The Saab Story Finally Ends As It Auctions Off The Last Of Its Cars

After a decade and a half of existing on some form of life support, with little glimmers of hope it might return from the dead, Saab is finally being laid to rest. The former Swedish automaker has belonged to National Electric Vehicle Sweden (NEVS) as part of the Chinese real estate company Evergrande Group since 2012 before it faced financial collapse in 2021. Without a real buyer to rescue the former Swedish brand, the company took to selling off its assets and is now looking to part with its last relics — the few Saabs the company still owns.

According to Autocar, NEVS is parting with eight cars in total next week on Swedish auction site Klaravik. Included is Evergrande's one and only produced vehicle, the Hengchi 5 — a compact electric SUV that lived and died in 2022. Another is a NEVS-badged 9-3 electric vehicle. 

Saab-ing fans may be most interested in the three 2014 Saab 9-3 Aero production vehicles with low mileage and fuel powertrain. Though one does have the NEVS logo across the sides, but that might be easily removable. 

The final three available vehicles are NEVS electric Saab 9-3 prototypes. One is just a pre-production vehicle. One is an autonomous vehicle said to be equipped with GPS, lidar and cameras. The final is an EV with a fuel-powered range extender. All were made in preparation for its launch in China, which resulted in NEVS selling is EVs for some time.

These leftover models are the final remnants of Saab's potential before it reached a point past saving. In fairness, the Swedish automaker wasn't really thriving when GM gave it the axe in response to saving its own ass during the financial crisis, which also nearly ended "The Big Three." But under GM ownership, the cars never held true to Saab's heritage, rather they were forced into GM's cookie-cutter platforms of same cars, different badges, much like its dead brethren at Pontiac and Oldsmobile.

Saab tried to hold on a little longer when Dutch supercar company Spyker bought it. GM remained Saab's literal giver-of-life as it worked out a deal with Spyker to provide engines and parts. But Spyker, too, found itself facing the similar struggle GM had with Saab. To salvage things, Spyker went to partner with a Chinese company, but GM blocked it, and Spyker had to call it quits (but not before it sued GM for damages).

NEVS was maybe Saab's final hope. The small electric startup backed by a Chinese property giant planned to electrify the Swedish car's heritage for the EV future. It made an electric 9-3 that did okay for its few years of production. It also created the Emily GT. But it wasn't enough. The Emily GT was reported to have found a suitor poised to save it, Canadian start-up, EV Electra, late in 2023, but the deal fell through, and so did Saab's ambitions.

NEVS started cleaning house shortly after, laying off all but 20 of its staff. It also sold part of Saab's storied Trollhätten plant to Polestar, which today uses it for research and development. In 2025 NEVS auctioned off assets from the part of the plant it still owns. And next week, the Saab chapter closes with the final few assets of the automotive brand leaving the factory for the very last time and finding homes.

Saab has had such a storied history with its inception in the 1930s to build airplanes for its Swedish military at a time when the world was at odds, much like it is now. It went on to build cars and gave us quirky-ass things like headlight washers and wipers, the Sonnet and the 900 Turbo. And although in the US it was never the car everyone had, it remained the quirky one, which is maybe why we at Jalopnik always rooted for the little guy.

While Saab has been dead to the US for a long time, it hasn't been truly dead everywhere,  rather on some spiritual journey where it unfortunately found itself coming up for one last breath of air. But it's time we lay the paddles down and call it. RIP Saab, at least as a car company. It apparently lives on in producing military ware and weaponry. What an ending.