China’s Dongfeng Motor and National Electric Vehicle Sweden (NEVS), which bought the assets of bankrupt Saab Automobile in 2012, have signed an agreement to jointly develop green cars, NEVS released in a statement today. NEVS said the project would focus specifically on “new energy vehicles,” a term used in China to refer to electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles.
The agreement will also help Dongfeng to sell its own brand cars through the NEVS dealer network in Europe and the U.S., and also to meet European legal and technical requirements, the statement said.
The deal is another step forward for NEVS after financial problems led it to stop production of Saab cars in Sweden last year and defense contractor Saab AB, from which Saab Automobile was created in 1990, disputed its use of the brand name.
The agreement will also allow NEVS’ planned factory in Tianjin, China, to draw on the massive supplier network of Dongfeng. NEVS said in June that it had started work on the factory with a potential capacity of 200,000 cars, as well as a research and development center, with two Chinese partners pledging to invest 1.2 billion yuan (USD187.68 million).
Dongfeng also has a 14% stake in PSA/Peugeot-Citroen and joint ventures in China with Nissan, Renault, Honda and Kia.
