Back at home snippets
Boy, does it ever feel good to back at home, sitting on the couch and blogging from familiar surroundings.
I’ve got a new slogan for ya: United Airlines - Where it’s Two Hours Late, or it’s Free!
I finally got my flight home, which not only left late but also had to make an unscheduled diversion and stop in Hawaii to refuel due to strong headwinds. I shouldn’t complain - it’s better than running out of gas.
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Being back home again has provided my first real opportunity to go through my news feeds for the week. It was a good exercise, as I got to see all the 9-4x coverage out there.
It was good to see that there was plenty of it. It seems Saab’s feature spot in GM’s mainstage speech paid dividends as the Saab 9-4x concept was reported far and wide:
This quick video from CNET was interesting for me as it started right at the time I started my interview with Anthony Lo. We had to stop as this guy was so loud Anthony lost his train of thought.
Consumer Reports even had a writeup on the 9-4x.
MotorTrend refer to all the green concept cars as vaporware, a bold move considering the inevitability of cars getting greener. Their point, of course, is that whilst we keep seeing concepts, few of them ever make it onto the road. At least one particular car site is labelling the Tesla Roadster as vaporware for the same reason. Of course, there are millions of E85 cars on US roads already, though very few of them gain any advantage from this. On a related matter, one can’t help but wonder if the delay in getting Saab’s BioPower vehicles in the US has something to with GM’s announcement of the coming partnership with Coskata to produce cellulosic ethanol in the future for a much cheaper price than current methods.
The Saab 9-4x ski racks are included in Jalopniks list of top 5 concept car features that we’re never likely to see.
Many of the articles are your standard, press-release writeup such as this one at Car Keys. Still important, nonetheless.
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I’m going to keep tabs and give out e-slaps to any publishers that refer to the Saab 9-4x as a Swedish Cadillac due to both brands sharing this platform.
The Saab 9-4x has been designed as a Saab. The fact that a Cadillac will come on the same platform is neither here nor there.
First cab off the rank for a slap is AutoCar, who provided the following headline:
Saab 9-4X: a Caddy with a Swedish accent
Want to know how far you can trust AutoCar? Remember that it was AutoCar who first broke the erroneous story that the Saab 9-1 concept would be premiered in London in July 2008.
This is the sort of thing that happens when you base your prognostications on tea leaves and chicken innards rather than facts and sources.
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Thankfully, Autocar do manage a somewhat redeeming review of the Detroit Show in general, with a reporter actually at the scene.
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The Detroit News still have a little to learn when it comes to Saab:
The Saab 9-4X BioPower crossover is the struggling Swedish company’s first SUV, and uses design cues from the Saab Aero C concept……
Well, I guess the ‘C’ is next to the ‘X’ on the keyboard. And then:
….GM said the 9-4X, if built, would be produced in North America, making it the first unique Saab to be built outside Sweden.
Owners of Finnish, Belgian and Austrian built Saabs will be surprised.
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Robin M’s year of Saabs, photographing one a day from his local area, continues.
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And you’ll be hearing more about this, soon.
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“SwissTroll” has an awesome set of Saab scale models on Flickr, including this 1:90 scale Saab EV-1
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I’m sure there’s many reasons why they’re great, but here’s one reason US lawmakers suck.
Always scared poopless of introducing any taxes on the people (i.e upping fuel taxes so the user pays) they bring in new CAFE standards to raise the bar to 35mpg on average by 2020.
This way, instead of the lawakers losing votes, the carmakers will get the angst of the people when cars start costing around $6,000 more on average.
“We’ve done the research and it’s going to cost us $4,000 on some vehicles and $10,000 on others, with an average of about $6,000,” Bob Lutz told reporters at the North American International Auto Show. “That cost will have to be passed on to consumers,” Lutz, a long-time vocal critic of federal fuel regulations, said.
