The first Nevs 9-3

The first Nevs Saab 9-3 built `ll be used for the certification process of the Saab 9-3 in China. After that the car `ll be stored in the collection of the Saab Car Museum in Trollhättan.

As I wrote before, the Nevs 9-3 is (for the moment) available in two colours; grey and black. If you want any other colour on your new Saab you can personalise your 9-3 with a wrap. Wrapping a car (depends on country and quality) costs about 2000 EUR. The wrap lasts for about 3 years and it costs 3 hours of labour to remove the wrap from your car (no damage to original lacquer). A complete respray of your 9-3 is also an option, but your car is not original anymore (a wrap is more a "protection").

Click here for the pictures of Saab 9-3 Convertibles in red.

New Saab 9-3`s for sale again

Starting today the new Saab 9-3 is for sale again in Sweden (see Swedish text below)! Initially the cars are only sold to clients in China and Sweden. However, over time the Saab 9-3 Aero and other models will also be available to customers in other markets. Click here for the Saab webshop!

Bericht door Save Saab Museum.

I morgon tisdag börjar försäljningen av Saab-bilar Tisdagen den 10 december kl 14.00 börjar försäljningen av Saab-bilar på den svenska marknaden direkt från Nevs hemsida. Nevs använder en för biltillverkare ny säljkanal genom att inledningsvis sälja direkt via hemsidan. Samtidigt skapar Nevs en personlig kundrelation genom alla led med direktkontakt från försäljning till leverans av bilen. – Vi vill ha en nära dialog med våra kunder redan från början. I vår direktkontakt kan vi bland annat snabbt fånga upp synpunkter och önskemål, vilket hjälper oss i vår ambition att ge kunderna en förstklassig upplevelse och ett engagerat omhändertagande, säger försäljningschef Jonas Hernqvist. Saab 9-3 Aero Sedan 2014 är fullutrustad och har en bensinmotor på 220 hk/350 Nm. Priset med sexväxlad manuell växellåda är 279 000 kronor inklusive moms, + 10 000 kronor med sexstegad automatisk växellåda. I priset ingår tre års fri service, tre års vagnskadegaranti, två års vägassistans samt vinterhjul på aluminiumfälg. Efter leveransen av bilen vill vi även fortsättningsvis erbjuda ett tryggt bilägande. För service och reparationer hänvisar vi till Saab Original Service verkstäder. De första bilarna av denna begränsade upplaga kommer att levereras under våren 2014. Då kommer vi att erbjuda kunden en speciell varumärkesupplevelse när bilen hämtas på leveranscentrum vid fabriken i Trollhättan. Här möter representanter från Nevs som, förutom presentationen av bilen, berättar om hur vi ser på framtidens bilindustri och vår planerade färdväg mot att bli en ledande elbilstillverkare. Ett besök i vår högeffektiva fabrik samt besök på Saabs bilmuseum ingår också i upplevelsen. För ytterligare information kontakta Nevs kundservice. Telefon: 0520-855 00 E-post: customersupport@saabcars.com

The Sharp Saab II

One year ago I wrote about the "Sharp Saab" from Puntita and Krit. Saabs are rather rare in Thailand, click here to see more Saabs in Thailand.

Saab production starts this monday!

Finally! After this weekend the production of new Saabs starts again! In the first place Saab `ll build Saab saloons, I hope they add the convertible and estate soon.

Something else about one of my own Saabs. I`ve decided to give my black convertible a new colour (red). It`s my 2nd Saab convertible in black and I think red looks good for a Saab 9-3 convertible. I hope my convertible is ready just before christmas.

NEVS is ready to go

NEVS management confirmed to SaabsUnited thursday evening, that the chain of suppliers to restart production is now ready to go! Per Svantesson, Purchase manager at NEVS told TTELA that gradual changes and improvements will be made until a facelift is ready to be rolled out. According to sources to SU this would happen sometime in the spring of 2014. Sources to SU say that production of cars would most likely start late november or early december, however there is no confirmation from NEVS on an actual date for the production start.

