Wednesday Snippets
While Swade has flowers in his hair in San Francisco (a city that I’ve never visited), I’ve been cooling my heels here in Kansas City for another day and will be here through tomorrow. Swade, being such a steak fan, you’ll appreciate that I had a very tasty 20oz. (600g) Kansas City strip at one of the top steakhouses in a town famous for steaks. Sometimes it’s good to travel with the boss and his expense account, let me tell you.
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First off, the official GM press kit for the Saab 9-4x may be found here. Two items there are certainly worthy of discussion on their own: the short treatise on “rightsizing” an automobile powerplant to maximize performance while being environmentally responsible, and the interview with Jan Åke Jonsson. I’ll whet your appetite with this little tidbit:
“Our target is to have the Saab brand represented in all major segments of the market.” Jan Åke Jonsson
Coming from a company that has typically had only one or two cars in production at any given time, this is a radical shift in thinking, if you ask me. I don’t think that I necessarily like it, either. It’ll take some getting used to at the least.
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Some great shots on Flickr from the Detroit show:
from Burnlab, a great set of some of the more outlandish autos at the show (shhh… don’t tell Swade about the Volvo plug-in, he probably couldn’t handle it.).
Polskiedetroit’s set is very comprehensive, and pretty well photographed. Great stuff, PD.
Finally, Paul Stamatiou has a staggering 600 pics posted here. Probably some great stuff there, but I haven’t the time to look at all 600.
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You can watch the entire GM Hummer and Saab press conference online on the AutoChannel website. Rick Waggoner isn’t the most vocal Saab proponent, but it’s important that he leads off this year’s NAIAS with Saab BioPower and the Hummer equivalent. It’s a good signal.
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Do you want to know how serious GM is about E85? It’s in for the 2008 Corvette Racing team in the US LeMans Series. The Corvette is holy, untouchable and completely off limits. Unless you’re really, really serious. GM is pretty darn serious about E85. That’s my take.
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Volvo plug-in indeed! I see their parent company kept the muzzle off! Poor Saab…don’t even get me started!
Well if the choice is between having a Saab in every segment or no Saabs at all then the choice is pretty easy isn’t it?
Interesting article about future Saabs at Autocar. (Would normally e-mail Swade, but he is probably not around.)
There were news in Sweden furing the weekend about a Saab “electric city-car” to be shown as a concept next year. Some sort of co-op with a Swedish government agency. Sent Swade the news. Maybe he can dig up some more from other sources.
I think I’ve already covered it, ctm. It’s a project they’re participating in with Volvo as well. I know I read about it, now feeling unsure as to whether I posted about it. would have been in the last two months or thereabouts.
Sometimes it doesn’t become ‘news’ until one of the bigger sources writes about it.
Was it only me loving the ski rack. As a professional skier I would really buy this car! But hey, wait a minute why four seats and only three skis? I mean who wants to be the wannabe?
I asked the same thing, Johan
I think it’s just for prototype purposes that they made it for three as it’s the right width etc with three pairs. They said they could do it four four, or for snowboards, but for presentation in a concept car this appeared to be the most elegant solution.
MarkS: don’t get excited about Volvo’s plug-in. It’s a plastic cutaway model. They had the exact same thing on display at the L.A. Auto Show back in November. Any car company can take a current model and put plastic “wheel motors” and such in a cutaway model. Very unimpressive.
As for the electric city car Saab, I don’t remember reading about this (I’d get very excited as an EV advocate), but I do remember the partnership with Volvo Swade mentions. But that was for a hybrid, not a straight EV.
So GM is promising “A chicken in every pot and a Saab in every garage.”
That mangled quote, of course, is attributed to Herbert Hoover and was made right before the great Depression.
It eventually came true for Americans, with the exceptions of vegetarians and people who don’t own garages (are they really American?).
It’s not a bad idea, provided of course that the Saab in each segment is not a simple rebadge of another GM product. Saabs should have class-leading power, safety, economy and packaging. If GM can pull that off, more power to them.
Bernard: I agree with you for the most part, but you need to add “excitement” to that list of necessary Saab attributes. The 9-4X looks like a great product on paper, but it simply doesn’t excite me design-wise. I don’t look at it and say, “YES! I need one of those!”. I look at it and say, “well, if I want to get my family around safely and have good traction in inclement weather and save money on gasoline over a similarly-equipped 4WD SUV…”. Where’s the passion?
Saabs used to look like Saabs. You could spot one a mile away because they looked different. In an effort to compete and appeal to the general mainstream consumer they’ve made them less, dare I say, “quirky”. While auto journalists used to like to pick on Saabs for being “quirky” and different, now they just ignore them because little separates them from their competitors.
The 9-3 is a GREAT car to drive. But in the aesthetics department from any angle other than front-on it can look like any other vehicle on the road. Sorry, that’s just my opinion.
And the sell-out in distinctiveness hasn’t resulted in increased sales, the intended goal. That’s just sad.