There may be some light at the end of the fuel economy tunnel for Saab, however:
Lutz also said GM is looking at entering the premium small car segment in another effort to gain more fleet-wide fuel efficiency. “We are looking at it,” Lutz said. “Making smaller cars that cost more will be part of the process to get to the 35 miles per gallon.”
GM’s North American sales Chief, Mark LaNeve, earlier Tuesday told Reuters the automaker is seriously considering developing a car for that segment, which would likely be branded a Saab, Hummer or Cadillac.
There is only one brand out of those three that should ever be seriously considered for a small car. Anything but a Saab out of those three and we will know that GM are not serious about managing their brands properly.
Seriously.
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That advert will sure help shift a few TTID’s it looks great!
One thing thing i noticed when i saw a TTID Aero sportwagon the other week is that it gets the V6 twin exhausts, wheras the 2.0T Aero has none - :0
Just a quick short note….
Welcome Home
The write up the calls the Aero-X the “Aero C” also claims the 9-4X will be Saabs first SUV.
I think that award goes to the 9-7X, and isn’t the 9-4X more of a crossover than an SUV?
Jwalanky: Finally, I now know why this snow silver Aero convertible that passes me as I pull out of my drive each morning doesn’t have any rear pipes. The pre’08 models had a single exhaust.
I thought it was some sort of mistake, or the driver pimped up the car with Aero badging and spoilers with twin spoke 18″ alloys.
I think it is a poor show for the rear styling of the car, the 2.0T engine should at least have a single pipe sports exhaust, it sounds fab! At least the TTiD Aero will have the twin exhausts.
As for Autocar, I’m fairly sure the write up in the actual magazine is different to the one online. They have the BRX/Provoq and the 9-4X on the same page, but they are both seperate articles, and they do not mention the link at all in the written piece. I’ll double check tonight and scan.
Autocar are still stating that the 9-1 will be seen at London, perhaps it will debut in Geneva but also be shown in London? Would make sense seeing the size of the market they have in the UK. It’s a stark contrast to the States, I easily see about 20 saabs on my drive to work every day, and that is on a bad day.
Its a bit tight that the 2.0 Aero doesnt even get one pipe, but it just shows you how well the TTID is viewed over here by getting the same sports bling as the V6 Aero.
Glad to hear you’re back home safely Swade & thanks for all the coverage. You might have already noticed but SAAB are in the news here for the wrong reason - ACCC claiming false advertising over the tree-planting initiative to offsett Carbon emissions. Apparently 17 trees isn’t enough to make this statement legally. Irony re-defined i’d say.
Make that TTID a black hatch w/ 17″ or 18″ 5-spoke wheels & a 6spd manual box, and consider me interested!
United - for a “premium” full-service airline, they do fall a little short, yes. I’m glad that they compensated you.
Visiting LA, Detroit and San Francisco, you’ve not visited anywhere representative of the country as a whole. Our country is so vast and diverse that you’d need to stay a couple of weeks and visit each region to begin to have a flavor of the US as a whole. That is, don’t judge based upon that experience.
I noticed the Aero-C thing and the ‘first outside of Sweden’ mistake when I posted the coverage links, but I didn’t have time to write much that morning. I thought that someone would comment, but they didn’t.
Finally, it IS good to be home after being gone on a long trip. Enjoy that.
Thanks for the efforts — great, great things!!
ttiD …PLEASE come to America.
BMW will have 3 diesels here soon.
grrrr.
Isn’t the 9-1 going to be the “premium small car?”
If Lutz is talking about a different car, is this going to be smaller than the 9-1, or “premiumer” than the 9-1, or both?
In CAR Magazine, February issue, they have a big story on “star cars for 2008″, and on the final page, they have listed 20 more star cars for 2008. And on that page, they have a small picture of a BRX/9-4x covered in disguise and the text reads:
“Saab 9-4X
For: A new Saab! At last!
Against: It’s a Caddy underneath
Verdict: Will US roots devalue Saab even more?”