Bericht door Save Saab Museum.

GOOD NEVS!

Today NEVS has presented their first produced Saab to a team of three reporters from SaabsUnited. This really is good Nevs for all Saab fans.

Read more on this page of SaabsUnited or this page on the Saabism blog.

Saabs at the airport

For today my English Saabfriend Gavin comes over for a short stay in Holland. He wants to fly with me in the Cessna, but what he does not know is that a lot of Dutch and Belgian Saabists are present here to give him a warm welcome! Let`s hope for good weather now! Here more info (in Dutch).

New Saabs coming this year?

The "news" about New Saabs has been spread on our Facebook page some weeks ago. But as not all Saabists are active on Facebook this time something about those Saabs(the pictures are made in Austria on my way to Italy). According to the news new Saabs `ll be made again by end of August 2013 in the city of Trollhättan. 8000 Saab 9-3 sedans in both gasoline and diesel versions `ll be made and in the future an electrical version will be available too. The Saab 9-3X `ll be available by year`s end, but there is no mention of the 9-3 Sport Combi being produced.

No news about the engines to power the 2013 Saab 9-3. The "old" 9-3 had a GM engine, it is highly unlikely that GM would license this engine to NEVS. The tooling and know how for Saabs old H-series engine has been sold to BAIC. In the past Fiat engines have been installed in 9-3`s, that`s why there are rumors of a Fiat engine to power new Saabs. But why no BMW engine? They had a deal with Victor a couple of years ago.

Sold my 9-5 and congrats to Puntita and Krit

Yesterday evening I`ve sold my Saab 9-5 to a client. Her own car was too expensive to repair. She`s very happy with my 9-5 and I have still 3 Saabs left.

The 9-5 really is a good car, I really enjoyed driving the 9-5 but I did not use this car very often. It`s better this way. Besides that. I am in contact with the owner of my first new bought Saab (9-3 hatchback on petrol). He `s still a happy owner, but if he wants to sell in the future he`ll call me first.

Today Puntita and Krit are married in their "Sharp-Saab" in Thailand. Congratulations and good luck together!!!

With my Saab 9-3 Aero I`m still not finished by the way. Very often I have the "rear fog light" warning. I`m afraid I have to replace the whole fuse box (have replaced light, wires are ok).

New this fuse box is rather expensive, I hope to replace it with a used one. It`s not very urgent, so I have the time.

Saabs made in China

Source The Qingdao Qingbo Investment Co. Ltd., the State Power Group Co. Ltd., and its Swedish subsidiary signed an agreement on 7 January to build SAAB cars in Qingdao, Shandong Province, states the Qingdao Daily newspaper. National Electric Vehicle Sweden AB (NEVS), a sister company to State Power Group Co. Ltd., bought SAAB in June 2012. Both companies are owned by National Modern Energy Holdings, a company founded and controlled by Johan Kai Jiang, a Chinese-Swedish enterpreneur. According to the Qingdao Daily,the three parties involved pledged to invest 10 billion yuan (1.6 billion dollars) to construct a factory capable of building up to 400,000 automobiles a year, which includes cars powered by both conventional internal-combustion engines and alternative fuel engines. The factory, an R&D center, sales, and procurement centers will be built in Qingdao, a northern Chinese port city. The Qingdao Qingbo Investment Co. Ltd. is believed to be a company set up by the Chinese government specifically for the SAAB project. That makes the Chinese an investor in any future SAAB cars. By shifting production to China instead of Sweden heavy import tariffs are avoided for cars made under the SAAB brand. A time frame for the building of the factory is unclear, but factory construction in China can be done at a breathtaking pace once approval is granted by the central government. An official statement by the Swedish subsidiary of NEVS is still pending on this matter. However a source to Saabblog.net states that in the future Qingdao will produce cars for the Asian markets, while Trollhättan will produce them for Europe and the US. Too good to be true? If it all comes true and SAAB is revived perhaps their first car ought to be the SAAB Phoenix, which will be appropriately named...

