Monthly Archives: January 2007

Some MY08 9-3 mumblings

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The following is a translation of several posts appearing on the iSaab forum from Sweden. Please bear in mind that none of this is confirmed, but it makes for some pretty interesting reading.

Until we see some spyshots, take it all as being unconfirmed.

UPDATE: Spyshots of the new 9-3 from summer testing in suburban Sydney have now been obtained! The images show GM’s new commitment to resource centralisation and the commitment GM has toward Saab in the premium sector.

Click the “continue reading…” link at the end of the written section.

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December 20 by Onge (new member):
I have seen facelifted 9-3:s inside the factory for some days now. It looks good. There will a preview of it in about 2 weeks time.

December 20 by J.W:
In about one year, there will be a Saab 9-3 Black Turbo. Only available in black, AWD, 0-100 km/h in 5.4 sec, don’t know the exact bhp but more than 280, 19 inch wheels, two square exhaust pipes. Seems to be a limited edition.

December 21 by Onge:
I have seen the car in the factory, not in [a nickname on one of the buildings]. The front looks like the Aero-X.

January 04 by Onge:
Was away today and looked at the facelifted 9-3 combi. Worth waiting for.

Comments on this: “Please, tell us more!” and he answers: “No, you all have to wait until more info is out”.

January 28 by Figge:
I have seen it now. The front looks like the 9-5. The rear end of the combi is unchanged apart from the bumper. I think you will be surprised when you see the front…

January 29 by Figge:
I didn’t see the front all that clear, only at an angle from the side, so I can’t tell exactly how it looks. But the grille looks like to go deep down in the bumper, and the head lights looked really
liked the 9-5. The car was in silver color, so it’s was hard to see if there was any chrome rim around the head lights. I think there was some, but not as much as on the 9-5. Some parts [of the car] was not painted, so I don’t think it was the final version I saw.

January 29 by Åker SAAB 93 SS Aero (new member):
There will not be chrome around the head lights like on the 9-5. They are more like BMW with chrome on the top of the head lights. The hood looks a lot like the Aero-X.

January 29 by Figge:
Anyway, they do remind me of the ones on the 9-5.

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As I said, interesting stuff.

I can’t wait to see this baby….
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Email problems

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Just to let you all know, I’m having some email problems at the moment.

I can receive email fine, it’s just that I can’t send email from my machine at home at this point. I’m unsure as to whether it’s my ISPs server or my copy of Thunderbird that has the problem, but hopefully it’ll get sorted soon.

Thanks to all for the extra car club and forum links received overnight. Whoa!!

60 Little Gems for Saab’s 60th Anniversary

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From Saab Automobile:

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Did you know that…. James Bond, special agent 007, drove a Saab 900 Turbo? Or that Grand Prix driver Sir Stirling Moss once navigated for Saab rally legend Erik Carlsson? And that Saab not only produced aircraft, but also a series of ultra-light caravans?

Whatever your interest, we hope you’ll find this review of Saab’s first 60 years entertaining, informative, and even a little surprising in places – just as you would expect from the Saab brand.

The first Saab car was revealed to the automotive world on 10th June 1947 in a staff canteen at the aircraft company’s Linköping headquarters in Sweden. Such humble beginnings marked the birth of what has become a major international brand, now represented in more than 60 countries all over the world.

In celebration of our upcoming diamond jubilee, we’ve assembled a potpourri of 60 little ‘gems’. It’s intended to express something of the passion and tradition for innovative, independent thinking that continues to inspire the Saab brand and the development of its products today.

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1. Greta Molander, a Swedish-born woman who began rallying in 1929, was the first driver to win a prize for Saab on the Monte Carlo Rally. She took the Ladies Cup in 1952, driving a Saab 92, ten years before Erik Carlsson achieved the first of his two Monte Carlo victories.

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2. Saab once considered going into boatbuilding. In 1944, as war was drawing to a close, Saab the aircraft maker was looking to diversify into other products during peacetime. A number of aluminum-hulled boats, including some with hydrofoils in the bows, were built but, in the end, automobiles were considered to be a better bet.

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3. It was back pain suffered by a senior Saab executive that prompted the development of the heated driver’s seat, an innovation from Saab in 1971. The pain was particularly bad on cold, frosty mornings and a colleague devised a means of heating the driver’s seat to minimize the discomfort. As the result was so effective, and also so popular, the solution was put into production.

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4. A 1:10 scale model of an early Saab 92 prototype was tested in an aircraft wind tunnel in 1946. Such testing was very unusual for a production car manufacturer of the time but very much second nature for an aircraft maker. The final prototype’s 0.32 co-efficient of drag was exceptionally low for a production car of time and would still be competitive today.

