China's National Electric Vehicle Sweden (NEVS) is laying off up to 200 staff at its Saab car plant in Sweden as production is unlikely to resume anytime soon.

NEVS purchased bankrupt Swedish carmaker Saab back in 2012. The company halted already-low output in May because of a lack of funds.

"The terminations will take place in September in order to rapidly reduce the company's costs during the reorganization period," NEVS said, according to AFP.

The company obtained protection from creditors through a Swedish court while attempting to obtain more money.

"The ongoing discussions on collaboration and ownership structure, which have not yet resulted in a binding agreement, indicate that the decision for a start-up of production will take time," NEVS said in a statement.

The layoffs are a step in a reorganization plan that NEVS administrator will present at a creditors' meeting on Oct. 8.

The company confirmed that layoffs were a result of lack of work, according to Reuters.

NEVS previously said that it as in talks with to unnamed car companies to secure more money. It has external debt of approximately 400 million crowns ($56 million), and that it made a pretax loss in 2013 of 601 million on sales of 41 million.

The firm is counting on an electric version of a decade-old Saab model to bring the company back from the dead. The EV is in its prototype stage still though.

NEVS is targeting its home market of China, according to Reuters.

If negotiations with new investors succeeded, NEVS said it would be able to resume production with the remaining 350 employees.

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