File this under “Things the US market can’t get that their customers probably wish they could”.

I first wrote about the Hirsch carbon leather dash kit a little while ago. I’ve just now arrived home and found an email from Hirsch in my inbox with this detail picture of the dash.

One of the criticisms of the 9-3 is the standard of materials inside the vehicle. The seats are fine and almost everything else is fine but that dash can have a sea-of-plastic feel to it. If I had a 2007 model 9-3 then I’d be doing backflips to get the money for this. Beeewdiful!

Click to enlarge.

And here’s the blurb from Hirsch:

The new Hirsch Performance leather instrument panel for the Saab 9-3 MY07- brings a completely new feeling to the car’s interior. Just as its predecessor, the new instrument panel is leather-covered with black leather of the highest quality. New for this year is the combination of black full grain leather with a new leather quality called carbon leather.

Carbon leather is a natural leather, embossed with a carbon-fibrestructure, that allows a truly unique leather instrument panel design. It can be treated and maintained just like normal leather. For a very special touch for the Saab 9-3’s cockpit, the new carbon leather instrument panel is an excellent choice.

Glare is minimised through the use of black leather, making this leather instrument panel ideal for both night driving and sunny environments.

The leather instrument panel can be ordered separately, or as part of an interior package together with the Hirsch Performance Aluminium Pedals.

There’s no price quoted on the Hirsch website for this product, or for the combined interior trim kit that includes the aluminium pedals. But the pedals alone cost 230GBP so I assume this isn’t a cheap upgrade.

But it does look sooooooo good.

This picture popped up on my Flickr feed today and I thought it’d be an intereting follow-up to Richo’s HDR Viggen photos.

This one is from a portfolio of HDR Documenta photos. Documenta is an arts festival in Germany that’s being sposored by Saab, hence the presence of the Aero-X there. The full set of HDR pics is from this Flickr user is here, though this is the only one with the Aero-X in it so far.

Various bits of info have come to hand in the last few weeks and I think it’s time to sort out what the Black Turbo IS and then deal with the various comments and speculation in the Black Turbo News post from last night.

So – what it is.

It appears that the Turbo X will be the launchpad vehicle for the new XWD system. It will feature the eLSD as standard (this is a big thing) and the 2.8l V6 tuned to 280hp. My mail is that it will also have 19″ wheels and various body and interior trim changes and it’ll be limited to 2,000 units that’ll most likely sell out very quickly.

As covered at the 2008 Saab 9-3 launch, this XWD system is brand new and gives the car brilliant handling characteristics. Saab’s own testing, and I assume it was conducted in conjunction with Haldex (but that’s my assumption) showed that through a standard slalom handling test the car was quicker and more stable through the course than a bunch of performance cars, including a Porsche.

Now, to the various bits of misinformation out there…..

[Read the rest of this entry →]

“Ajb” left his first comment on the site earlier today (my time) and it’s one with a question that I’m sure one of the dealers that lurks around these pages could answer. Here’s the comment in full:

The lease on my 06 A4 2.0TQ Avant is up soon, and I went today to look at a Saab. I’ve always thought of them as neat cars, since they are certainly “rare” and a bit quirky in their own right. Drove the Aero Combi today (an 07 black auto) and I have to say, I came away impressed. Very quick for a daily driver, and a very nice, sporty suspension feel. Seats were noticeably more comfy than those in my Audi too. The deals on the 07’s seem pretty nice as well. I didn’t even negotiate a single aspect (was just looking) and the dealer I was at quoted nothing down (just sales tax) and around $465 a month for a manual transmission car with everything but navigation, for 37 months with 15k a year. Who knows if negotiating gets me any better but I was definitely interested.

Anyway, at the risk of rambling, does anyone have any insider info as to the lease programs on an 08? Also, can anyone here offer any realworld opinion of the 2.0T vs the Aero? This is a daily driver for me (I have a modded 350Z for fun time) and while I love having the rarer model, it seemed to be a pretty big difference in price between the Aero and 2.0T.

By the way…dealer was North Shore Saab in I think Roslyn, or Great Neck NY. The gentleman there was very helpful, tossing me the keys to drive the Aero without hesitation and telling me to “have fun”. Very low pressure too, which was nice (for a change, for a dealer!)

The big question is in bold there.

If there’s a dealer reading this today (i.e. you’re not on a plane for the dealer conference in Sweden later this week) then please let us know what the leasing deal is so that we can get “Ajb” out of that Audi and into one of those magnificent new 2008s.

Great news in from the team at JL Racing:

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With a thrilling last lap, last corner overtaking move, Len Clue took secured a first place finish at Calabogie this past weekend.

Friday’s testing began with some major suspension changes to the car. The shocks were stiffened, camber adjusted and the compression and rebound changes helped tighten the car up enormously. Len Clue also had many hours of experience on the track which would stand the team in good stead. It had been raining hard for most of Saturday, yet in spite of the conditions, Len Clue qualified in second place (in class). With some further camber adjustments the team had the car setup quite nicely for the track. The team quickly discovered that the handling of the car was much the same in the dry or the wet – just less grip in the wet. With the bonus of neutral handling, the car planted itself quite firmly in each corner and was rotating with ease.

