Saab 9-3

Swedish aviation and defense giant Saab has said China's National Electric Vehicle Sweden (NEVS), which has signed a deal with Turkey to help produce the country's first "national car," does not represent the Saab brand, but only owns the company's car production plant. 

Turkey?s ?national car? agreement worth 40 million euros with China?s NEVS has enabled the company to recover from its financial difficulties, the firm has said.

The long-awaited ?Turkish national car? prototypes which sparked widespread debate over their originality were made in Sweden and purchased for 40 million euros ($45 million).

The prototypes of the ?indigenous? cars announced on Oct.13 by I??k initiated a social media storm due to their resemblance to the Cadillac BLS, a restyled model of the Saab 9-3.

A senior minister has announced Turkey purchased the intellectual property rights to Saab's 9-3 model, with the goal of using it to develop a Turkish-branded car and advance in the field of extended-range vehicles.

"We bought the Saab 9-3's intellectual property rights, but not its name," Science, Industry and Technology Minister Fikri I??k said in a televised interview on Oct. 15. 

A long-awaited domestic vehicle that has been promoted as a "national car" by government officials during election campaign stops, was unveiled Oct. 13, but its resemblance to Cadillac has sparked a debate.