NEVS and DiDi partner up for future mobility
DiDi Chuxing, China's leading mobile transportation platform, has formed a strategic partnership with NEVS, the successor company of Saab Automobile.
The agreement was signed in Trollhättan, near Gothenburg, in the presence of Stefan Löfven, the Swedish prime minister (back row, second from right).
NEVS 9-3
The broad outlines of the agreement are to join forces in developing future mobility solutions. Specifically, the two companies will be working on producing an electric vehicle that is fully optimised for the mobility services offered by DiDi. Other, related projects will see DiDi and NEVS working on self-driving technology and on-demand mobility.
The first vehicle used for the cooperation between the Swedish and Chinese companies will be the NEVS 9-3. DiDi recently predicted that its platform will accommodate more than 1 million vehicles by 2020.
Saab Automobile
NEVS was founded in 2012 and acquired the main assets of the Saab Automobile bankruptcy estates. The company has been mainly owned by NME Holdings Ltd., Tianjin Bin Hai Hi-tech Industrial Development Area (THT) and State Research Information Technology Co., Ltd. (SRIT).
NEVS’ vision is to shape mobility for a more sustainable future. Core to this is a global portfolio of fully electric premium cars, mobility solutions and sustainable city offerings.
NEVS’ head office and main research and development facilities are located in Trollhättan, Sweden, with a second production plant and an R&D Centre under construction in Tianjin, China.
New Energy Vehicle
In January 2017, the Chinese government approved NEVS’ application to start production of electric vehicles in its manufacturing plant in Tianjin. NEVS is the first joint venture company with investors from outside China that is granted a New Energy Passenger Vehicle Project investment approval by the Chinese authorities.
In May 2017, NEVS launched a city mobility program with THT to offer car-sharing and ride-hailing solutions in Tianjin, a city with 15 million inhabitants
Image: NEVS