The rain had stopped around mid-afternoon, although the track was still very wet and a tough call was required. The crew chief opted for the dry tires which proved to be right choice.

With a very slippery track Len Clue started well and immediately began gaining on the leader. On lap three however he was tapped from behind by another BMW. The car went sideways, and he recovered well but lost a position. He now had two BMW’s ahead of him. Lap after lap, he gained ground over the BMW’s looking for the hole that would allow him to pass and take first place. On the last lap Len managed a daring move to overtake one of the BMW’s. Then, on the last corner of the last lap, Len dove on the inside, scooting past the BMW and rocketing on to take the chequered flag and JL Racing’s first win in GT B sprints for the season.

Due to the changing conditions, tire choice became the critical element of the weekend races. Jason Sharpe drove an excellent Canadian Touring Car race on Saturday, but the tires gave out too soon and he was unable to gain any new positions – ending a respectable 11th. Calabogie’s tricky “keyhole” sequence was the bane of many drivers this weekend and it managed to catch Len Clue unawares in the Sunday sprint race. Unfortunately, the car went off track and slid into the tire wall. Although the damage was minimal, It could not be repaired at the track and the team finished up the weekend early with a first place finish and some key learnings for Saab Motorsport at Calabogie.

This is a bittersweet post to have to write.

Any post on the Black Turbo is a good one, but this one’s got a somewhat sad element to it.

Just over a month ago I stood in Trollhattan talking to a guy about the software that would govern the Black Turbo. I asked if the horsepower numbers it would provide started with a ‘3′ and he replied “definitely”. I asked if the second digit was a ‘2′ and he smiled and said “maybe”.

A number of other sources had also mentioned a 300-320 horse output as well, so combined with the word that came to me directly in Trollhattan, I figured it was a fair bet.

We’ve already heard that the XWD version of the 9-3, the Aero version upon initial release, will come with a boosted 280hp. The standard 2WD Aero will come with 255hp.

The latest word that I’m getting, however, is that the Black Turbo will not be as well endowed as we thought. I’ve now heard from two independent sources that the Turbo-X – the Black Turbo – will also come with a 280hp setup.

It’ll be a limited edition of 2,000 units worldwide and will be visible early in 2008. The 280hp output means that car may bell be all about the body kit and any work done on the interior. This is all believed to look sensational and I can’t wait to see it.

News about a 280hp Saab can rarely classified as disappointing, but I can’t help but feel a little deflated about this. As mentioned, this has drifted in from a few sources and I’m confident that it’s true. There’s still several months left in the year, however, and if the situation changes I’ll keep the site updated.

Ding Dong, the witch is dead!!

It’s a win for common sense, of sorts. There’s a story in Auto Motor and Sport today stating that GM will make it’s future Eurocaddies based on a rear wheel drive platform. Basically, they’re challenging themselves to make Caddies that will appeal to both Americans and Europeans.

Good luck.

This means that GM have seen the writing on the wall for the BLS and it likely won’t be continued when the next generation 9-3 comes. The writing on the wall that they’re still choosing to ignore is the supersized script saying YOUR STINKIN CADDYS DONT SELL HERE!!!

The story says that there will be a new, smaller RWD Caddy from around 2011 that’ll be built for both the US and Europe. Other updated Caddys will presumably be Euro-bound as well.

This could mean one of two things for Saab, depending on how GM choose to play it.

They could make their Caddys however they want to make them and market them quietly as a boutique thing for those that want them. Sell them on quality and word of mouth. Selected marketing to the most likely people. Build up an air of exclusivity. OR, they could try like blazers to market their luxobarges to anyone with a heartbeat and continue to push %#$! uphill with a toothpick.

If they do the former, perhaps GM will plough some more resources into marketing Saab in Europe. If they do the latter, expect more of the same.

Count up all the citizens of Ireland, Norway, Sweden, the UK, Italy, Spain, Belgium, France, Germany, Netherlands and Switzerland and you get around 350,000,000 potential Saabisti. Well, not really, but that’s a lot of people.

The UK and Sweden are going along pretty well and Spain’s come along in leaps and bounds. In the remaining 8 countries on that list, Saab could probably be doing better than what they are. In order to do that, they need better product and better exposure. When you consider that Saab sold around 90,000 vehicles in Europe to Cadillac’s 3,300 in 2006 – and that’s with the addition of the Eurocentric BLS – you can see where the money’s going to be better spent.

What’ll be easier? Getting a 5,000 per year sales rise out of Saab, or selling 5,000 more Caddys on a continent where you’ve sold 3,300 at best and have had to downgrade your forecasts – multiple times.

GM should be investing in Saab to make it a true European competitor.

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UPDATE: Autoblog have a US perspective on this, dealing with the revised models that will be coming.

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Thanks to Ivan and ctm for the link.

Richo’s been experimenting with HDR photography again.

HDR stands for High Dynamic Range and put (very) simply, it combines several photos of the one object taken at different exposures. The end result can often be quite stunning, especially with high-contrast landscapes etc.

Here’s the latest HDR efforts from Sydney, with Richo’s Viggen shining like a diamond. I’d suggest that these haven’t quite arrived yet, but they’re definitely getting there.

Click to enlarge.