The Sharp Saab in Thailand

On our Facebook fanpage we`ve nearly 1200 fans now. One of them is Krit Jongudomsombut from Bangkok (Thailand). As we maybe all know, in Thailand a Saab is very rare (for sure not so common like here in Europe).

Krit told me people in Thailand really don`t know Saab. If he parks at the public car park people often call his car a Sharp (brand of electric appliances) instead of Saab. Krit is a Saab fan for many years. And he`s not the only one in his family. Also his brother in law drives a Saab.

The Saab 96 shown above is the wedding car of Krit and Puntita (they`ve planned their marriage januari the 23rd). Krit drives his Saab 96 for 5 days a week and he gets a lot of attention on the road. Krit drives a very exclusive car because there are just 2 other Saab 96`s left in Thailand.

In the past Krit had also a 1993 Saab 9000CD. Below some pictures.

Finally a picture of the Black Saab 9000 CD Krit owns, this one is from 1997. Do you have a Saab too, feel free to post your picture with or without story on our Facebook page.

Saabs, Prosciutto and Mussels

Yesterday evening I had an event with San Daniele Prosciutto in my Snaidero kitchen showroom (today as well). One of my guests (Ben) also owns a Saab (a 9-3 convertible more or less the same as I have) and we where talking about nice Saabs. I told him I like the Saab 2-strokes, but he had never seen one (me neither until IntSaab). Actually I wanted to show him some youtube videos with Saab two-strokes but unfortunately it was too late to start up my computer again (after midnight). That`s why I`ve embedded some video`s for him, I hope he understands me better now. Today more Saab drivers are expected to visit my showroom. One of them is Alexander (he also has a 9-3 convertible). Alexander lives in Bratislava, so he has a nice trip to do today with his Saab. Alexander has a blog about Saabs like me. Besides Alexander also some Dutch and Belgian Saab drivers are expected. At one of our Saabmeets at the airport we where talking about mussels and I told one of the Belgian Saab drivers I can make the best mussels of the world. Tonight I have to prove I did not exaggerate.

Saab Car Museum support association

The text below is copy-pasted from Saabsunited: Yesterday a new association deeply linked with Saab’s heritage was officially launched, The Saab Car Museum – Support Association. For a few months now I, as a representative from SaabsUnited has been part of a start-up board for this new “club” which aim is to help preserve the collection of cars, keep the museum alive with new cars to show and also help organizing serious events such as the Saab Festival. I have attended a number of meetings and together with a great team from various parts of what used to be the previous company Saab Automobile. We have worked out the guidelines of the association and also found ways for what the association can do for its members. The chairman of the association was elected yesterday, his name is Gunnar Larsson, who previously worked as Technical Director at SAAB Automobile AB. Several other great people from Saab is involved in the board for the association and I’m sure they will do a superb job!. As a first step, thanx to the sponsors of SaabsUnited, we were able to fund the costs of establishing the web-domain for the website of the association, and the Swedish Saab Club did a good job with providing the server space required. Membership for the association will come at a cost of 200 SEK per year per member and a number of benefits which are very exclusive have been proposed to be made available for the members. We’ll get back with more details once it has been decided upon! The video above is made with my phone driving the 95 veteran.

Article about the Saab 9-5 in Autovisie

That the Saab 9-5 is a very interesting used car we all know, but now the Dutch Autovisie has written a nice article about it. The value of the 9-5 is much lower than comparable other cars of its age. Click here to read the article.

Today I went to the airport to prepare the 95 for the Saabmeet this wednesday (10th of october at 18.00).

Pictures of Saab

Nearly on daily basis I post a picture regarding Saab on the Facebook page of Save Saab. Last week I`ve posted the picture below I`ve found somewhere on the web.

As I did not make the picture myself, the nice thing is, that its author found it and responded : "I took that picture at the Gistad Saab Swap meet in the early 90´s. Had one of those pedal cars when I was a kid :-)" So Martin B: thank you for scanning your analogue photo to make it digital. Because Martin B. did I`ve scanned in a picture too :).

