Two pillars of Saab’s engineering success: safety and turbocharging. Both are becoming increasingly important in modern times.

Safety - because people want to be safe on the roads and they now realise that there are concrete things that carmakers can do to help. Turbocharging - because carmakers want to harness the effficiency that turbocharging can bring in order to deliver adequately powered vehicles with better fuel economy.

Saab have been leaders in both areas and it would be encouraging to see them emphasise these areas more in their marketing.

Here in Australia, the government in the state of Victoria is looking to offer incentives for people to buy safer cars. The state government want to cut the death toll on Victorian roads and is looking at all possible avenues to doing this. One such avenue is getting the Victorian road stock safer over time:

Victoria’s annual toll has remained stuck between 330 and 346 for five years, and experts believe that further improvements to roads and car safety technology will reduce deaths.

Premier John Brumby hinted in November that incentives may be offered to encourage people to embrace technology such as electronic stability control and side airbags in cars.

Mr Pallas went further yesterday, saying reforms could be announced within weeks when the Government releases its next five-year road safety plan.

“The only thing that interests myself and the Premier is making sure we get to a point where we have 100% uptake on new vehicles with electronic stability control and other safety features,” he said.

Incentives could be offered through lower insurance rates, rebates or reduced registration fees. However, a Government spokeswoman said yesterday no decision had been made on the best method. She said the Government was looking at incentives that were “practical”.

There’s no replacement for driver education, but having safer cars on the road is one practical step to having fewer deaths.

If Saab Oz are looking for a point of emphasis in their advertising this year, Saab Safety might be a good place to start. They’ve got a great track record.