National Electric Vehicle Sweden AB (NEVS), the new owner of Saab, says it has completed a deal to acquire most of the Swedish carmaker's assets.

The deal includes the takeover of the main production plant and was signed after NEVS agreed with truck maker Scania and defense and aerospace group Saab not to use the logo griffen, although it can use the name Saab.

Saab went into bankruptcy at the end of 2011, less than two years after General Motors sold it to Dutch sports car group Spyker.

NEVS, which plans to build electric vehicles based on Saab cars, said completion of the purchase would speed up the process toward the start of production.

"In approximately 18 months, we plan to introduce our first electric vehicle based on Saab 9-3 technologies and a new technology electric powertrain," Karl-Erling Trogen, NEVS chairman, said in a statement today.

NEVS aims to make cars for the Chinese market as it sees the authorities there investing heavily in electric vehicles.

NEVS is wholly owned by National Modern Energy Holdings Ltd., whose founder and principal owner is Chinese-Swedish businessman Kai Johan Jiang.

"Engineering and development of our first electric vehicle has been underway for an extended period in China and Japan, and now with the manufacturing facilities in our possession, we are able to continue development work on site at Trollhattan (the Saab plant)," Jiang said in a statement.