2004 Saab 9-3 Arc Convertible 2-door 2.0l on 2040-cars

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Court extends Saab reorganization bid until end of November

Saab parent company National Electric Vehicle Sweden refuses to go down without a fight. After a recent trip to court, the company is emerging with an extension on its reorganization until November 29. According to Europe Online Magazine, there's also an appointed committee of creditors and union representatives to monitor NEVS' restructuring process.
NEVS still isn't giving up hope of saving itself, and the company claims there are has two potential strategies for getting back on its feet. The main plan is to "finalize the negotiations with the two Asian automotive manufacturers," according to a press release. Those firms still aren't identified, but Mahindra may be involved. According to Europe Online Magazine, one of the businesses is looking to take partial ownership of NEVS, and the other is considering some sort of cooperation with it.
If that plan fails, the second option is to take advantage of the factory and become a contract manufacturer.

Rare 9-5 SportCombi, 9-4X models being sold off in Saab asset auction

Saab lovers take notice. Swedish auction house KVD has some ultra rare Saab products on the block, and we're not talking about a 1950s Saab 92. Up for auction are a bunch of low-mileage Saab models being sold off as part of the bankrupted automaker's assets. Included in the lot of cars are models like the 2012 9-5 SportCombi (above), the 2012 9-4X (shown below) and even a 9-5 sedan driven by Victor Muller himself.
Discovered by PistonHeads, this Saab auction has numerous 9-5 SportCombi and 9-4X models, which should prove to be very rare cars. Only a small number of 9-4Xs were ever sold, and Saab closed up shop before the 9-5 SportCombi could even go on sale here. In addition to the rarity, many of the cars have fewer than 10 miles on their odometers and seemingly low reserve prices; a 9-4X 3.0 XWD Premium with just six miles has a current bid of 180,000 Swedish Krona (just over $27,000 USD) that has already met the reserve price. Some of the cars still have the protective factory shipping tape covering up the interior and exterior.
Other than the rare SportCombis and 9-4Xs being auctioned off, there's also a sharp 2012 9-3 Cabriolet with 11 miles on the clock and a V8-powered 2006 Saab 9-7X with just 3,003 miles.

Celebrate Volvo's 89th birthday with some neat facts

Volvo, arguably Sweden's best-known non-ABBA export, will celebrate the big 9-0 next year. The company has always operated somewhat under the radar, but it has its share of stories to tell despite an image formed by decades of solid, safe, and sensible cars. To celebrate the occasion, here are five lesser-known facts about Sweden's last remaining car brand. 1. It opened North America's first foreign car plant. Idyllic Halifax was a small fishing city of about a quarter-million in the early 1960s when Volvo arrived and became the first import brand to build cars en masse in North America. American consumers on the East Coast developed a fondness for the Volvo Amazon line in the late 1950s, leading Volvo to seek out a plant in the Americas. Halifax ponied up incentives, allowing Volvo to take advantage of a pact eliminating tariffs on cars built and exported between the United States and Canada. Volvo built cars there until the end of 1998, when it said its facility was no longer viable compared to larger factories in Europe. That brings us to The Netherlands, where Volvo bought a quirky, innovative automaker that once sold a car called the Daffodil (which was actually its luxury model). 2. You can thank Volvo for CVTs – even though it doesn't use them. Volvo wasn't interested in picking flowers. It wanted the automotive arm of truck manufacturer DAF, which would include its assembly plant, its Renault engines, and the first mainstream application of the CVT gearbox. Volvo acquired DAF's car business over the course of a few years in the early 1970s and, in typical Volvo safety-oriented style, it slapped big bumpers and head restraints on the little DAF 66 and rebadged it as the Volvo 66. The Dutch assembly plant would grow to include a partnership with Mitsubishi in the early '90s. Today, it operates as NedCar and builds Mini Coopers for BMW. Volvo is no longer involved in NedCar or DAF (which sold its CVT division to Bosch, by the way), but its acquisition of DAF helped ensure the success of CVTs. Ironically, even though Volvo's investment helped make CVTs mainstream, the Swedish automaker's affair with them was brief, and today it utilizes only conventional automatics. 3. The Swedish carmakers were pals. Over its 89 years, Volvo has been closely connected to a number of automakers – most notably Ford, which ran the company for a decade, and its current owner Geely. But Volvo is most closely linked to its longtime competitor, Saab.