Saab 9-3 production restarts

Saab will restart its production line this week as it focuses on selling the 9-3 model in China and Europe in 2014, and there's a chance the Swedish brand could return to Australia.

A spokesman from Saab's new owner, National Electric Vehicle Sweden (NEVS), Mikael Oestlund, told industry publication Automotive News that the manufacturing facilities will soon be operational.

"Yes, we will start the actual production on Monday," Oestlund said, also citing that initial numbers of the model are expected to be low.

Following the successful testing of a small batch of pre-production 9-3 models built in September, the company has been given the green light for production. For now the Saab 9-3 will be the sole vehicle manufactured at the Trollhattan plant in Sweden. It will be powered by a turbo-petrol engine.

Details of the 9-3 are being kept under wraps, although the company has announced plans to build an electric version for the Chinese market in 2014.

According to Oestlund, the petrol-powered Saab 9-3 will have exterior styling similar to the last models built in Sweden in April 2011, and not the mooted next-generation 9-3. However, NEVS has made its intention to develop the next-generation Saab 9-3 clear.

Because the company owns the intellectual property of Saab's still-born Phoenix platform, which was to underpin the next-generation 9-3 (previewed in the Phoenix concept, pictured), NEVS is looking at workarounds to replace the General Motors-sourced parts of the new car – believed to account for around 20 per cent of the vehicle.

General Motors still owns the rights to the current Saab 9-5 so it's unlikely NEVS will build that vehicle.

NEVS bought Saab in August 2012 after the Spyker-owned company filed for bankruptcy. With a solid business plan and backed by Chinese investors, NEVS announced its intention to restart the Trollhattan plant early in 2013.

The Swedish Saab factory will run at a reduced capacity of around 600 staff. At its peak the factory had a workforce of 3500, but NEVS says it has the capacity to increase production if demand increases.

It's not yet clear what the restart of the Saab factory means for Australia, but NEVS’s goal is to exporting vehicles globally, including to the USA. There's a possibility we could see the next-generation 9-3 in Australia if the company's fortunes improve.

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