2002 Saab Turbo Se Convertible on 2040-cars

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Nicolas Cage flogs Saab-based Senova from Beijing Auto [w/video]

BAIC has officially pulled the covers off of its new Senova D Series sedan for China. The four-door is based on the old Saab 9-5 and boasts a turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine. Local buyers can get their hands on the machine for around $22,745 at current conversion rates. Other engine options include a turbocharged 1.8-liter four cylinder as well as turbocharged 2.3-liter four-cylinder, and a wide range of safety equipment comes standard on every trim except the very base model. Those goodies include a tire pressure monitoring system, active head restraints, blind spot detection, driver fatigue detection and parking sensors.
The Senova nameplate serves every model based on former Saab architectures, including the Epsilon, GM2900 and GM2400 platforms as well as engine and transmission tech. In order to promote its new products, BAIC has hired Hollywood staple Nicolas Cage to serve as the company's brand ambassador. Cage stars in the Senova-heavy Town of Car Legends action-packed video short (directed by Olivier Megaton of Transporter 3 and Taken 2 fame) which you can view by scrolling below.

Look familiar? NEVS 9-3, 9-3X are Saab-derived EVs for China

National Electric Vehicle Sweden (NEVS) have been working on creating EVs based on its Saab assets for years. We heard back in 2015 that we'd have an EV based on the 9-3 this year, and now we're finally getting to see the results. NEVS has unveiled its 9-3 and 9-3X EV concepts, which it will use in a mobility project in Tianjin, China. NEVS is showing the 9-3 EVs at CES Asia in Shanghai on June 7-9, where it will also provide more details about the cars, its Tianjin project, and future plans for the brand. As for Tianjin, NEVS will provide the cars and the services for carsharing and ride-hailing programs in the city. For that project, NEVS is collaborating with Tianjin Binhai Hi-tech Industrial Development Area (THT), which is the industrial park where its shared factory (with joint venture partner Dongfeng) and R&D center are located. NEVS President Mattias Bergman says, "We are excited by this great opportunity to develop smart, sustainable mobility solutions together with a progressive city as Tianjin, and develop them in full scale with real people in real life situations, with the vision to create a future integrated urban mobility solution." As for the 9-3 EVs, they're not much different in appearance from the GM-era Saabs, but they have NEVS badging (NEVS doesn't have rights to the Saab trademark). They have a driving range of about 186 miles, offer in-car Wi-Fi, smartphone connectivity, and can get over-the-air software updates. NEVS says the cars are equipped with a "world-class" cabin air filter, which helps keep harmful particulates out of the car (important in the polluted urban centers China is working to improve). They're being built in China, and are expected to hit the roads there in 2018. Related Video:

NEVS Emily GT electric sedan developed by ex-Saab engineers finds a buyer

Even in death, Saab could not rest in peace. In life, the Swedish automaker never managed to get out from between the sales rock and the financial hard place. After GM bought half the company in 1989 and took full control in 2000, the inevitable brand engineering led to cars like a Saab 900 on an Opel platform, a Subaru Impreza rebadged as a Saab 9-2X and a Chevrolet Trailblazer turned into a Saab 9-7x. This went as well as anyone who knew Saab would expect. Come January 2010, Saab was dead. Or rather, Saab had entered a zombie state rebranded as New Electric Vehicle Sweden (NEVS), two Chinese companies in succession buying the automaker's intellectual property, both having to walk away due financial issues at the parent companies. Earlier this year, NEVS showed one of the projects it continued to work on throughout the turmoil, a four-seat battery-electric car called the Emily GT. NEVS said it was looking for a buyer for the project or the entire company. According to Sweden's Auto, Motor und Sport (translated) that broke the story, and further reporting from Saab Planet, the search has succeeded and the Emily will come to life. Saab Planet writes that in March of this year, a Swedish company called Stenhaga Invest bought 80% the the Stallbacka factory and office complex in Trollhattan where Saab used to build its cars, NEVS holding onto the remaining 20%. AMS reported that an as-yet-unknown European investor has signed a letter of intent to purchase two of the 13 projects NEVS said it has been working on, the Emily GT and the PONS, an autonomous shuttle. Svante Andersson, who runs Stenhaga, is reported to have said the unnamed investor is interested in taking control of "a substantial area" of the Trollhattan facilities, "indicating that a significant number of people will be employed in Trollhattan." Back in March, an NEVS engineer said properly funded development could get the Emily GT into production in less than two years. Based on the sports sedan we've been told about, that seems reasonable. Ineos chief Sir Jim Ratcliffe announced the Ineos Automotive Grenadier in 2017, showed a concept in 2020, and had a model running the hill at Goodwood in 2021 — four years for a ground-up design. Saab Planet writes that "a timeline for relaunch is expected to be announced after a meeting between the parties involved during week 32," which would be the week of August 7.