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5. Rather like the first T-model Ford, you could have an early Saab 92 in any color you liked – as long as it was bottle green. The paint was readily available in surplus army supplies left over from the war. Saab did not offer a color choice until 1952.
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Saab vs Cadillac – my conclusions

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UPDATE: Just as I’ve posted this, Just-Auto have two articles on Cadillac. The first is about a supposed new model line for EuroCaddy (ka-ching $$$) and the other about GM trying to lift Caddy’s UK sales, which tallied less than 400 in 2006.

The articles are subscription only, so i can’t get to them. If anyone can and there’s some relevant details, please let us know in comments. Cheers.

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Background info:

This whole Saab vs Cadillac mini-series was prompted by a Detroit News story about Cadillac’s flagging fortunes in Europe. My argument was that it must be costing GM millions of dollars to try and promote Cadillac in Europe and that that money would be better spent on developing Saab.

Given the Saab are (or were, at least) often referred to as GM’s ‘global premium brand’ my next item in this discussion asked What Is Premium? What does it mean? Are GM really committed to Saab being a premium brand and if so, how does this differ from Cadillac, who have traditionally been GM’s upper-echelon bookend?

Many of you have chimed in with comments and I think that all together, we’ve managed to round out a good case summary. It’s been great for me becuase stuck here in Australia I can only glean my impressions of Cadillac and the European market from the press coverage that I read and the other input provided by people like you.

I have written to Peter De Lorenzo of AutoExtremist.com and invited him to have a look at the discussions and perhaps address the topic on his site. He agreed to take a look at the discussions but whether he chooses to address the issue is completely up to him. I have no idea what his conclusions could be but he’s extremely well connected and widely read. It’ll certainly make for interesting reading if he does cross the subject.

So. What have we come up with?

I’ll break it down into several sections. All these thoughts have come from you in comments, but I won’t be making attributions as it’ll take too long and interrupt the flow. Please accept my thanks to all for your contributions, however…..

The Stand

Where do Saab and Cadillac stand in the European market?

Well, the first thing is that they’re both more likely to be driven out of the showroom by business lessees rather than private owners. Especially the Saab. The Cadillac range in Europe only has one diesel, the BLS, and that’s a possible starter for business customers too.

The majority of people that actually have to purchase their cars new are buying VW’s, Fords and Opels. The big players in the executive class are, of course, the Germans – Audi, BMW and Mercedes. There’s others too, but lets stick with the biggies for now for simplicity’s sake.
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Welcome Saab Forum Austria

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Yet another Saab ‘club’ comes out of the woodwork.

This one’s actually more like a forum, but it was unknown to me, so I’m happy to post it and provide the link in the sidebar.

Added to all other European Saab communities we now also have the Austrian Saab Forum, which is not to be confused with any Australian Saab forums, which are open for kangaroos to join.

The Austrian Saab Forum website is located here.

Again, if you’ve got a Saab club or forum that’s not listed in my links on the sidebar then email me and I’ll be only too happy to add it to the list.

Welcome Saab Club of Estonia!

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Two new Saab clubs on the list in two days!

Having seen the entry below for Saab Club Nederlands, Taavi has written to me informing me about the Estonian Saab Club.

Their website is at www.saabnet.ee but Taavi tells me that any Estonians looking to get in touch would be best to use the club’s forum area as the main website is fairly static at this point.

I had my first bit of Estonian Saab contact only two weeks ago with this SOTW entry. Good to see there’s some more Saab life there.

Welcome Saabclub.nl

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Thanks to Dennis S for getting in touch and letting me know about the Saab Club Nederland, who can be found at Saabclub.nl

Any of you orange-wearing Saabnuts that aren’t hooked up yet, go pay them a visit.

This is Dennis’ own classic 900 and if it’s typical of the vehicles you’ll see at a Dutch event, then count me in and heat up the Poffertjespan!

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UPDATE: in checking out the site I note they started in the late 1950′s and now have around 2,300 member!!! Wo!

Is there a bigger Saab Car Club on earth?

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Dennis900.jpg

PS – There’s a whole list of Saab Car Clubs in the sidebar to the right. If you’re not a member of a Saab Car Club, there may be one near you.

If you’re a member of a Saabclub that’s not listed there then email me and I’ll gladly add your group to the list.

A little NAIAS for you

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Brian M, he of the SportCombi full of tennis balls, was recently in Detroit and snapped off some photos at the NAIAS while he was there.

The Saab Aero-X was front-and-centre in GM’s concept showcase at the entrance to the GM section of the show, which is quite prolific, really. (And as an aside, there’s a good article on GM Design’s development here at the New York Times).

That purple beast you see is the Holden Efijy, a modern conceptual interpretation of the FJ Holden of the 1950s – a car that is now a genuine Australian icon.

Finally, there’s some shots of Peter Gilbert’s million-mile Saab 900 SPG, which looks pretty good both inside and out for a million-mile car.

Aero-XFront.jpg

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Aero-Xrear.jpg

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