Before National Electric Vehicle Sweden, the Chinese company that bought Saab’s assets when the Swedish automaker went bankrupt, gave up on making cars, its engineers developed an electric sedan called the Emily GT. And while we probably won’t ever see another new Saab, we might actually get to see the Emily GT thanks to a Canadian company called EV Electra that just bought the rights to produce it.
According to the press release, EV Electra “is soon to start assembly of their first cars at the company’s plant in Turkey.” That doesn’t necessarily mean the Emily GT will be built in Turkey, though, as EV Electra CEO and founder Jihad Mohammad’s statement makes it sound like he plans to build the Emily GT in Trollhättan, Sweden:
We will have cars coming out of Trollhättan again. We did this acquisition fully aware that we will need to back it all the way through development to mass production. I am firm believer in in-house production and strong balance sheets. I also believe Trollhättan has the personnel that can make our visions come true. The acquisition of the PONS and Emily projects signifies a pivotal milestone in our pursuit of innovation and sustainability. We are thrilled to embark on this journey.
Yes, the deal also includes the PONS, which is some kind of “mobility ecosystem” that we don’t really care all that much about. Maybe we’ll care if EV Electra actually gets the autonomous mobility pod thing on the road, but even if it ever happens, it won’t be any time soon. The Emily GT, on the other hand, appears to be close enough to being production-ready, that it shouldn’t take long for EV Electra to get it on the road. At least compared to how long it normally takes an electric vehicle startup to start building cars, that is.
Early reviews of the pre-production Emily GT have been pretty positive, and it should have at least a 500-mile range if it goes into production without significant changes. Then again, it also won’t be light, as uses a 175-kWh battery pack to achieve such an impressive range. Still, it’s a cool car, and we wish EV Electra the best of luck. Hopefully, it keeps the name, too.