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NEVS completes Saab purchase, earns right to brand name but not griffin badge

According to the Associated Press, a Hong Kong-based concern is close to building new Saab models. After some delays, National Electric Vehicle Sweden (NEVS) has completed the purchase of bankrupt Swedish automaker Saab.
NEVS says it plans to debut an electric vehicle in about 18 months. When the car comes to market, it will wear the Saab name, but not the marque's well-known griffin logo. Reuters reports that the company will produce EVs based on the Saab 9-3 platform, with intentions to sell these vehicles primarily in the Chinese market. Due to the continued use of the distinctive griffin head logo by commercial truckmaker Scania and the Saab aerospace group, NEVS was only granted access to the Saab name, not its emblem.

NEVS Sango autonomous shuttle rises from the ashes of Saab

National Electric Vehicles Sweden (NEVS), the company that purchased Saab's bankrupt carcass in 2012, has introduced an autonomous ride-sharing shuttle named Sango and announced plans to test it in real-world conditions. It also outlined a system named PONS that will allow operators and riders to connect with the shuttle. Saab famously claimed its cars were born from jets, but the Sango looks more like something you'd find in a store that sells small kitchen appliances than on an aircraft carrier sailing across the Atlantic. It wasn't designed to go fast, or to deliver engaging handling. Stylists intentionally gave it a boxy silhouette to maximize interior space and let operators offer three cabin configurations called private, social, and family, respectively. Its six seats can be moved around and rotated as needed, and the passengers can raise privacy walls if they don't feel like socializing with fellow riders. The shuttle's seating capacity drops to four with the walls raised. Chinese technology firm AutoX provided the Sango's self-driving hardware and software, though NEVS pointed out its shuttle is modular enough to use any autonomous system on the market. This is a wise strategy that widens its target audience. Operators will in theory be able to choose whether they want to purchase a turn-key self-driving shuttle or buy the basic structure and stuff their own technology into it. NEVS grouped the app customers will use to request a ride and a fleet management system into a software package it named PONS. Technical specifications haven't been released. All we know is that it's electric. NEVS confidently stated autonomous shuttles are closer to the mainstream than many think. "Getting from A to B with self-driving electric vehicles is not as far off as perhaps the car industry is implying. The era of one person per car and the era of owning a car are soon things of the past," opined Anna Haupt, the company's vice president of mobility solutions, in a statement. Engineers have started testing the first running Sango prototype at NEVS' headquarters in Trollhattan, Sweden. Looking ahead, the company plans to deploy a fleet of 10 autonomous shuttles in Stockholm, where they will be used by members of the general public. Autoblog learned from a company representative that testing will probably start in 2022, and that the firm is taking COVID-19-related concerns into account.

Saab's never-was 9-3 gets a few better looks

The recent glimpses we've been getting of the never-was Saab 9-3 Phoenix must be like rubbing salt on the wounds of all the Saab fans out there. If that's the case, diehard Saab enthusiasts might want to look away from this. SaabWorld has uncovered a handful of shots of what was to be the next-generation 9-3 hatchback, and boy does it look sharp.
Revealing a clearer look at what we previously saw in grainy images or as a full-scale model, these new pictures show what Jason Castriota had in mind for the new car. The front end is obviously inspired by Saab's Phoenix Concept, while the rear of the car pays homage to the Saab 900 hatchback.
We like the overall look. Let us know what you think in the Comments.