Swade: I hear you on the weather front — I’m in Kansas City and the temperature is 10 degrees F (-12 deg C) and not forcasted to exceed the freezing point for a week. Tomorrow: snow. Not my cup o’ tea.
Swade has done an admirable job covering the NAIAS for us, and I’ll expect some great photos from his visit to the Saab GM Heritage Collection and the drive there in the Saab 9-7x.
How about the ‘other’ guys? You know, the mainstream media. How did they do with the Saab coverage? I report, you decide.
First from the Detroit Free Press, a short article on BioPower that groups the E85 Hummer and the E85 Saab 9-4x concepts together. They call Saab “struggling”. Hmmm…
From Winding Road, a little better coverage, few pictures and the official GM press release.
Road & Track has a nice little write-up, and some great pictures in the slide show, but apparently Saab hasn’t been advertising enough with R&T lately — the mag snubbed the 9-4x in their video cache in favor of the a re-hash of the Mazda RX-8, the BMW 335d and some cars that actually were deserving of video coverage.
Mr. Chang of the New York Times gives Saab some good ink and another group of great pics on his blog — kudos. The Times also included the Saab 9-4x in their “Notable Models” feature.
Mr. Chang also wrote a short article on the 9-4x entitled “Alcohol, but with restraint” which sums things up nicely.
Motor Trend has a great picture gallery (probably the best of the bunch), but little else to get excited about. Check this beauty shot!
Finally, there is cursory coverage at Car and Driver, if you care to read a little about the partnership with Salomon. This article also mentions that the 9-4x would be built in Mexico.
I’ll likely expand this a bit later, for now, I’m a little late for the morning appointment.
Use the comments for other web spotting of current NAIAS Saab coverage. Thanks!
Did the world end today? I went to Google News and did a search on Saab expecting to see a bunch of NAIAS coverage. What I got was “Your search – saab – did not match any documents.” I retried and captured the screen to prove it.
Hi,
here some news about the 9-4x in German language:
http://gelaendewagen.at/artikel08/saab_94x_007.php
http://www.autobild.de/artikel/saab-9-4x-biopower_521470.html
http://www.spiegel.de/auto/aktuell/0,1518,528434,00.html
http://www.auto-news.de/auto/news/anzeige_Ungewohntes-Gelaende-Saab-9-4X-BioPower-Concept-in-Detroit_id_20605
http://auto-freude.de/9785/news/saab-suv-studie-gibt-vorgeschmack-auf-neue-baureihe/
http://allrad-news.de/concept-cars.php?newsid=22738
Regards, Alexandros
I love the pedals on the 9-4x, they look like tyre threads with silver lining. The 9-4x would look so gorgeous amongst all the mercs and beamers 4 wheel drives lying around here.
saab yurk,
Everybodys attention today is at Steve Jobs keynote presentation at Macworld San Francisco, starting at 9 AM PST (less than 1 hour away know).
Now that the honeymoon is over, I finally woke up to the fact that the 94-X aint no hatch. Someone’s got to renew the rally cry. So, here goes…
I am a hatchback waiting for production
A poor decision led to my destruction
You wonder why there’s such a numbers slump
You’re not producing ME.
Release me!!!
Release me!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MwVah9x-Vs
You should publish those lyrics. That would make a good song.
Seriously, I’m thinking the 9-4x is a pretty decent replacement for the hatch. It’s not as cool as a car. But as a cross-over it hits both markets (hopefully). And from what I saw in pictures, it can probably haul as much as the C900 did.
DMR: sadly, I believe the belief within Saab is still that Americans don’t see the combi-coupé body style as “premium”, therefore people cannot justify buying a “hatchback” Saab at the price point they sell at. I don’t see anything that would lead me to think that either Americans or Saab have changed their perception.
Also, now after reading the interview with Steve Shannon it appears that Americans don’t like wagons (combis) either and it sounds as if Saab USA just doesn’t have the resources to change their minds.
I don’t think this means that Saab won’t sell combis anymore, I just think that they will soon give up on even trying to sell them. They still need to make them for the European market where they’re spectacularly popular.
I can see a future where Saab sells a lot of CUVs in North America and a lot of combis in Europe. It’s weird. How can people differ so greatly simply depending on culture?