I was told by a rep of Saab that Saabs coming out would be more-and-more distinctive. I was promised the 9-3 was just the first step in moving toward the Aero-X aesthetic and every new release would move more and more toward it. Well, to me the 9-4X doesn’t look any more “Aero-X” than the 9-3 does. In fact, it looks like a step BACKWARD to me. Hopefully the similarity between the 9-1 and the 9-5 and the Aero-X is uncanny. I doubt it though. I’m thinking I’m being fed a company line to keep me interested…
Grip
You need to see the 9-4x in person. Pictures don’t do it justice. In the flesh it looks very Saabish at first glance. The rear light bar is completely from the Aero X, and looks great.
Saab also has some variability to play with in the three-hole grille design, they all don’t have to be exactly like the Aero X. This is a good thing - Audi in particular has been really hamstrung by its goatee-grille, as a result all its cars look too much alike. IMHO
Greg: fair enough. Hopefully in person the car will stand-out of the crowd, but in the pics… blech!
I’ll admit it was the same thing with the ‘08 9³. It didn’t look great in pics but in person it looks a lot different.
I’ll hold-out hope…
Eggs:
Thanks a lot for tempting me with that steak. My stomach’s grumbling and I have nothing decent to eat at work…and here you are pining on about a delicous, savory, meaty strip steak. 20 oz. no less.
Or perhaps it’s me pining on?
Regardless, thank you. I’m now coveting my neighbor’s meal.
Here is the link to an English translation of the story about the Saab-Volvo plug in hybrid project in Sweden (from mid December) - Autoblog Green
(Hate to say it Swade, but the tagging on ABG makes it a lot easier to find old stories compared to paging through the TS archives)
TimJ: Thanks for finding that. I’m sure Swade will take your advice as creative criticism. He’s always looking for ways to improve this site.
I just traded e-mails with him and he found that the local Saab dealer to the airport (Burlingame Saab) closed down and merged with a dealer 27 miles away so Swade’s gone out sightseeing in ‘Frisco today. I’m glad he’s taking advantage of the situation and not sitting in his hotel room ‘blogging all day.
And here is Swade’s coverage of the partnership: TS Archive
Perhaps what ctm saw was an update about whether the government funding came through or not?
snippet from autocar’s, 9-4x article, artfully culled by kroum in #3, id:
We understand that Saab engineers were charged with development of most of the car forward of the windscreen.
i agree with 1985 gripen’s comments about the 9-4x styling, or lack thereof; and the above quote seems to jive with the result. i just don’t see a lot of saab work there. sounds like all saab could play with is the fascia, which is truck-esque, rather than aero-x-esque.
and the pattern of the rear lights is a “one-off” version from a saturn outlook (without a middle “joiner”).
c.f. (compare) the 9-4x’s.
as has been mentioned about the 9-4x, it has too many horizontal lines, from the profile. also, not rakish, too “stars and stripes” (adam’s amusing way to put it), etc.
this result scares me about what could be coming for the 9-1, 9-3, and 9-5. i want things that are iconic, something that’ll make the other brands “take note.”
i hope greg abbott’s comment is true, that the 9-4x pictures don’t capture a lot of what’s there. the aero-x fortunately avoids that fate.
nevertheless, and without sounding like terrell owens’s recent defense of his quarterback
(coma)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mow7gXW0uog (coma)
i hope the 9-4x fills a niche. but i hope, also, that it doesn’t give false bravado to uninspired design.
Sportmode: sorry. But, you know, it was really good — with a couple of glasses of Guiness, a side of steamed asparagus and a steak tartare starter. Very satisfying.
Greg: I’m glad to hear your endorsement of the 9-4x.
Grip and Benard: yes. Let the other car makers make appliances, let Saab build driver’s cars.
snippet from autocar’s, 9-4x article, artfully culled by kroum in #3, id:
We understand that Saab engineers were charged with development of most of the car forward of the windscreen.
(cont.)
i agree with 1985 gripen’s comments about the 9-4x styling, or lack thereof; and the above quote seems to jive with the result. i just don’t see a lot of saab work there. sounds like all saab could play with is the fascia, which is truck-esque, rather than aero-x-esque.
and the pattern of the rear lights is a “one-off” version from a saturn outlook (without a middle “joiner”).
(cont.)
i agree with 1985 gripen’s comments about the 9-4x styling, or lack thereof; and the above quote seems to jive with the result. i just don’t see a lot of saab work there. sounds like all saab could play with is the fascia, which is truck-esque, rather than aero-x-esque.
and the pattern of the rear lights is a “one-off” version from a saturn outlook (without a middle “joiner”).
c.f. (compare) the 9-4x’s.
as has been mentioned about the 9-4x, it has too many horizontal lines, from the profile. also, not rakish, too “stars and stripes” (adam’s amusing way to put it), etc.
this result scares me about what could be coming for the 9-1, 9-3, and 9-5. i want things that are iconic, something that’ll make the other brands “take note.”
i hope greg abbott’s comment is true, that the 9-4x pictures don’t capture a lot of what’s there. the aero-x fortunately avoids that fate.
nevertheless, and without sounding like terrell owens’s recent defense of his quarterback
(coma)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mow7gXW0uog (coma)
i hope the 9-4x fills a niche. but i hope, also, that it doesn’t give false bravado to uninspired design.
saab9x - I suppose that, really, what’s under the hood is the most important part of what makes a Saab a Saab. But not by much.
