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Saab inks $996 million deal to build 20,000 EVs for China

Saab inks $996 million deal to build 20,000 EVs for China

The deal comes on the heels of a $12 billion contract for 150,000 cars with another Chinese firm.

National Electric Vehicle Sweden (NEVS) has inked a deal to sell 20,000 Saabs to a Chinese aerospace company.

The deal is said to be worth 8.5 billion Swedish crowns, or US$996 million, and will see China Volant Industry Co. (Volinco) take deliver of 20,000 Saab 9-3 electric sedans between 2017 and 2020. The deal would mean that NEVS would also receive access to Volinco's suppliers of high-tech aerospace equipment. The 9-3 EVs would serve as company cars for the Volinco's employees, NEVS spokesman Mikael Ostlund told Reuters.

The coup comes hot on the heels of a $12 billion deal, signed in December, to provide 150,000 EVs to Chinese EV leasing company Panda New Energy. That deal provided 150,000 9-3 EV sedans and 100,000 addtional unspecified EV products and services.

According to Autoblog, both deals would see NEVS building and painting components in Saab's home of Trollhattan, Sweden, before shipping them to China for final assembly. NEVS is also on track to complete a factory in Tianjin, China that should be operating by 2020.

NEVS purchased the assets of Saab when the company declared bankruptcy in 2012. It is majority owned by Hong Kong-based National Modern Energy Holdings, Ltd.