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Thanks to Joachim for sending this one in. It’s an article in one of his local Newspapers (he’s in Vienna and quite likely sick of all the happy-birthday-Mozart chocolates, tea towels, etc etc) touting the apparently new Saab 9-1 that’s planned for 2008. Here’s the picture, which you can click to enlarge….
Here’s a rough translation:
The mission to establish the 9-2x in the US and make some money failed and now Toyota has jumped on board with Subaru. The ceasing of the 9-2x has now given the Swedes a reason to start on another project – to manufacture a small spotrs-coupe. This should be realised in 2008 with a base coming from Opel.
The basis of this mini sports car will be the coming Opel Corsa or the Astra. GM’s subsidiary, Daewoo (Chevy in Europe) is a major partner in the new development and the new car could possibly be assembled either in Korea or eastern Europe, which would enable higher unit production and hopefully, more money in the bank.
This 9-1 is the first new model from Sweden with a completely new design – more emotion and a sporty touch, which will be focused on younger buyers. A cabriolet might also be possible.
Now, don’t go getting your knickers in a twist, people. Not yet, anyway. There’s no sources quoted and one sketch does not a production program make. Joachim also notes that this is not a news source that’s taken particularly seriously in his part of the world.
And I’m still calling it the 9-2 until further notice.
3 responses so far ↓
1 bernard
// Feb 9, 2006 at 10:57 am
I like it, even though it looks a bit too much like a Golf, and not enough like a 99. Let’s hope they stuff in a high-pressure 2 litre E85 turbo and keep the weight (and price) down below the 9-3.
Is 2008 the calendar year, or the model year? If it’s the later, we could see this car within 18 months. The BLS was designed in 24 months, so this isn’t totally unlikely.
2 Georgi
// Feb 9, 2006 at 5:15 pm
Here is a better picture.
http://blogsimages.skynet.be/images/002/845/962_b9c7cc60bc233b00dc1ced56ecea629f.jpg
Unfortunately I do not speak french and therefore I am not able to check whether there are some other pictures of the new sonett.
3 Dave
// Feb 10, 2006 at 12:24 am
Is it possible there’s a 9-1 AND a 9-2 in the works? This is clearly a Corsa-based potential 9-1, but a larger, Astra-based 9-2 could be a possibility as well. I have no knowledge that leads me to say so, but it seems like a possibility.