Saab seems to have been looked at by a one-eyed man. His problems have not ended after 10 years of misfortunes. The last one is the financial difficulties of the NEVS parent company, which is none other than Evergrande, a business colossus that has enormous financial problems.
The story of Saab it’s been disaster after disaster for 10 years. After the exit of the orbit of General Motors, everything has been problems. It went to Spyker and it didn’t work out. Then, in 2012, the Chinese kept it and it became NEVS, in 2016 they lost the Saab name and the tap logo, and now the matrix Evergrande is wrong of yours.
Evergrande is a Chinese mega-company that is too involved in the real estate business, being part of the bubble of the same in China. The possible fall of this giant can destabilize the Chinese economy and, by contagion, the world economy. Basically, they cannot cope with monstrous debt.
Evergrande recently failed again to meet debt maturity; did not pay its debtors. Evergrande’s liabilities in the first semester amounted to 571,775 million yuan (74,886 million euros), of which 31,439 million euros are short-term debt.
Evergrande recently announced that in 2022 it will launch its automotive business through the electric car brand – created ad hoc– Hengchi, once some difficulties have been overcome to start everything up, especially of an economic nature. They claim to have a very complete range in a relatively short time.
But Evergrande needs to lighten the ballast and recover liquidity anyway. One of the assets you can get rid of is the Swedish car division, i.e. National Electric Vehicle Sweden AB (NEVS). Its valuation in the market could amount to 1,000 million dollars.
Potential NEVS recipients are venture capital firms and industry partners from both Europe and North America. Even if they keep NEVS for that $ 1 billion, it’s like using a squirt gun to put out a fire. At least NEVS would have a bit more of a future.
Sango, Urban Purpose Vehicle Unveiled by NEVS in Summer 2020
Regarding the situation of NEVS, its executive president, Stefan Tilk, has taken the iron off the issue, as they have money to last a long time. There are already conversations with various stakeholders. In China they do have activity, but beyond those borders, the truth is that they don’t paint much.
However, NEVS sent almost half of its workforce, some 650 workers, to the streets during the month of August. Tilk added: “If Evergrande can continue with their operations, which they expect, they will be interested in having a niche in Europe, with infrastructure such as a plant, tests, laboratory. And we have that ».
NEVS ‘role on the European continent is virtually irrelevant beyond its collaboration with Sono Motors to build the Sion. Nevertheless, serves as a trojan horse to make electric cars, being the minor technological barriers to re-enter the Old Continent.
NEVS factory in Trollhättan (Sweden)
NEVS isn’t everything to Evergrande’s automotive ambitions, far from it. You have already reached agreements with Koeniggsegg Automotive or Hofer Powertrain. As for Hengchi, he has big ambitions, one million units in 2025, and five million in 2030.
Evergrande New Energy Auto would have three factories in China: Tianjin, Shanghai and Guangzhou. The initial production capacity would not be very high, around 100,000 units each a year, but they would grow as customers are obtained. The longer they take to do so, the more competition they will find.
Unlike the traditional automotive business, with high entry barriers, the same is not the case with electric vehicles, especially with the right suppliers. The future of NEVS outside of Evergrande’s orbit is equally doubtful, is a manufacturer that has not deployed all its alleged potential.