I guess it just goes to show when Saab was trying to convince us that the combi was an acceptable replacement for the combi-coupé that they were sorely mistaken…
It’s true that American “luxury” car buyers seem to have an irrational hang up about the hatchback. I’ve never been able to understand it, but it’s true. But, advertising created the demand for SUV’s (and other, even less desirable vehicles) here in the US, and now that fuel prices are at an all-time high, I think the time is right for Saab to introduce a reincarnation of the three and five-door concepts along with some advertising to LET THE RIGHT PEOPLE KNOW about their virtues (something I’ve never seen through the years)! GM took these Saab designs off the market just as the automotive world and younger, more open-minded consumers, began to embrace the ideas. If advertising can move inferior designs, then it seems to make sense that the right advertising strategy could move excellent designs!! And besides, people with odd notions of style can always opt to buy a Cadillac!
The news coverage on the Detroit show in Australia has been depressing – I saw the show presented as a display of ‘green technologies’ – yep GM was mentioned but nussink(!!) on Saab or bioethanol.
After reading the coverage about the 9-4x it seems to me people are not interested at all. The dutch website http://www.autointernationaal.nl (the one that released the pictures first) has in my opinion the best objective covering news, without any feel of reading an amateuristic blog. What they’re saying is exactly what I feel about the 9-4X (without being too subjective as a SAAB enthusiast)… The 9-4X won’t be a turning-point for SAAB, they might have more sales than the 9-7 in the US but people won’t even look at it in Europe. The design is not growing on me, with all the respect to the design team but it looks slow and heavy, the proportions are boring and you can just feel that the team wasn’t able to style the 9-4X the way they wanted.
Let’s face it, why do most people in Europe want a premium class SUV-CUV, not to go skiing no, the answer is more simple = status. And does GM really think European executives wil have the 9-4X in their top 10 wannahaves… really? It looks dull, there is no significant standout compared with the dozens of asian SUV’s on the market.
It is obvious that GM is investing more in Cadillac to create their ultimate global premium brand… and SAAB “oh yeah SAAB, almost forgot… well give them another Concept but don’t make it look too good mkay”. maybe this is a bit harsh but I just despise the chauvinistic marketing strategy GM keeps on believing in. They probably won’t change when they will be number 2.
Andy: Nice to hear from the singer/songwriter himself
1985 Gripen: I’m not so sure about hatchbacks not selling. Even GM does not truly believe that. The Cadillac CT coupe concept is a beautiful rehash of the CTS in a coupe/hatch format.
DMR: I’m just re-telling the company line I’m given by those at Saab USA I’ve asked about future combi-coupés.
Simon S.: Maybe that’s why Saab Oz saw it in their financial interest to send Swade to Detroit. Perhaps Saab has a history of being under-reported in the mainstream press.
Joti: I admit the 9-4X is quite underwhelming in the aesthetic department, but I do hope they sell TONS here in the U.S. You might have noticed that Americans, for the most part, have no taste. I can say this without being flamed because I’m American.
European executives don’t have to buy a 9-4X for status. That’s what the Cadillacs are for, right?
Indeed 1985 Gripen, but when it comes to status and SUV’s the germans are invincible here in Europe.
So the 9-4X is aimed at those young families in the city with their active lifestyle… I hope by the time the 9-4X is ready for production those young and wealthy families aren’t struggling through traffic jams driving a Tiguan, Freelander, Q5 (any useless vehicle). mid 2009 the 9-4X will be an even bigger flop compared to low sales the R class CUV is suffering at the moment.
I sincerely hope it will stay a concept or at least another US only release. Ofcourse Saab is hoping to reach new customers and I don’t think that’s a bad idea but what if they’ll lose their core customers. The coming of the new 9-5 and 9-1 must happen sooner and not later.
If my 9-3 coupé needs replacement and the 9-1 isn’t even in sight… chances are I could try an Alfa Romeo GT instead. (and not the Caddy CTS Coupé although it looks nice)
http://www.autointernationaal.nl/artikel.php?id=5788&n=4
European Sales figures announced…. and the biggest loser is … SAAB.
I used translator.live.com for the last part of the article (don’t have enough time to do it properly but you’ll understand it)
“We conclude with the largest loser in this row: Saab. The only `premium’ brand that concluded 2007 structurally with loss. Okay, the other luxury brands did not belong also to the increase top press (with exception of Land Rover therefore), but they could finish in the midfield. Saab not. This mark did it even more badly than jaguar, which sold in the short term to the indian Tata. Other car mediums can say what kind of wrong buy jaguar for Ford has been, but take it from Autointernationaal.nl : Saab are a much larger drama. Only is that not visible because General Motors do not stand differently than Ford in financial respect with its back against the wall.