I’m so fed up with journos who can’t fathom the simple fact that it’s not a Caddy underneath, they just share platform! Argh.. !
Good to hear that you are back at home Swade! Relax now for awhile!!
Edonis, did you notice that they (CAR) seem to know the starting price - £21000…
I had to go to Saab.co.uk to check out what´s with the 2.0T Aero cause it seems that no other market has it. Well, if you go´n take a look there, use car configurator - select Sport Combi - trim level: Aero and there you go… The nose and rear seem to be depeding on the engine choise. Only 2.8t get´s the Aero front and twin pipes at the back.
I guess that it is only a mistake? Sedan has twin pipes!
But what I was wondering, why do you UK guys get the change to buy 2.0T Aero? Does anyone know some other market where that is possible? There could be, but I just haven´t heard about it before. Seems that there´s always something special for the UK, like 900/9000 Carlsson.
I know that Italy had 9000 Aero with 2.0T engine. Does it have something to do with taxes or what?
I would love to get that Saab single-sport exhaust on our TTiD, but it is so expensive. It would look very good on snow silver with grey lower part and single exhaust (twin tip though).
But you´d have to throw nice new exhaust away (only a rear muffler, but still..).
The TTiD add above is actually quite nice. I wonder why Saab is not advertising TTiD in Finland at all? There´s only diesel turbo mentioned on add, but nothing more. They should be banging on drum that they have the most effective 1.9 liter diesel on the market (be it true or not, no matter!).
Maybe the reason for being quiet is those problems with TTiD. It seems that marketing on swedish media has stopped too?! At least I haven´t seen any when I check some Swedish internet pages. Other Saab adds are still present.
A small Hummer or Cadillac??? The fact that a GM exec would make such a remark reaffirms my belief that GM doesn’t know its collective arse from its elbow. Do they think that people who visit a Hummer or Cadillac dealership are in the market for something compact and sporty??? GM, let Saab bring us the 9-1 and stop messing about!
I don´t know if it has been mentioned here or on the 9-4x press kit, but Finnish car magazines seem to know that 9-4x will get 1.9TTiD as a one engine option. Not a bad idea. I thought it´ll only get the 2.9t or what ever it is.
Autocar - That is one idiotic headline! The review itself isn’t so bad but it’s doing a disservice to Saab to print inaccurate statements like that IN BOLD PRINT. Stop trying to be witty and report FACTS.
Left Lane News also contribute to the idiotic writeups with this blank stupidity today:
MarkoA: Yes, I noticed that.. and they also reckon it will use a 2.0 TD with 150hp and 236lb ft. I’m guessing it’s just a typo, because those figures are identical to the 1.9TiD.. But how can they predict that it will cost a low £21.000 when the 9-3SC with the same engine costs more, even in Airflow spec? And that is without XWD…
Bernard: GM has used legislation they oppose as a scare tactic before. They already had plans to drop the V8 Northstar replacement and then used the new CAFE rules as a reason for dropping it. Now they have to drop fleet-wide fuel economy standards and they’re pointing-out that they’ll have to develop a car that we know is already under development to meet those goals. It’s all spin.
I saw a video of Lutz sitting around with a bunch of ‘bloggers at the show and he was talking about how the federal government needs to pass a law that all service stations in the country which dispense more the X hundred gallons of gasoline per day need to add one or two E85 pumps (ignoring the fact that this would force the station owner, most commonly one of the oil companies, to sell a product which competes with their bread and butter business, at their own expense, which I’ve read can be around $100K per pump) to their station. One of the ‘bloggers asked if Coskata can make ethanol for less than $1 a gallon, won’t free-market forces provide incentive enough for station owners to install E85 pumps w/o gov’t interference? Bob stuttered and waffled and admitted that it would be better if the free market took care of it, but if not gov’t should legislate it.
