1976, The world has felt the wrath of the Oil Crisis and cars are changing more than ever. However, 1976 also marks the year when IVERA Motors began development on what would become their new flagship in the new lineup for the 1980s. The project was called Ny Idé (Swedish for New Idea) and it was the biggest step in IVERA’s history since 1947. You see, in 1969, IVERA Motors had changed the direction they wanted to take. They could not be seen as the knock off Volvo, or a sad Saab impersonator, they needed to be original and quickly. So, they made a drastic change in direction, and decided to position their cars in the market above where Volvo and other brands like it lived. Come 1976, it was time to begin thinking about what the future would look like, specifically the early and mid 1980s.
Thus, Project Ny Idé was initiated. The project would see the development of what would be the biggest, baddest IVERA that could be. Several designers took a shot at New Idea, but one of the designs stood out the most, from an automotive designer named Hugo Nilsson. Nilsson had taken inspiration from the British Rover SD1 and the venerable Anhultz Dione, and their sleek liftback shapes and translated it into IVERAs design language.
Come 1980, the project lost about half its development team following a financial blunder resulting in a class action lawsuit, the loss of about 2 million dollars. Predictably this resulted in delays, and pushed the project’s completion date from July 1983, to February 1986. Eventually, in the spring of 1985, IVERA made a press release, where the name of the car and the finalized design were finally revealed. In the winter of that year, automotive journalists received further news that the car had begun production and would debut at the 1986 Geneva Motor Show and would go on sale the next month.
Camper shells could be fitted to the Executive in the event that the owner purchased with camping in mind.
The Executive came with a plethora of engines, and many interesting additions. It featured several trim levels, with the top of the line trim level featuring a 5L V8 until 1988, when a version with a 6.2L V12 was launched in response to BMW’s 7 series being put on sale with a V12 the year before it. 1988 also introduced a facelift, with four composite headlights instead of eight individual headlights. The car also had an onboard fire suppression system which activated in the event of a crash where the fuel tank or fuel lines were ruptured, before the system was removed from later cars and made an option extra instead of standard equipment. Phones were introduced on cars past 1988 as an option as well, both in the front and rear. The hydropneumatic suspension (slightly different to the Citroen system) was fitted to all trim levels for maximum comfort, and was the subject of minor controversy in the automotive world.
During the entire production run from 1986 to 1992, IVERA made around 52,000 cars most of the sales coming from model years 1986, 1987, 1989 and 1991.
Production began in November 1985 and ended on April 1st 1992.
This generation was succeeded by the T2/Typ 2 IVERA Executive which was produced from 1992 to 1997.
Vehicles pictured in order of appearance: 1988 IVERA Executive LXT-12, 1986 IVERA Executive LXT
