NEVS 9-3 EV History

After securing new investment and pivoting fully to electric vehicles, NEVS presented the 9-3 EV sedan (and the related 9-3X estate concept) at CES Asia in Shanghai in June 2017. The car rode the same GM Epsilon I platform as the original Saab 9-3 but replaced the internal-combustion drivetrain with a front-mounted 130 kW (174 hp) permanent magnet synchronous reluctance motor paired with a CATL lithium-ion battery pack offering a claimed 300 km (186 miles) of range.

Pre-series production began in Trollhättan in December 2017 for development validation, with first customer deliveries in China on 29 December 2018. Full series production launched on 29 June 2019 at NEVS's Tianjin, China facility — not in Sweden. The vehicle was sold exclusively in China, with no announced plans for European or North American retail sales.

China's Evergrande Group acquired a 51% stake in NEVS in January 2019 for US$930 million, later moving toward full control through its Evergrande New Energy Vehicle subsidiary. When Evergrande's broader property-empire debt crisis erupted, funding to NEVS dried up. Production of the 9-3 EV ended in 2022, and NEVS cut its workforce to a skeleton crew in March 2023, effectively ending series manufacturing.