Hey Bob, here’s an idea: if you’re so hot on ethanol, why doesn’t GM help subsidize installation of E85 pumps at stations nationwide? Heck, get together some sort of ethanol coalition of all the automakers to put money into a pot to do so. I think if ethanol gets popular oil companies, which own most of the fueling stations, are going to start feeling threatened.
Gripen,
I agree it’s often spin. Happens all the time.
I do have an alternative scenario though:
It’s very likely that GM (end every other auto company) keeps up on laws and regulations likely to affect them. It’s plausible that GM didn’t think much about the sub-compact class until their lawyers and advisers informed them of the pending legislation, which in turn spurred them into preparing a contingency. This could even explain in part as to why the 9-1 is so behind its counterparts- GM lacked the foresight to see into the future on their own.
Of course, we can’t know for sure because we’re not involved, but either are plausible scenarios based on what we do know. There could even be other reasons we haven’t thought of.
Just a thought.
Mr. Lutz should pass this 6000bucks on his own account!
And does he think, Texaco and friends can keep oil costs down all the time in sending there Mercenaries around the globe as currently practiced?
Hasn´t he noticed that his Federal Government is review his global policy?
The competion alone would make his cars more expensive anyway. Or does he think Japanese and German engineers ran out of ideas?
Isn´t this gentleman responsible for the bad situation Saab is faceing since he came along, is he?
I never noticed it before, but the EV-1 looks like a gen 3 Firebird.
Michael: the thing that strikes me is Lutz’ whining and scare tactics about the average price of a GM car going up by $6,000 so that they can release enough fuel efficient small cars to offset the Tahoes and Yukons and Silverados, but seems to ignore the fact that this legislation isn’t targeted at just the American auto makers. All the foreign companies who sell cars in the U.S. market have to abide by the same rules. It’s a level playing field. If GM had been developing hybrid technology all along like Toyota and Honda were instead of using lawyers and lobbyists to fight legislation and putting all GM’s eggs in the hydrogen basket (what, 40 years and counting and we STILL don’t have a production hydrogen car…) then they wouldn’t be having this problem. Hey, Maximum Bob: you gambled and lost. Sour grapes?
They still have one hope: if Romney becomes president and has to hold to all his desperate, unrealistic campaign promises in Michigan, he’ll roll back all the new CAFE standards anyway…
As a Saabophile I find it hard to empathize with Bob Lutz.
We all know that Saab had an ethanol-capable parallel hybrid PLUG-IN Saab back in early 2006 which was quickly shelved by GM, presumably so it wouldn’t steal the Chevy Volt’s or Saturn’s thunder.
I was listening to a report on the radio yesterday which has reported that in order to reach that elusive 35 mpg fleet average the auto manufacturers are looking at diesel as a possibility, but considering that U.S. emissions requirements (Tier 2 Bin 5) are 4 times more stringent than those in Europe, so much money has to be put into technologies to make the diesel engines meet emissions requirements here that it approaches the cost of a hybrid. So my question: why not just produce more hybrids? It’s not like they don’t have the technology. Saturn has a bunch of them and we know Saab had the technology at least two years ago.
Where’re the hybrid Saabs? Why are they waiting to debut their hybrid in a new model rather than just coming out with it on an existing model (as they had in the prototype 9³ ‘vert concept)?
Are they too expensive? If so, then maybe they’re just waiting until 2020 gets closer to release them…
GM was not the only auto maker to argue against the new CAFE standards. Toyota, BMW, Mercedes, Nissan and even Honda argued against it. Why? They all make trucks and/or large cars which are their big profit vehicles. Small cars equal small profits in the USA, hence the push for “premium” small cars. Mini is the only company that has managed to sell small “premium” cars with any success. GM is always an easy target but all auto makers realize their lives just got a little harder. As for rasing the gas tax, it will never happen. We started a revolution due to high taxes, and I doubt there are more than 10 Americans who think our taxes are not high enough.