Saffron Yellow it is!

I’ve just seen some internal GM bizzo that indicates the color Saffron Yellow will indeed be coming and I’d therefore take an educated guess and say that it’s the new Convertible color that’ll be announced later.

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There’s been a wildfire going around the automotoblogoshere in the last 24 hours. It’s called “Are BMW going to buy Volvo?”. I’m very interested in this, but not for the reasons you might think.

Are BMW interested? I have no idea. The official word is that there’s no talks going on and that Volvo’s not up or sale. Personally, I don’t think it’s going to happen and the reasons why are all well documented here at The Car Connection.

What I’m more interested in is whether or not this is an example of the internet gone crazy. This isn’t a new story. It was covered around three or four weeks ago. The recent wildfire was kicked off when it was covered in a newspaper in Goteborg. I haven’t seen that report, but the Reuters coverage of it doesn’t include much (if anything) that’s different from the original report from three weeks ago.

Could it be that it’s the exact same report but it’s been given a new lease of life because a report from a Swedish newspaper about a Swedish company gives it that extra credibility?

Time will tell.

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It’s all about Biofuels today….

Portugal are looking to ramp up biofuel availability and Spain are in the somewhat strange position of exporting gasoline so they can import more diesel.

Methinks that 180hp diesel in the new 9-3 might be a hit in Spain, a growing market for Saab even prior to this new model coming.

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In addition to all that, GM put out a press release that once again spruiks the benefits of Ethanol and the plans to have cellulosic ethanol in large scale production sooner than what most people think.

…..cellulosic ethanol – combined with the billions of gallons of corn-based ethanol already produced today – could potentially replace up to 30 percent of this nation’s demand for energy by the year 2030, according to National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Based on projections from biomass researchers, including Bruce E. Dale, director of the Biomass Conversion Research Laboratory at Michigan State University, cellulosic ethanol could be produced for $1.30 a gallon in the near future and around $1 a gallon by 2020. Both grain-based ethanol and biomass ethanol reduce greenhouse gas emissions — 29 percent for ethanol and 86 percent for cellulosic ethanol, according to Argonne National Labs.

The enticing thing about that is the “$1.30 in the near future” reference. Even if you factor in the estimated 30% mileage hit, that’s still around $1.70 a gallon.

Then factor in Saab’s turbocharging and engine management technology, which gets much better performance from the higher-octane fuel and you’ve got a recipe for some fun.

Getting off the corn base for ethanol is going to be a key for it’s success. Here’s hoping this optimistic press release is also realistic. Here’s hoping, too, that Saab can get BioPower into the US market sooner rather than later in order to get established with the right E85 message about environmental care and right-sizing of engines.

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Happy Birthday to Andy Rupert!!

As you can see he’s recently enjoyed an incident-free homecoming in his new Jaguar, but is keeping his Saab roots intact with the T-shirt his wife got him – Ivan’s rather cheeky “GM Free” shirt from the Saab Design T-Shirt Shop: