STOCKHOLM — The Saab car brand was dumped on the scrap yard of automobile history on Tuesday, when the trademark's most recent user said they would give up trying to recycle the venerable name.
National Electric Vehicle Sweden, which was created to take over the assets of Saab Automobiles in 2012 following the automaker's bankruptcy, built Saab cars for a few months before throwing in the towel in May 2014. Since then, NEVS has failed to persuade trademark owners the Saab aero and defense group to let it continue to use the Saab name for its own future generation of electric cars.
NEVS said it will base its first electric vehicle, to launch next year, on the Saab 9-3 platform but will use its own name as the trademark.
"That means that NEVS will no longer use the Saab trademark," it said.
The first Saab car rolled off the conveyer belt in 1949 and the brand, sportier than Swedish rival Volvo, has gained cult status among many auto fans worldwide.
The Saab group sold the auto division in 1990 to General Motors, which then sold it on to Dutch company Spykers in 2010.
Since Saab's 2012 liquidation, NEVS has used its Saab assets and Swedish know-how to develop a range of electric models with the help of Chinese capital.
In 2015 NEVS won a contract worth 11 billion euros ($12.43 billion) to supply 250,000 cars to Chinese rental company Panda New Energy.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2016
