But now it is a need rather than a want in todays market. The high performance exec sector vehicles need AWD or RWD to be deemed competitive, pity it has taken GM so long to see this.

Holden seem to have more of a pull with GM than Saab at the moment. The 9-4X is a need, the 9-3 with AWD is also a need.

I currently have the 9-3 V6 Aero convertible, and it is a lovely machine, that engine is just soooo much fun. The noise through tunnels sends a little tingle down my spine every time . BUT, it sooooo desperately needs more traction, looking forward to AWD……..finally.

Sounds a little like these from Auto Express, AM&S and Teknikens

http://www.trollhattansaab.net/archives/2006/08/about_those_95.html

The info I’ve received this week though is direct from people involved with Saab, the majority of which I’ve dealt with before.

Definitely no 9-1 in the plan at the moment and a refreshed 9-3 before we see the new 9-5. That’s what I’m hearing. This info was out of a dealer conference in the US and backed up by another one here in Oz.

The article says that there will be a 2+2 coupé and roadster to compete with the Audi TT in 2008 -based on the Aero X design- with the engines mounted transversaly over the front axle and using the Theta II platform.

It also states that this platform will be used by the next 9-3 -also to come out in 2008- which alows 2wd and 4wd.

The coupé and the roadster will only have gasoline engines (2.0 170cv; V6 2.8 250cv 4wd). Besides the usual 6 speed manual transmission, a DSG with double clutch -just like VW’s- will be available, with manual-sequential and automatic modes.

It goes on saying the GM developd 3 platforms for the next OPELs and SAABs… and the 9-4x will come in 2009, based on the Epsilon II platform.

The new 9-2 is expected for the middle of the next year and (THIS IS WHAT MAKES IT ALL CRAZY) for 2007, as ANTHONY LO(the designer) CONFIRMED to the magazine, there will be the sucessor of the 9-5…

Can you make any sense of this? :s I have to admit I can’t…

I also think that it is the 9-4x that is coming. But it will be based on the current 9-3. Also the the 9-3 will get a heavier remodelling so it can sell for a longer timeframe. Because after this i think all the power will be directed to the 9-5 so it can be quick out from Russelsheim.

They also need “something else” now that 9-2X and 9-7X is gone. Going back to just two “outdated” models for MY08 is not what they want when it comes to marketing and brand image.

So my guess is that there will be a 9-4X introduced next year, and it will probably be a heavy modified 9-3 with AWD to make an early entry into the cross-over segment. Don’t know if it will be introduced at the event that Swade has information about. I don’t think so. I think that event could se an face-lifted 9-3, and that a 9-4X is presented at some of the big car shows in the spring.

Also, I remember the info in various newspaper articles from a couple of months ago about design. Didn’t Saab say that the new Aero-X inspired design would be introduced with the 9-4…?

So, my bet is:

A “new” 9-4X in the spring that start to sell later that year.

A face lifted 9-3 available for MY08 the same way the face lifted 9-5 was introduced.

Given that the 9-3 is Saab’s best seller all over the world, they have a higher stake in its continued increasingly high (relatively speaking) sales volumes. I bet Saab has a few cards up its sleeves it hasn’t fully told the public about. One thing is for sure, Saab always manages to pleasantly surprise the world with its new and innovative products (barring the 9-2X and 9-7X being mediocrely received).

OK it’s late here and I’m tired and coming down with a cold so ignore my bad grammar above.

It could be, but in that case it’s strange that other epsilon based cars aren’t alredy using AWD technology (like the Opel Vectra OPC, for instance).

On the other hand, it’s true that in the 9-3 case, the platform was heavily reengineered, especialy in the rear axle section…

About the re-skining of the 9-3, I can’t stop thinking about how the Saab 9-3 Sport-Hatch concept’s front (and the rest) looks so sharp, and feeling sad that SAAB alredy moved ahead of it…

Though another (and perhaps more plausible) scenario is that when they said AWD couldn’t be fitted to Epsilon they were just bullshi**ing to divert the questions.

Anyway: here are my 2 cents: The AWD capability of the re-skined 9-3 has been mentioned before many times, and the impossibility of the epsilon platform to receive it as well…

So: do you think that when they are talking about AWD, they are in fact (in a marketing manouver?) secretly talking about the hibrid system unveiled before, in which the electric engines powered the rear wheels?

It’s not a “new 9-3″ as in new platform etc. It’s a remodelling of the existing 9-3 with some new mechanicals as well.

Which means, Zippy, that the Epsilon II 9-3, the real “new 9-3″ will be coming later than 2008.