[puts on hat, places carnation in lapel and folded newspaper under left arm]

I have a source. Let’s call this source “Djup Strupe” for the time being.

I just contacted this source through a myriad of disguised phone lines that showed Djup Strupe’s location as being in Tangiers. Like I said, they were disguised.

Anyway, this source is connected, knows a thing or two about what’s going on in the Swedish kingdom. And here’s what the source told me:

1) The 9-5 spyshots we’ve seen up until now are very accurate. Djup Strupe saw some photos of the facelifted model that will debut at Frankfurt in September, taken directly from Trollhattan by Saab in the last few weeks and shown directly to him by some Saab honchos from Sweden. The 9x type nose as seen in these spyshots may be the look that is coming on newer model Saabs in the future. Djup did say that the nose in the photos shown was very similar to the 9x, with the outer ports of the old 3-port grill integrated with the headlights.

2) The same Swedish Saab honchos also revealed to Djup Strupe photos of the proposed 9-6x!! I begged and pleaded but these are top secret and were shown to Djup Strupe only, rather than handed over. I offered Djup Strupe a look at a photo posted here last week and Djup Strupe said that it’s a pretty good likeness. Djup Strupe was quite enthused by the pictures seen, to say the least.

This is the pic, different from he C-pillar back, but otherwise a pretty good likeness to what Djup Strupe saw:

And yes, I know this is the smaller 9-4x sized proposal, but we’re looking at styling and concept here, not definites.

3) The 9-2x in its current guise will never be seen oustide North America and the 9-6x will only make it to Australia if a model is developed for Europe, Great Britain in particular (due to RHD compatibility). That’s nothing new, but what is new is that Suuby are fighting an Australian 9-6x like you wouldn’t believe as we’re Suuby’s 2nd biggest market outside of Japan.

[removes hat, crushes carnation and burns newspaper]

I’m away for work, so posting may be light for the next few days.

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Look for GM chief Rick Wagoner to make good on those job-cutting promises, and soon, as GM recorded another huge quarterly loss, particularly in North America. Other regions fared a lot better, with GM Europe recording its first profitable quarter in 5 years.

Overall quarterly losses were US$286 million but North American vehicle operations posted a $US1.2 Billion loss for the quarter. Luckily GMAC’s still contributing well. If Wagoner can get the mix of new models and lower medical costs right, there’s huge upside potential there.

Businessweek has a great report if you’re interested.

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Prolific local Saabist, Drew B, has just added to his stable with the purchase of a very rare 1973 Saab 95 wagon. It’s a yellow V4, formerly owned for around 20 years by another local and Tasmanian Saab Club founding member, Jim S.

Unfortunately Jim and his wife Mandy have moved to Canberra and they needed more reliable daily transport, so Drew benefited from circumstance and now has a new addition to his personal Saab museum, which consists of a pristine black 1993 900 Turbo S, a white 99 Turbo, a black 99 Turbo to be restored and a blue 1971 99 that’s currently stripped back to bare metal awaiting a respray (which will be an ongoing story here at Trollhattan once I pin him down for some photos and text).

Here’s the 95, currently the subject of a nearly week-long polishing and detailing assignment in Drew’s carport. More pics can be seen here.