China's Youngman said today that it has purchased Saab's "Phoenix" vehicle architecture, a homegrown platform the defunct automaker had planned to use for its next-generation 9-3.
Not much is known about the Phoenix platform other than that it was to underpin Saab's next premium compact 9-3 sedan. The platform was said to be unrelated to any prior General Motors-based designs. The Phoenix platform was first shown to the public as part of a similarly-named show car Saab unveiled at last year's Geneva Motor Show (pictured).
Youngman had hoped to take part in developing new Saab vehicles based on the architecture, but the Chinese firm was blocked by former Saab owner GM from taking part in any deal that could grant it access to the Detroit automaker's platforms. GM, which owned Saab until it was acquired in 2009 from Spyker, retained enough preferred shares that it was able to veto any investment it wanted.
Whether Youngman will be able to acquire the rights to the Saab name, badging and factory is unknown, however.
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