Makes of car which want grow globally, must active become in Brazil, China, India and Russia. The German premiumbrands, but also Volvo, have decided in minimum one of these countries car will build. Saab do not do this; this mark (10 years after Mercedes-Benz and BMW) is going to build SUV’s on North American continent. Yesterday it was already noticed that 9-4X is not the long-awaited turning-point for Saab. Then this pronouncement was based on the qualities to expect of the model. And today the pronouncement is repeated: the turning-point for Saab is not yet visibility. The brand invests in the wrong markets.”
Yawn.. Slow that at the keyboard for that journo? What else is new?
So they are 10 years late to a North American plant? So what? The problem is not time (and what car should they have built there 10 years ago?), but rather the cost to produce the car. And I guess it’s a little bit cheaper to produce cars in Mexico compared to the US… As far as I know, either BMW or Mercedes build cars in Mexico.
But to survive you must also build cars in Brazil, China, India, or Russia? Well, GM do that. Saab is a brand inside GM. Does the journo think that Saab build their own plants? And don’t they need new models and sales figures before having a need to expand to new plants?
And the journo don’t like SUVs/CUVs/whatever. And therefore Saab is doomed. Maybe they have other models as well coming up, as stated by GM people. Has this guy been asleep for years?
Percentages and text seem not to correlate.
Mini is not going to be boring (text)
Figures are just slightly better than saab.
Percentages of Landrover, Lexus and Jaguar are lower than the one of Saab.
But saab gets the mud thrown in its face.
Didn’t know the site before – don’t know if its much know and read in dutch-speaking countries. The guy responsible is named Toralt Deinum.
Let’s just ignore him.
Some other dutch coverings frome the netherlands and belgium in the links below.
(from all these mentioned sites, i rate autozine.nl as the most qualitative – the car tests aren’t duplicates of the others around the globe, it’s clearly written informative etc. and the writer has some personal approach and yes … the car tested are really driven, so no “copy-and-paste-journalism”).
But concerning 9-4x it’s just copy and paste so far on most sites and magazines.
http://www.auto-zine.be/nieuws/nieuws_archief.php?nk=7301
http://www.autovisie.nl/nieuws/nieuwsoverzicht/archief/2008/01/gelekt_saab_94x_biopower_/index.xml
http://www.autoweek.nl/nieuws.php?id=8000
http://www.autoxperience.tv/toontext.asp?id=22163
http://www.auto55.be/nieuws/11664-9-4x-is-saab-s-compacte-suv-
http://www.autowereld.be/artikel/nieuws/nieuws-uit-zweden-9675.htm
http://www.autogids.be/artikel/prototype/saab-9-4x-biopower-concept-10288.htm
Looks like someone is ignoring saab.
European Motor Show Brussels started.
Saab does have a display of course as it is mentioned on map of official site of this motor show.
But if you’ll look at starting page and newsletter no saab to look at, no so called avant-premieres.
Its a shame.
http://www.salonauto.be
(I’m going to check the motor show out myself, but do not expect to see a 9-4X or any other new things, problably just line-up of the known production cars).
ctm: Well said.
Wilfried: It is a shame.
Flying over the 9-4X BioPower to Brussels wasn’t an option, as you can see.
But if you check out their cam on:
http://www.saab.be/main/BE/du/news.shtml
and click on “Saab op Brussels Motorshow. Bekijk onze stand ! ”
you will see nothing what you didn’t already knew.
No 9-1 either, but i will look forward to see the lynx from very close.
If i’m correct it’s a production line up with silver or light grey 9-5 hatch & 9-3 SS, a black 9-3 Turbo-X hatch & 9-5 BioPower sedan, silver or grey 9-3 SH, a white convertble and a lynx at the centre, available as a Spring Edition:
http://www.saab-unlimited.be/salon2008/offre.aspx?model=s93c&offre=2
A pitty Brussels didn’t get the leftovers from other motorshows, i remember in the past the appearance of the 9-X and the 9-3 SportsHatch concept, but this year no 9-4X or Aero-X …
They could have been nice public-attractions.