Turkish Government Buys License For Saab 9-3 For National Vehicle

The National Electric Vehicles Sweden (NEVS), the folks who bought up the assets of Saab have licensed the Turkish government to use the aged Saab 9-3 as the basis of a new national vehicle.

"We bought Saab 9-3’s intellectual property rights, but not its name," said Fikri Isik. Turkish Science, Industry and Technology Minister.

"The brand [of the car to be developed] will be a Turkish brand, it will not be Saab. We will develop the technology in Turkey."

Isik told the Turkish government-backed national television network, TRT, that the government had two options: go at it alone and spend $1 Billion dollars on developing their own vehicle or work with someone who has a platform ready to go.

Development of this new vehicle will be handled by The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBITAK) which hopes to begin production in 2020. A photo released by TÜBITAK shows three camouflaged prototypes with front ends from the unloved Cadillac BLS. At launch, the new vehicle will come diesel and gas four-cylinder engines. TÜBITAK hopes to launch an electric version down the road.

Source: aa.com.tr