The Saab brand has officially been sold to National Electric Vehicle Sweden (NEVS). The electric vehicle consortium sparked rumours of the sale by publishing the following statement on its website earlier this week: "SAAB Automobile, Trollhattan and Sweden stands for innovation and technology excellence. At SAAB Automobile, the engagement for future transportation solutions is pervasive."

This morning, the City-Director of Trollhattan Annika Wennerblom revealed that the final details of the Saab sale have been confirmed. The electric car consortium is believed to have bought the whole firm, excluding Saab parts, and is expected to start producing hybrid cars at Saab's Trollhattan factory.

It's been a troubled few years for Swedish automaker Saab; first Victor Muller stormed in and saved the firm at the last minute after GM decided to pull the plug. Then the 9-5 was launched to diluted applause, the 9-4X debuted in America and the UK arm's sales were on the up. Then Saab ran out of money, failed to pay its parts suppliers and stopped manufacturing cars back in April 2011.

Despite their might, and financial muscle, it has been announced today that the buyer is neither, and the final party at the negotiating table was NEVS.

With NEVS Having worked on developing its own 9-3 ePower hybrid, you can expect a re-worked version of this to be the first to appear - though experts suggest this is still some years away from being fully production-ready.