NEVS builds another factory in Shanghai
In June NEVS will start building another car factory in China. The contracts for this have been signed, and after Trollhättan and Tianjin it would be the electric car startup's third plant. One could dismiss this message as not that important. But this time everything seems different and it's worth taking a closer look.
The former Saab factory in Trollhättan is meanwhile no longer productive. Parts of the facilities were dismantled and transported to Tianjin. The factory there should go into operation in the summer. It is still unfinished due to chronic capital shortages. The start of production has meanwhile been postponed to the end of the year.
For a few weeks now, NEVS has been extraordinarily active in the media. In the online edition of the local newspaper, up to 4 articles about the company appeared on two consecutive days - as almost always behind the digital payment barrier and therefore with a limited range. Readers could puzzle over the meaning, purpose and content of the articles. Because news in the real sense was not conveyed. More media landscape maintenance and polishing for the tarnished reputation.
A few days later, NEVS invited Swedish press representatives to visit China. In addition to the factory under construction in Tianjin, the headquarters in Beijing was the destination of the visit. Pictures of the work were published on Instagram, Victor Jensen by Sveriges Radio spoke to founder Kai Johan Jiang. Beginning of a new openness, or even a change of heart?
Breakthrough Thanks to GSR Capital?
The recent departure at NEVS may have a lot to do with the new plant in Shanghai. The construction is expected to cost around half a billion euros and will primarily by the new main financier GSR capital paid. GSR has made a name for itself over the last few years with the acquisition of billions in the battery business of NISSAN, the acquisition of Osram Licht AG and the purchase of the lighting division of Philips. With Boston Power, GSR Kapital is active with a second battery producer. NEVS, as a manufacturer of electric cars, fits perfectly into the portfolio of investors.
For the chronically weakening startup, GSR could now be the savior and the long-awaited breakthrough. The factory in Shanghai will go into operation at the end of the year 2019. It should be assumed that the construction will work smoothly and without delays, as is customary in China. The capacity of 200.000 vehicles per year is impressive. Together with Tianjin and Trollhättan together, NEVS would then, theoretically of course, come to a volume of 500.000 electric cars a year.
That is also impressive, especially because not a single electric car has been delivered to customers in the last 6 years. New era or not? Much is in motion, nothing is certain. But it could be exciting again for the old Saab plant and for the Trollhättan location. If production in China runs in 2019 and NEVS is successful, then the European production site Trollhättan would also be back in focus.
Dear Tom.
This is also clear to me. But how many investors and holdings should still appear in this tangle so that Nevs can finally produce? Nevs itself is a consortium of different investors. What should come out of this mess situation? Still other investors or investments that promise money again? I wanted to point to that and only then. I do not see any meaningful strategy here, but none at all. I just wanted to express that (emotionally).
Without the emotions addressed to the “dear people” I would have understood that immediately.
The strategy does not reveal itself to me either. One thing is becoming increasingly clear, however. NEVS likes to bag up. Maybe the strategy is “too big to fail”?
The more capital is tied up, the more production capacity is created, the more investors make an interest, the greater perhaps their influence and the more likely this becomes the Chinese political benevolence?
I do not like this. But that's the only way I can begin to explain the “strategy” to myself. If it didn't open, I would prefer it and the world would be a little better in my eyes.
Think of the SAAB 9000. A good product came first. Production capacity? Wrong! Demand initially exceeded the supply and occasionally used were traded at first even about the new car. NEVS is (or is) the exact opposite.
PS
Speaking of the opposite, it's quite possible that NEVS (if they're going to build something) will launch ANTI-SAAB on the market.
That with the anti-SAAB will probably not happen - KJJ thinks a lot of what SAAB is in the eyes of connoisseurs. The fact that his heart beats for electric mobility does not rule out other criteria such as quality, safety and design - to name just a few essential things.
“Doesn't exclude” doesn't mean much either ...
Produce an old 9-3 derivative forever? And that in abundance? That would not have occurred to SAAB in a dream and that alone is anti-SAAB for me. I can't make out a SAAB spirit far and wide ...
I think you can't bet on anything at NEVS. You have to see what GSR Capital is doing and whether the investor continues to expand his influence. If he does that, it can lead to a complete new beginning and everything goes back to “Start”.
A plant in Tinjan which does not gain momentum due to lack of capital, and at the same time a new plant in Shanghai ????
Dear people. Before I get into a bad mood or start laughing. Please do not believe in fairy tales. We are all grown up right?
Dear people? ? ?
Neither in the article nor in any of the comments can I make out any resurrection fantasies. SAAB is no longer an issue in connection with NEVS and NEVS is met with distance and skepticism. All good with the “dear people” here ...
Dear Björn, please see the matter quite factually: Behind the Shanghai project is another financier. He has nothing to do with Tianjin, this is a different joint venture.
There was the concept of building aviation ships here in Brandenburg. For this purpose, the largest hall in the world was built with a height of 107 meters, which can even be seen from outer space. The original Cargo Lifter hall. Not a single airship was built. Headquarters was the Potsdamer Platz in Berlin with the highest rents. In the end, only money was burnt. The global company went bankrupt for 2001. The insolvency administrators are still active. Employees are still waiting for the last wages from 2001. This is also happening here in Germany the startup companies are disappearing. Although Saab was better known, the Cargolifter concept was extremely media-effective at the time. I'm also curious if an EV will go off the line. I think yes in China. As has happened in Germany with the CargoLifter, things have been going on since the involvement of Saab and the takeover of the remains by NEVS in Sweden. Politically nothing will happen here. These are purely economic partial interests. Any company always profits. Similar to the airport Berlin-Brandenburg.
... without a concept, no money ... is exciting! I'm excited to see what might come off the belt!
Immense again new investors. But that seems normal now.
What I do not understand is that the politicians in Sweden accept it so easily. They are guilty of the fact that there will be an empty factory in Trollhattan and that the number of jobs there will be so negative evoluiert. That somehow in China electric cars are built is clear; but these are not Saabs.
Exactly. This has less and less to do with SAAB.
Still good that we also get this information. And who knows, a second plant in China is already ambitious. Maybe NEVS will eventually create a few jobs in Trollhättan? Many (ex-) Saab employees have long since changed their orientation or will already be retired. Even so, that has less and less to do with SAAB.
“Presumed” jobs in Sweden, if they were to become a reality, would still be OK. One cannot hope for more from NEVS for a long time ...
Maybe there are now professionals on amateurs? The shopping list of GSR Capital is not without.
Quote: NEVS, as a manufacturer of electric cars, fits perfectly into the portfolio of investors.
Sorry, but this sentence totally jumps me on: In the sentence above I am missing the small but telling word: “future” manufacturer etc.
So far everything has been “hot air” in reality. 🙁
If it should change, like!
With this topic it means only: waiting for FACTS.
Enclosed: Since China is state promoting and demanding e-mobility, the sales figures can theoretically become reality ... In the bus sector, China is already a giant step ahead: In some megacities there are already entire e-fleets of buses! While MAN (VW) and Daimler Benz are still handling diesels ...
Maybe I should have defined NEVS as a “suspected” manufacturer. That would hit the current situation quite well 😉
He is good. A laugh in the morning!
Tesla has financial problems at the moment and in general the sold electric cars are not really high among the other manufacturers, except perhaps in China.
Since you can really be curious how such an unprofessional store like NEVS wants to sell so many vehicles.
Let's see how it goes in future in Trollhättan.