When Protean Electric announced that Renault would use its in-wheel motors in the Renault 5 Turbo 3E, one of the comments beneath the company’s LinkedIn post came from Frank Smit:
“Congratulations to Protean AND Renault! A perfect combination of car and driveline that makes everyone smile BIG time!”
Smit’s comment carries a specific context. He was directly involved in the NEVS era in Trollhättan and in the development of the Emily GT, the electric grand tourer built with four Protean in-wheel motors. Today, he heads Trollhättan Mobility and is behind the Home of Sonett initiative, having acquired the rights to the Sonett name. His connection with Protean’s technology therefore predates Renault’s production program by years.
On April 23, 2026, Renault Group and Protean formally confirmed that Protean would supply the in-wheel motors for the Renault 5 Turbo 3E. According to their joint announcement, the car will become the first European passenger car to enter production fitted with in-wheel motors. The two motors are mounted directly in the rear wheels and deliver a combined 555 hp. Renault gives the output as two 204 kW motors, with 4,800 Nm of torque measured at the wheels.
For Saab and NEVS followers, however, the interesting part of that announcement began seven years earlier.
NEVS Acquired Protean in 2019
In June 2019, NEVS acquired Protean Electric as part of Evergrande’s broader expansion into electric vehicle technology. Protean was already an established British developer of in-wheel motors, with years of engineering work behind its ProteanDrive system. NEVS did not invent the technology; it bought the company that had developed it.
The purpose of the acquisition was stated clearly at the time. It was intended to create a path for NEVS to deploy ProteanDrive in future vehicles. Protean continued to operate as an independent business, while NEVS became both its owner and a potential major customer.
The first visible connection with Trollhättan soon followed. In early 2020, ProteanDrive technology was installed in several NEVS 9-3 test vehicles and evaluated under winter conditions. SaabPlanet covered those tests at the time, when the sight of a familiar 9-3 body carrying motors inside its wheels provided the first tangible evidence of what NEVS intended to do with the acquisition.
Those cars were not production models. They were development vehicles used to evaluate the drivetrain, vehicle behavior and control systems. But their role later became relevant to the Emily GT program.
From the NEVS 9-3 Test Cars to Emily GT
The successful testing of Protean’s in-wheel motors in the NEVS 9-3 helped support the decision to use the same basic drivetrain concept for Emily GT. As Magnus Johansson later explained in the detailed SaabPlanet account of the project, project leads Peter Dahl and Frank Smit traveled to China to secure approval for a high-performance electric sedan.
Emily GT subsequently received four Protean in-wheel motors, one at each wheel. This gave the car all-wheel drive and allowed individual torque control at each corner. It also removed the need for conventional centrally mounted electric motors and mechanical drive connections to the wheels.
The Emily program produced six drivable prototypes in approximately ten months. The project stopped when Evergrande’s financial problems cut off funding. The cars existed, drove and demonstrated the drivetrain concept, but the program did not reach industrialization or homologation for customer production.
That distinction is essential when comparing Emily GT with the Renault 5 Turbo 3E.
Emily demonstrated Protean’s technology in a complete, drivable vehicle developed in Trollhättan. Renault has gone further by creating a funded vehicle program with a formal supplier nomination and a defined path to production.
NEVS Sold Protean Before the Technology Reached a Production Renault
The corporate connection between NEVS and Protean did not last. In November 2021, Protean was acquired by BEDEO after the financial collapse of Evergrande forced NEVS to reduce operations and dispose of assets. SaabPlanet reported the sale at the time. Protean’s own corporate history also records the sequence: NEVS/Evergrande acquisition in 2019, followed by BEDEO ownership in 2021.
The next ownership change came in March 2026, when Japanese drivetrain supplier EXEDY Corporation acquired Protean from BEDEO. The timing was significant. By then, Protean had already secured what it described as a production nomination from a mainstream OEM, and only weeks later Renault and Protean publicly confirmed the Renault 5 Turbo 3E program.
