Operations will remain small for Swedish automaker Saab, and about 600 workers have been hired at the plant, which is far fewer than the company's 3,500-worker peak, NBC reported.

Reviving the plant was a challenge involving negotiations with 400 suppliers for vehicle production, the outlet said.

After going bankrupt two and a half years ago, the Trollhattan, Sweden-based carmaker is back in the ring with resumed production of the Saab 9-3 Aero. The model is based on an old General Motors design, since the Swedish carmaker was American-owned for about a decade.

Production at the plant will be limited to "small and humble numbers" for now, said Mikael Ostlund, the spokesman for Hong Kong-based National Electric Vehicle Sweden.

Powered by turbocharged engines, the first 200 cars should hit European dealerships next spring, costing 279,000 Swedish kronor ($42,500) each. 

While the carmaker has essentially come back from the dead, the crucial question is whether or not the plant can survive under control of a Chinese-Japanese consortium that is pushing for electric vehicles, according to NBC.

NEVS took over Saab Autombile's key assets after the company filed for bankruptcy in December 2011. Eventually, the new owner will switch to a line of all-electric vehicles to be introduced in China later next year.

As China works to reduce pollution especially in its major cities, officials are pushing for zero-emissions vehicles, making the country an ideal green car market. Beijing in particular has reduced car registration quotas in favor of zero-emissions vehicles.

Founded in 1947, Saab was leveled by a series of financial burdens that led to the company's bankruptcy two years ago.

General Motors sold the Swedish company to Spyker, an uneasily funded Dutch sports car manufacturer that didn't pay Saab's suppliers enough to keep production going.

NEVS may move forward with a Spyker design, appropriately named "the Phoenix."

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