National Electric Vehicle Sweden (NEVS) says it is not ruling out a bid for Saab Parts, to provide the appropriate level of aftermarket service to future customers.
The new Saab owners made the comments to just-auto on a visit to the automaker’s Trollhattan plant in Western Sweden this week, ahead of the 9-3 model launch, which is due to take place shortly.
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“We have dialogue with the government of Sweden concerning the future of Saab Parts,” a NEVS spokesman told just-auto in Trollhattan. “We think it could be interesting to us as we were bidding for the company when it was for sale. It could be positive for us to own Saab Parts logistics.
“The aftermarket is very important and we want to be talking about a very good brand in relation to customers – it is going to be easy to be a Saab car owner in the future – that you will be taken care of.”
The NEVS spokesman underlined the company’s determination to revisit the Saab Parts question, noting: “It is in our interest to acquire the company in one way of another – we have to have the aftermarket obviously.”
The automaker added it enjoyed positive relations with its Trollhattan hometown as the company gradually starts to hire staff ahead of the imminent relaunch of the 9-3 model.
Around 4,000 staff were made redundant as Saab Automobile entered bankruptcy, with significant implications for the town and region and against a backdrop of overall European recession.
“We have very good dialogue with the region and Trollhattan [as well as] the Council of Gothenburg,” said the NEVS spokesman.
“We have not received any finance [from them].”
