- Swedish car company NEVs revealed the Emily GT concept earlier this year, an EV crafted by engineers from the now-defunct Saab.
- An anonymous investor has purchased the intellectual property rights to put the car into production.
- If the deal stays on track, it could mean the return of the Saab character missed since the automotive brand went bust in 2011.
The Emily GT finds a buyer
National Electric Vehicle Sweden (NEVS) emerged after Saab’s automotive branch went under in 2011. The company went into ‘hibernation’ mode earlier this year, but not before it unveiled an electric car project it had been working on; the Emily GT, which took just 10 months to reveal from initial design and development.
Top Gear got a chance to drive a prototype just a few weeks ago, and with unique styling and an electric motor setup from UK company Protean Electric that put hub motors directly inside each wheel, it kept that innovative nature and design that gave old Saab cars such a cult following. It was essentially a Saab, all but by name. At the time, the intellectual property rights were also for sale, but there was no sign that the car would make it into production.
However, in promising news for those wishing that the concept will become a reality, it has now been reported by Saab Planet that an anonymous investor has agreed on a deal to purchase the production rights for the Emily GT. This significant development indicates that the possibility of the Emily GT hitting the consumer market may become a reality.
Furthermore, the deal also stipulates that the car will be produced and developed in Sweden, in the same town the final Saab vehicle rolled out of the factory ten years ago. As such, we would expect many ex-Saab staff to participate in making the model a production reality.
What can we expect if it makes it into production?
The team behind the Emily GT noted that they used Porsche’s all-electric Taycan, one of the best electric sports cars, as a benchmark during development. This indicates that it would be produced to rival other premium EVs, such as the Tesla Model S and Lucid Air. The original design plans opted for a sizable 175kWh battery pack, enabling it to go over 1,000 kilometres on a single charge, along with a total power of 484bhp from its four hub-mounted motors.
Of course, that colossal battery pack doesn’t come without added weight. If this deal continues to make progress, it remains to be seen whether the original specifications will be kept to. For now, though, we’ll have to wait and see who exactly has arranged this deal with NEVS, and hope that it can make it through the next hurdles.
