Top Speed show their own Saab 9-1 sketches
Automotive website Top Speed have put together their own version of what they think the Saab 9-1 will look like when it comes around.
Check it out a your liesure, but wise Saabnuts will pick the faults here:
1/ They make no mention of the fact that this is their own work, that it’s unofficial. The text seems to pass it off as authentic, which it isn’t.
2/ They claim the car will replace the 9-2x, which I guess in a sense, it will. it’s just that there will be a four year gap (at least) between the last 9-2x and the first 9-1.
3/ They’re also claiming the London 2008 debut, which isn’t going to happen to the best of my deep-Djup Strupe’s knowledge.
The illustrations are interesting, nonetheless, and for that reason alone it’s worth checking out. The Saab 99-esque rear end is an interesting touch.
More from this category
- Tell GM About It, part II - Saab 9-1
- Saab 9-X photoshop fun
- How many doors on the Saab 9-1?
- More talk of the next Saab 9-3
More from this author
- The Great TS Pacific Northwest Meetup - Details!
- Quite possibly the best 2008 Saab 9-3 road test report - ever.
- Saab Owners Convention - wrapping it up with Steve Shannon and the best collection of photos you’ll see
- 25% off two T-shirts during August
Subscribe to this author
Recent Comments
- Ivan(MuzX) on 25% off two T-shirts during August
- Jürg on Quite possibly the best 2008 Saab 9-3 road test report - ever.
- Robin M on The Great TS Pacific Northwest Meetup - Details!
- Trent on 25% off two T-shirts during August
- Ying on Quite possibly the best 2008 Saab 9-3 road test report - ever.
- Rogan on Quite possibly the best 2008 Saab 9-3 road test report - ever.
- Trent on Quite possibly the best 2008 Saab 9-3 road test report - ever.
- SaabKen on Pacific Northwest Saab Meetup - An update
- turbin on Scorching Saab Seats can Stifle your Swimmers?!
- Sport Mode on Scorching Saab Seats can Stifle your Swimmers?!
Looks like an unhappy marriage between a Peugeot 205 and a Ford Ka…
Mmh, well done sketches. A bit small to be a1-series-competitor ? TopSpeed info about a convertible-version sounds nice, or is that wishfull thinking, just like the sketches themselves ?
I’m wondering if Saab will be saving the 9-2 moniker for a coupe version of the 9-1? Would be interesting if this was the case, odd numbers for their standard cars, and even numbers for the funkier ones :), a bit like BMW tried to do with their range (apart from the 3 series, but this was only due to the fact that M3 is well known and M4 will be a new brand to promote, so they stuck with the 3 series moniker for the coupe).
I just hope the new 9-1 looks just half as good as the 9-X, that car with an Aero-X nose would just rock!!
yes, from me.
aggressive stance.
sweeping belt line.
reduced overhang.
aero-x features.
i like top speed’s version of what a 9-1 could look like.
I don’t like it. Too “car of the future.” Too stubby. Too Mini-cooperish.
It seems to me that all smaller hatch vehicles are now made to resemble a Volkswagen Rabbit/Golf/GTI. Just squint and look at the profile…it’s the same bloody thing! I think this sketch has some redeeming qualities, but the classic 900 was the most elegantly designed hatch, and should be the template for the next generation. I just don’t understand this trend toward the pudgy, fat-assed, Volkswagen appearance. The 900 was a beautiful “fastback” design and had superior levels of utility, compared with the chopped off back end of the Volkswagen GTI/Golf/etc. Now every “hot hatch” design coming out looks like a doorstopper. Saab has the best design queues to work with already, so for God’s sake, why doesn’t anyone work with them?? If Volkswagen can revive the Beetle, and keep the Rabbit going for decades, why can’t Saab create a next generation 3 door that carries on the design traditions of the classic 900/99? That would be something WORTH preserving!
I like the idea of updated classics like the new Beetle and Mini Cooper - and a modern version of a 900 hatch would rock!
But, I have to admit that this sketch bears a striking resemblance to a different classic American car from the 70’s
Hi Tim-when I saw your comment I thought you might be talking about the AMC Pacer (remember that?)….but yes, it does indeed look like a Gremlin! Yikes…one of my uncles had a green Gremlin we jokingly referred to as the green onion. It was dreadful!
MarkS has it exactly right. The classic 900 still has a large following. There are people right now looking for a good used one and others who wish they hadn’t gotten rid of the one they
had. I and my son, for example, each have three of them that we are driving and restoring.
And I know of others who own even more. Yes,
there were problems - largely due to a lack of
the financial resources necessary to thoroughly
engineer the car before going into production
and the design and placement of the engine and transmission assembly which made some
maintenance difficult and caused a weight bias
to the left side of the car. That weight bias was the cause of the loss of traction on the right side of the car which is often referred to as “torque steer” since it would cause the car to pull to the right. Placing the engine in the car
transversely with the transaxle behind it and power taken to it with a roller chain transfer case as like the old longitudinal setup would accomplish two things. For one it would allow lateral adjustment of the power train location to
give equal weight on the front wheels, and for
another it would retain that great feature of access to the clutch without removing the engine. Making the car a little wider, moving the front wheels forward and the rear wheels back, putting in an IRS, and 2.4 liter turbo motor of about 285 HP would do it for me.
i like the car i have 1 my salf i Drive it my salf and i like it the speed and turbo