Saab refutes Hürriyet claim over domestic car

The truths about the report in Turkish daily Hürriyet about the manufacture of the first domestic electric car are emerging. Hürriyet had published an article that claimed that the Saab press secretary, Sebastian Carlsonn, replied to questions from American journalist Kenny Lama about Turkey's first domestic car, whose production will be based on Saab's systems after obtaining the property rights.

However, after Turkish newspaper Sabah published its report, Hürriyet had to admit that Lama was a previous employee of the newspaper. "Kenny Lama has lived and worked in Turkey for years. He is an American citizen, but since he has been employed by Hürriyet, he has a good level of Turkish," Hürriyet's statement read. Despite Hürriyet's article, Lama deleted any kind of Turkish content from his social media profiles.

An official from Saab totally denied the article published on Oct. 2, with the title "Saab warned: Do not mention our brand."

Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Carlsson said that he is aware that Turkey made a deal with National Electric Vehicle Sweden AB (Nevs), which acquired Saab's assets after it went bankrupt, for the domestic cars and that when he was giving a speech to the Turkish press he did not criticize the deal. Carlsson, however, said that he is very proud of the deal Turkey made with Nevs and wished success to both parties. He further said that he had not actually said what Hürriyet quoted him as saying: "We cannot understand why the Turkish Minister keeps repeating Saab's name." Carlsson also added that he believed the Swedish automobile industry will benefit a great deal from the deal with Turkey.