Swedish automaker Saab Automobile was surprisingly brought back from the dead by a purchasing group made up of Hong Kong-based renewable-energy power-plant builder National Modern Energy Holdings Ltd., which owns 51%, and Japanese investment firm Sun Investment. The first vehicle under the plan will be based on Saab’s 9-3 car and will go on sale early in 2014, with China as the main market… Lithium-ion battery maker A123 Systems Inc. has so far survived upheaval connected to its Fisker Karma battery recall and an explosion at General Motors’ Warren Tech Center in March. The company plans to hire up to 400 people over the next several months in response to increased business in its commercial transportation and grid operations. The new jobs will be at A123’s two Michigan factories in Livonia and Romulus. The company plans to hire about 100 workers a month. Another benchmark for the company was its reported breakthrough of a revised version of its phosphate-based lithium ion battery chemistry, which it calls Nanophosphate EXT. The new battery is said to tolerate much more extreme temperature ranges, eliminating costly climate controls in the battery pack.
