Nova-Drive, a minor manufacturing company in the Mid Rim, focused on producing starships under license and creating customized variations of existing vessels for specific, smaller customer bases. The majority of its limited selection of freighters were marketed and sold within systems situated along the Rimma Trade Route.
A significant offering from them was the 3-Z light freighter, which was essentially a slightly improved version of the YT-1200 light freighter. Nova-Drive constructed these under a license obtained from the Corellian Engineering Corporation. Nova-Drive initiated production of this particular model shortly after the original licensor ceased its manufacture to focus on more modern designs. Despite CEC's opinion that the design was outdated, Nova-Drive identified an opportunity to enhance the design to be competitive in the independent spacer market.