National Electric Vehicle Sweden (NEVS) is actively seeking 27 assembly line workers for its Trollhattan plant in Sweden ahead of a targeted Saab restart later this autumn.
The initial batch of staff will work on a conventionally-powered Saab 9-3 model, but will also be employed for proposed electric vehicle production in 2014.
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“The first number is 27 – we are recruiting now,” a NEVS spokesman told just-auto from Trollhattan in Western Sweden. “Hopefully we are going into production later this year for the conventional 9-3 model that will be the first car.
“It will be the same personnel producing and assembling the internal combustion engine and electric vehicles. The first electric vehicle we will launch next year will be built on the 9-3 model with some exterior and interior facelifts.”
NEVS is declining to reveal the total staff it is aiming to recruit – Saab in its former incarnation employed around 4,000 people at its Swedish site around one hour North East of Gothenburg – but news of concrete numbers being hired will come as some relief to the town of Trollhattan.
Significant numbers were made redundant when the former Saab entered bankruptcy in late 2011 and any indication some could be rehired will be welcomed by the former automaker’s main blue collar union, IF Metall.
“We recruit more people all the time,” the NEVS spokesman said. “When we are somewhat further down the road, we can talk about total staff.
“According to our time plan, we are planning to start production later this year in the autumn and that is still our goal.”
Just two weeks ago, Dutch automaker, Spyker’s US$3bn lawsuit accusing General Motors of trying to bankrupt Saab, was dismissed by a US federal court judge, who said the American manufacturer had the right to block the sale of a company using its technology.