It`s a postcard I`ve got from Saab in the Netherlands. Below the text which was written on the back.

Do you have a nice Saab related picture too? Feel free to send it to me: info(@)jouwkeuken.nl

Nice Saab pictures

On the web I`ve found some nice Saab pictures so I`ve posted them on our Facebook page last week. I could not resist to post the "Winter Wonderland" Saab on this blog for the non-facebook Saabists.

Last week I`ve fitted a spoiler on my Saab 9-5, so I`ve made a picture myself too :). I`ve traded in my ugly black rims for aluminium ones, in my opinion my 9-5 is looking much better now.

The picture below is from a 96 I found somewhere for sale. I think these cars are underestimated classics. They are cheap to buy and to maintain. Maintanance is easy too. The only thing is that these cars need to sleep in a garage because the rustdevil likes these kind of Saabs very much.

What to do with our blog about Saab

We all know NEVS has bought the remains of what once was SAAB, the manufacturer of great cars from Trollhättan in Sweden. It seems NEVS needs a lot of time before "NEVSAABS" can leave Trollhättan. NEVS needs to solve a lot of problems too, I think the Griffin logo is not the biggest problem they have (Scania does not allow NEVS to use the logo). They need to start up the supply chain first, I understand not everyone is willing to deliver parts to NEVS after the experiences with Saab in the past (and currently with Saab parts vs. BMW).

I`m thinking about what to do with the blog and Facebook page of "Save Saab". For the moment I`ve decided to be patient, just wait what happens in Trollhättan. In the mean time I keep on Saabing and posting nice Saab pictures on our Facebook page. Feel free to post your Saab picture on the Facebook page, or send it to my e-mailadress info(@)jouwkeuken.nl. About my Saabs; I`ve decided to keep my 3 current Saabs (9-3 Aero Sedan, 9-3 Convertible TX edition and 95 old timer) and to add more Saabs to my collection. I can`t buy new Saabs yet, so I have to buy used ones. On my wishlist I`ve the 92 and/or a 93 (two strokes) and a 1st generation 9-3 (because in 2002 it was the first Saab I`ve bought). Below a picture of my 95 at home.

Need more Saab "news"? Alexander has a nice blog about Saab.

Saab meet in the Netherlands

Wednesday evening the 10th of October all Saab drivers are invited for the Saab Meet at Zeeland Airport in the Netherlands. This meeting starts at 18.00. Adress: Calandweg 42, 4341 RA Arnemuiden.

The World Map of Saabs

It's always a great feeling to see a Saab, while away from home. You come to a foreign city and see, that there are people with the same passion as you have. Than it stops to matter from which era the Saab is. It's a Saab. As many others I take pictures of spotted Saabs as well as of mine on the road. There are many of these pictures circulating or just sleeping in the computers. It's a pity when they sleep, isn't it? Therefore I'd like to try to create a world map of Saabs. A rather simple one. Each photo has it's own placemark. Right now, they are coming from me and a couple of friends. Take a look at the map and the pictures. Would you have your Saab or a spotted Saab on the map as well ? Send a picture to contact.saabism@gmail.com and name the location where it is taken. I will add it to the map. It's so simple. The target is to get the map crowded. If you wish to clean the numberplate, just write it. The text above is copy pasted from http://saabism.blogspot.com/

News about Saab

At the moment there still is not much to tell about Saab. In India there are sources reporting that Mahindra has bought Saab. Other sources claim that National Electric Vehicle Sweden AB is the new owner. As long as there is no official statement of the administrators we still know nothing. What we do know is that VM drove a Saab 93 in the Mille Miglia of 2012. Don`t know about the Mille Miglia? In 2011 Saab made this nice video about the Mille Miglia: . Three Saabs where driving in the 2011 Mille Miglia, in 2012 the 93 of VM drove the only one Saab. Fortunately cars of other brands where allowed to drive the Mille Miglia too...