There’s a smallish review of the 2.5L 9-2x Linear here at Investor’s Business Daily. Nothing in there to say if it’s a 2005 or 2006 spec, but my house would be on the 2005.
With insight like this…..
This is a delightful little runabout for people who appreciate the benefits of all-wheel drive and like the idea that the front emblem says Saab and not Subaru.
and dumb-stuff like this…..
Hey, it makes more sense to us than taking a Chevy Trailblazer and calling it a Saab 9-7X.
you’ll understand if I don’t urge you to go read it. It’s OK, but like the cops say in the movies, “there’s nothing to see here”.
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I was very disappointed to read yesterday about Jay Spenchian’s speech at SOC. Well, actually, the speech was quite good by all accounts. In general, people felt a positive vibe running through the place and a sense of anticipation for the future.
What was disappointing is that some assclowns decided to heckle during the speech.
I went to the convention, it was my first SOC, and I was taken aback a bit by some of the antagonism towards GM. During the dinner on Saturday, when Jay Spechian started talking about the 9-7x, some people in my area of the tent actually starting hissing under their breath. I don’t know if it was loud enough to hear where Spechian was speaking from, but I sure hope not.
Was it loud enough?
Jay could absolutely hear the hissing, i was at one of the tables right next to him. As one of the people largely responsible for his being there it was not only embarressing but childish and pathetic. I wish people understood how fortunate were were to even have him THERE!!
Absolutely. Some people just Don’t. Get. It.
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There’s an interesting interview here with GM’s head marketing guru, Mark La Neve. He talks about the ‘value pricing’ methodology that GM are going to use to wean everyone off the massive incentives they’ve enjoyed for the last few years.
He talks about other things too, in a very candid way.
Does it matter if Toyota surpasses GM as the world’s No. 1 car company?
In my mind they already have. They own the high ground imagewise. Japan Inc. has already gone by us. That’s an old story. Now we’re the underdog. Toyota has become a default brand. If you don’t know what to buy, you buy a Toyota.
And there’s this too:
How is the Saab 9-2x doing? It looks exactly like the Subaru Impreza it’s based on.
We’ve managed Saab a little inconsistently. The 9-2x got off to a disastrous start, but it’s doing better.
3 candidates for understatement-of-the-year in one answer! Wow!
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While we’re on GM, here’s an Autoweek article on GM’s goal to finally unite its global platforms.
Adam Opel AG rejected Delta for its Astra small car. And each region that used Epsilon modified it, adding cost and making the vehicles just different enough that parts and production systems weren’t interchangeable.
“Today’s Epsilon is not interbuildable,” GM Vice Chairman Robert Lutz admitted this year.
“We call them all Epsilon, but Saabs can’t be built in a German Epsilon plant.
“German Epsilons can’t be built in a Saab plant. Malibu and G6 couldn’t be built in Europe. (Opel) Vectra couldn’t be built in the United States.”
To remedy the problem, GM has taken considerable autonomy away from regional presidents. In March, GM created the Automotive Product Board to keep an eye on the process. For better or worse, the board is meant to ensure that the variations of the past no longer can occur.
To take advantage of economies in purchasing, vehicles built on global architectures will have identical parts and connecting points under the skin, GM promises. Plug-and-play is the goal.
It’ll mean savings alright, lets just hope that when they devise a final schematic for any given platform, it’s the Saab schematic that they use.
