Hi all, from a somewhat-warmer-than-home Sydney. I’m in town for the Australian International Motor Show, which will feature a vehicle we’re all now quite familiar with – the Saab Aero-X. As I write this the Aero-X is somewhere within a 10km radius of where I’m sitting. It probably has a cloth draped over it and it’s wondering to itself “what’s Swade doing right now?”.

Ah, destiny. It’s a wonderful thing.

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I can now cross my first vehicle off the list from yesterday.

I took Richo’s Viggen for a drive tonight. It’s a little strange to drive a car so familiar in a different place. Feels like home, but it’s not. What was very interesting is the difference some polyurethane bushes and a sway bar can make.

My shopping list expandeth once again!!

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It’s about time I covered Team Sanddodgers on this site. more to come on them soon, but in a nutshell they’re doing a charity run from Plymouth to Banjul. That’s UK to Africa in general geographic terms.

The Challenge is to simply drive the route from Plymouth to Banjul (on a limited budget) with the principle aim of helping some Charitable causes in Senegal and The Gambia. The car must be Left Hand Drive, cost less than £100 and you may only spend £15 preparing it for the journey.

So why cover it here at Trollhattan?

They’re doing the run in a Saab 99 Turbo.

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I wrote a few days ago how the price of gasoline has dropped below the price of E85 in Sweden, giving some considerable cause for concern at Saab, where the 9-5 Biopower is Saab’s best seller, the market’s second best seller overall, and the best selling ‘green’ vehicle in the country.

Autoblog are covering an article today claiming that the move towards E85 and other biofuels is primarily responsible for the lower price of gasoline, with OPEC dropping the price in order to fend off the need to reduce the reliance on foreign oils.

It’s encouraging to see a cartel responding to market forces, though I don’t think it’s necessarily a good thing for the environment. Somehow I think the scare that higher fuel prices brought to many markets earlier this year will have some carry-on effects for some time, with some people really thinking about environmental impacts for the first time.

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GM released another financial result to shut up Kirk Kerkorian. The beancounters have done their usual thing and provided several figures for us to get confused by, with the result being either a $115 million loss (net) or a $529 million dollar profit (adjusted basis) depending on how you’re feeling.

Whilst it’s not gangbusters in Detroit, it’s not all bad either and it’s certainly better than how the other big Detroit based companies are doing.

Now all we need to do is get some of that (adjusted) profit over to Saab in Europe, kick Cadillac out and let the Swedes do what they do best.

This afternoon I take off for Sydney to attend the Australian International Motor Show. I’ll be going to the press day tomorrow, which will be the first time I’ve attended anything in such a capacity. Regular TS visitor and owner of this month’s calendar vehicle, Richo, will be coming along with me, admitted as an official photographer!

I’m hoping to catch up with the team from Saab Australia while I’m up there and if possible, I’ll try and get some face time with Parveen Batish to pop a few questions about the climate for Saab here in Australia.

On Friday I’ll be spending some time with the Saab Car Cub of Australia’s NSW chairman and operator of the Australian Saab 99 Register, Brendan B. We’re going to take a 2006 9-5 Aero for a quick spin and I’ll also get the pleasure of riding around in his beautiful black 99 Turbo (gee, I miss my 99T!). Finally I’ll catch up with a few Saab Car Club folks for a steak on Friday night.

There will be video and pictures forthcoming as soon as possible, but for now here’s the cars I’ll have the pleasure of seeing over the next few days in order of appearance….

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Richo’s 1999 Viggen – should feel right at home in that one.

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The reason for the whole trip – The Aero-X. I’m hoping to get as much detail on this one as possible….

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Brendan’s 99 Turbo – again, familiar ground that I can’t wait to get back into

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The 9-5 Aero. We’ve only had one 9-5 here in Tassie and it was a wagon. Driving an Aero sedan should be quite enlightening.