I was wondering something, does the “hockey stick” come through at all in the metal on the 9-4x? Some people said it looked tacked on in the renderings. I mean, does it look better on the car than on the CGIs?
BTW, I think the 9-4x looks really good in white, which is really odd for me. I don’t like white on pretty much anything.
Also, does anyone have a spare fuel pump for a ‘94 NG900 that I can have?
Darnit Swade! Had I known you’d be in lovely KC, I’d have bought you a beer! Would have let you drive the Viggen convertible too, but with the snow coming down, it wouldn’t be as much fun.
When do you leave on Thursday? Or Friday?
Rock Chalk dcjayhawk, but I (eggsngrits) will be outta here tomorrow (Thursday) at noon. Next time, perhaps. EnG
snippet from autocar’s, 9-4x article, artfully culled by kroum in #3, id:
We understand that Saab engineers were charged with development of most of the car forward of the windscreen.
i agree with 1985 gripen’s comments about the 9-4x styling, or lack thereof; and the above quote seems to jive with the result. i just don’t see a lot of saab work there. sounds like all saab could play with is the fascia, which is truck-esque, rather than aero-x-esque.
and the pattern of the rear lights is a “one-off” version from a (without a middle “joiner”).
as mentioned about the 9-4x, it has too many horizontal lines, from the profile. also, not rakish, too “stars and stripes” (adam’s amusing way to put it), etc.
this result scares me about what could be coming for the 9-1, 9-3, and 9-5. i want things that are iconic, something that’ll make the other brands “take note.”
i hope greg abbott’s comment is true, that the 9-4x pictures don’t capture a lot of what’s there. the aero-x fortunately avoids that fate.
nevertheless, and without sounding like terrell owens’s recent defense of his quarterback
(coma)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mow7gXW0uog (coma)
i hope the 9-4x fills a niche. but i hope, also, that it doesn’t give false bravado to uninspired design.
(sorry for the multi-post. nothing seemed to happen when i hit, “post,” so i kept trying.)
Swade, and all others…
My reaction to the plug-in hybrid vehicle thing was that I never before seen it stated that there will be a “concept car” next year. The only thing I remember reading was that there is a co-op between Saab, Volvo, a government agency, and a some company with a new battery technology, and that there would be demonstration vehicles for road tests some time in the future. The mention of a “concept car” got me started. I was thinking if it’s actually the 9-1/9-2 thing that will be shown as a plug-in hybrid a year from now…
There were other rather good news today about the funding of this and similar projects. I will translate it and mail Swade.
Good to see EnG getting back into form the with the link key. Probably one of your better efforts mate.
How’re those Commodores going anyway?
Many thanks, and the ‘Dores are ranked #14 in the nation with only one loss at Rupp Arena, one of the toughest places in the country to win a road game. And, for the first time in about five years, the Lady Commodores have fallen out of the top 25. EnG
Eggs,
Those steaks at Plaza 3 - were they free of somotropin, hormones, toxic feed, antibiotics and petiside residues and cut from animals that have actually seen real grass?
This is the sort of poncey bl..dy question a Saab person like me might ask!
Take it with a pinch of (organic!) salt mate. Thanks for the write ups - like the style.
All I know was that it was good. All animals here in the American Great Plains see real grass for miles and most are only grazed, so we’re good there. The antibiotics and hormones probably were there, and somotropin — what’s that? It was the best steak I’ve had in years. I normally opt for the spicier fare, so I rarely order steak, but when in Rome…. EnG
I guess that is pesticides! not petiside -that will teach me
Tsk, tsk. EnG
Bah, cows are for eatin’, not for coddlin’.
Jeff, As an ex farmer from Zimbabwe- i could not agree more - cows ARE for eating- indeed I used to shoot my own. BUT its WHAT you are eating that ought to be of concern.
Happy cow equals happy meat. (so to speak…)
Suggest a dive into the facts on bovine somatropin and other growth stimulators and drugs prevelant in US beef might be an idea-before you eat it. This stuff is also in beef world wide to the same or lesser degree -so this aint an anti US rant- OK!
Meat… Mmmmm. I´m getting hungry..
Ooh, by the way.. The best Lamb I´ve ever had was in Durban/ South Africa. If you ever go to Durban please visit Restaurant “Bean Bag Bohemia”! Wow what a great place! Great food, great wine, nice staff (Helped me to carry our stroller up to the second floor where the restaurant is), Collonial style house with typical furniture and with a nice “non restored” environment. Menu, as I experianced Durban to be, a mix of Australia and India.. Sturdy dishes with different types of meat, potatoes and herbs, but on the same menu alot of curries and hot hot hot spices.. Is it the same in Zimbabwe Lance? Oh, I was in Durban in 1999.. Long time ago.. I´m longing back there!!! Great place.. OK I was in Durban.. The Surf city of SA…