After losing the right to use the Saab name and entering bankruptcy protection, Chinese-backed National Electric Vehicle Sweden (NEVS) said it would lay off up to 200 workers “due to lack of work”.
The consortium that owns Saab said it kept a permanent workforce since output was halted in the end of May this year so it “would be ready to quickly start up production, upon such decision”. However, plans to secure long-term financing to revive production have failed resulting in further delays.
NEVS said that at this point, it doesn’t know when production will restart.
“With this there is a redundancy of the workforce. Therefore, Nevs’ management has decided to hand in a notice of intention to lay off up to 200 employees to the Swedish Public Employment Service,” the company said in a statement.
According to NEVS, the terminations will take place in September “in order to rapidly reduce the company’s costs during the reorganization period”, with the company to present its new plan to creditors on October 8.
“Nevs intends to retain the remaining staff to maintain the plant in good condition, to be prepared for the new production, after such a decision is taken, and to continue developing new products.”
NEVS, which started production of the Saab 9-3 sedan in Sweden late last year, wanted to create a new lineup of electric vehicles, but soon ran out of money.
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