Rare electric Saab up for auction as marque’s final cars are sold off

A rare electric Saab 9-3 is among a trio of concept EVs going under the hammer as the marque’s final cars are sold off.

The test vehicle is one of a handful of models from the defunct Swedish brand set to be sold at auction later this month.

The electric Saab 9-3 was developed by new owner NEVS after Saab went out of business in 2012. First revealed in 2014, it was claimed that the NEVS 9-3 EV would be a largely new model based on the 9-3 and would herald the rebirth of the brand.

However, only a dozen test mules ever made it from the factory in China to Saab’s Trollhättan home for evaluation and the project never made it into production.

With the effective collapse of NEVs in 2023, one of those cars is among eight models being sold off by Swedish auction site Klaravik.

Alongside the regular 9-3 EV is an all-wheel-drive test mule developed with specialist Protean. The 9-3-based car used four in-wheel motors as part of exploration into a four-wheel-drive EV, possibly intended for use in the planned Emily GT.

The Emily GT was intended as a luxury grand tourer that would deliver more than 480bhp and boast a range of more than 600 miles. Amidst NEVS’ problems, there was hope that Canadian start-up EV Electra might salvage the project, but that deal fell through in May 2024.

The final electrified model is a range-extender hybrid once again based on the last of the Saab 9-3 saloons and evidence that NEVS’ Swedish engineers were looking at multiple fuel strategies for future models.

Bids for the three EVs will open on 21 May, with the hammer coming down at a special event at the Saab factory in Trollhättan on 30 May.

As well as the EV curios, three of the very last regular Saab 9-3 Aeroswill be on sale, making them among the very last mass-produced Saab cars ever built.