The ownership sequence is therefore straightforward: NEVS/Evergrande in 2019, BEDEO in 2021, EXEDY in 2026.
The engineering sequence is equally direct: NEVS 9-3 winter test cars, Emily GT prototypes, Renault 5 Turbo 3E production program.
Renault Gives Protean What Emily GT Never Received: A Production Program
Renault’s arrangement with Protean is not an experimental installation. Protean stated that its in-wheel motor system for the 5 Turbo 3E was developed in two years after supplier nomination. Renault has also publicly demonstrated prototypes and confirmed the main technical specifications.
The rear-mounted in-wheel motors produce 2 x 204 kW, or 555 hp combined. Because each rear wheel has its own motor, torque can be controlled separately between the two sides. Renault has based the car on a dedicated aluminum platform with carbon elements and a carbon superstructure.
SaabPlanet already connected Protean’s NEVS history with the Renault 5 Turbo 3E in 2025. What has changed since then is the status of the project. Protean and Renault have now formally confirmed the supplier relationship and, crucially, described the 5 Turbo 3E as the first European passenger car to enter production with in-wheel motors.
That formal confirmation makes the Emily GT comparison unavoidable, but it also requires precision.
Could Emily GT Have Been First?
Technically, Emily GT had already demonstrated a four-motor Protean drivetrain years before Renault confirmed its production application. But it would be inaccurate to state that Emily GT lost a direct production race with Renault.
Emily never secured the funding required to complete development, homologation and industrialization. Frank Smit has previously stated that, despite the maturity of the prototypes, a production version would still have required approximately 18 to 24 months of additional development work.
The factual comparison is narrower.
NEVS owned Protean. NEVS tested ProteanDrive motors in 9-3 development cars. The experience from those test vehicles helped support the decision to use in-wheel motors in Emily GT. Six Emily prototypes were built with four Protean motors. Funding then stopped, NEVS later sold Protean, and Emily remained outside production.
Renault, by contrast, nominated Protean as a supplier, funded a dedicated development program and is taking the technology into a production passenger car.
So the claim cannot be that Emily GT would certainly have become Europe’s first production car with in-wheel motors. That outcome was never secured. But the chronology shows that a fully drivable car developed in Trollhättan had already demonstrated a four-wheel Protean installation before Renault’s program reached its current production status.
Frank Smit Connects the Two Sides of the Story
This is why Frank Smit’s brief comment beneath Protean’s announcement deserves more attention than a routine congratulatory message.
Smit was part of the NEVS leadership structure during the period when Emily GT was developed and was directly associated with the project alongside Peter Dahl and other former Saab and NEVS engineers. He is now Managing Director of Trollhättan Mobility, a company founded by former Saab and NEVS colleagues including Smit, Dahl, Felix Andlauer and Martin Nordin.
His connection with Emily also continues through the Home of Sonett initiative. The stated plan is to acquire and complete the vehicle currently known as Emily GT and use it as the technical basis for a wider family of vehicles. Smit has also acquired the rights to the Sonett name, previously used by Saab for its small sports car. No production program or timetable has been confirmed.
That places the people, companies and cars on one continuous timeline.
NEVS acquired Protean in 2019. ProteanDrive motors were tested in NEVS 9-3 development cars in Trollhättan. Emily GT then used four of those motors. Frank Smit was directly involved in the Emily program. NEVS sold Protean in 2021. Protean changed ownership again in 2026. Renault has now formally selected the same company as the in-wheel motor supplier for a production-bound European passenger car.
The technology NEVS once acquired did reach a production program. It simply did so after leaving NEVS ownership, and in a Renault rather than a car developed in Trollhättan.
For Emily GT, that is the most relevant part of the Renault announcement. The four-motor drivetrain was not the reason the project failed to reach production. Years later, Protean’s technology has secured the industrial application that Emily never received.
My first car was a LeCar, my last will be a SAAB.