see it so differently than most commentators here. Did I miss something? So, what do I see positively ?:
-Spyker and NEVS had the same problem, namely defaulting at a critical stage, Spyker's failure to allow Antonov to be an emergency investor, NEVS a failure of that Chinese region. Muller has bankrupted, NEVS has survived.
-Spyker had two new models at the start, yet sales did not develop well enough until it was too late. NEVS did not have these models, and yet they have obviously pulled the emergency brake in time when the test production turned out to be uninteresting. Good, because SURVIVED!
-NEVS has another problem that they have not gone bankrupt so far, namely that they have acquired a platform (Phoenix), which has (for me almost as expected) proved to be not suitable for electric cars. How should she? Nevertheless, today a lot of engineers are developing Phoenix 2, which is suitable for electric applications. Very remarkable, although the development costs for electric cars are likely to be lower than for burners.
- ALWAYS NEVS has been able to convince several companies to sign contracts with them, from Tübitak or the hot ones to leasing companies. So while it may not be possible to convince blog commentators of technical competence, it's still big companies.
- So you have lost most Saab customers, for lack of loyalty? Do not they have that anyway, because electric vehicles are still niche vehicles? How much would NEVS have used the Petrolheads old school?
Are Saab fans old school petrolheads? That falls short. We have fans of old Saabs as well as people who are enthusiastic about modern vehicles on the blog from the 2-stroke to the 9-5 NG. A manageable number is now using Tesla, but is still reading along here. It is not necessarily the readers who write comments and are “loud”, but the target audience would have great potential for NEVS.
I find it rather daring to call the SAAB fans Petrolheads.
If NEVS wants to have the slightest chance, then you have to really steam up now. After 4 years of silence, this is hard to imagine. Alone the German SAAB blog reaches 100 millions German-speaking readers, SU much more. Why did you, with the exception of SU (which was not so great with the whole BMW fuss), bloggers not always tied to NEVS? Extremely short-term deposits are a sign for me that the Germans should not come, please, we Sweden would rather stay with us? Or???
Unbelievable all that, and if you already optically docked with TESLA from the logo, then you can learn from them as well. Only via blogs, internet, no conventional advertising. TESLA is on everyone's lips, NEVS do not know anybody. Either we are experiencing a complete U-turn or the store is a faster past than Trolltown can be.
So how are the chances that SAAB AB will re-assign the brand name?
It has now been accomplished what was long due. The fact that the Saab lettering on the factory building has now disappeared is not a reason for mourning for me, but a logical consequence. When I was standing in front of the factory during my vacation in Sweden last year, I wanted to have picked up the wrench and unscrewed the writing. NEVS is something different, something new and not Saab. Which does not have to mean that something bad has to come out of it. Even if NEVS did some really stupid things in the implementation of their goals and plans. But they managed to get another chance and are now on the right track. Even if Tom writes that there is still a lot of brand identity at NEVS and people who know how a Saab should feel, I think that doesn't matter anymore. In the future, a NEVS must feel like NEVS. If you like this, you buy such a car and drive it, if you don't like it, you can use another manufacturer. If you want to drive Saab, you have to be content with what was built until 2011. Saab is history and NEVS has to find its place in the future. You don't have to make a NEVS blog for that, but I would be happy to read more about NEVS here on the blog. Simply because I find it exciting. And who knows whether something interesting for me might not come out of the factory gates in Trollhättan after all. However, I do not see this in the short or medium term.
NEVS is a story of defeat, since the takeover of SAAB real estate, NEVS has not been able to produce even a substantial idea of a product. I only see PowerPoint presentations but no products. The public relations is a single bubble, without product idea is hardly anything else possible. If I read today that you have short-term blogs invited to Trollhättan. This reinforces my impression only more. You do not control your external presentation, you are driven.
The loss of the name rights can still be desperately sold as a departure to new, he remains the loss of name rights, and thus another defeat.
Perfect to the point!
Well, then it is now so "officially" so far. Saab is definitely history in automotive engineering. The last spark of hope goes out ... Even if he has tried with all his might, not to breathe out his life, the dismantling of the Saab lettering on the roof of the work is like a bucket of water.
Even if it was unlikely - and from an economic point of view actually clear - it is a stab in the heart.
Sure, we still have our existing Saab and can enjoy this very special vehicle. But I will miss to take a look at the factory during my visits to Trollhättan, where the Saab Letter proudly rose above the Stallbacka for decades. I will miss to photograph my cars in front of the factory or the Saab lettering at the entrance of the Stallbacka.
What a black day, a sad moment ...
And Tom: If NEVS actually still feels connected to Saab and should be able to live the tradition in the future and make “saaby” vehicles, then I would like to continue reading about it. After all, the world keeps turning - and if something new arises from the roots of our formerly innovative brand, then we fans shouldn't close ourselves off from it ...
I go into my garage, take a look in love with my sweethearts, pause in memory for a moment - and I'm glad that Saab has produced such great vehicles in his lifetime, with which I hope many happy kilometers are still ahead ...
When NEVS issues invitations that are so short-term ... well. The pain of the decision is still deep, but there is hope that NEVS will continue to maintain part of the SAAB DNA. I have no idea whether I still want to read something from NEVS, and if so, only if NEVS positions itself very clearly per SAAB story and per community (and of course per blog).
One thing is clear: NEVS lost a base of 1 million SAAB owners yesterday and is completely naked. After 4 years a poor result. NEVS urgently needs us, the SAAB bloggers, and our goodwill, but we do not need NEVS. Such are the true power relations. 🙂
If a NEVS offers the things that make a SAAb a car, passive and active safety, fantastic drive coupled with a design that stands out from the crowd in a timeless manner but is not too futuristic, then a “keep an eye on / blog” is a good idea . But much depends on NEVS itself and, as already mentioned above, they have not covered themselves with fame, so far when dealing with SAABists.
The decision whether with or without NEVS NEVS has since the SAAB bankruptcy by completely ignoring the needs of the previous SAAB clientele already like himself.
The fact that SAAB-AB did not release the trademark rights is more than comprehensible in the light of NEVS 'lack of commitment to the brand and its history. One has knowingly left an exceptionally loyal clientele in the rain for years. This revenges itself now, the complete separation is the logical consequence. Other providers have already filled the gap that has been created, leaving nothing to rely on NEVS.
http://www.handelszeitung.ch/unternehmen/chinesen-begraben-die-automarke-saab-1120916