As I’m writing this, we are officially one week and five and a half hours from seeing images of the Saab 9-1 premium compact car concept vehicle in Geneva.

Do I sound anxious?

That means that I’m going to be getting up at 4am in order to pump myself full of caffeine in time for the 4.30am release (Aussie time). It’d be a lot easier if I were over there. Or if the pictures arrived early, but Saab seem quite confident they’ve for the internet monster under control this time.

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Those of you who can understand Saab’s mother-tongue may be interesting in a video review recently posted over at Tekniken’s Varld. They place the Saab 9-3 TTiD up against an Opel Vectra diesel and a Jaguar diesel for comparison.

Bengt P sent me the link and tells me the Saab won the day, though I have no way to tell. All I can do is watch the pretty pictures.

Must learn Swedish……

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Speaking of the TTiD, as mentioned here previously, Robin M from the UK has one for eight weeks and his task is to accumulate as many test drives as possible in that time. He tells me he’s right on schedule at this point - and his schedule involves a lot more test drives than what Saab had planned

I’m sure we’ll get more images in good time, and a review, but here’s an image to kick things off:

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I’m not sure what’s going on at Saab France at the moment, but there’s a massive press release that appears to have something to do with……..something.

Whatever it is, the image they’re posting with it is stunning, and wallpaper worthy. So click to enlarge and get your own 1920 x 1280 widescreen wallpaper that you can resize to your own needs.

This has been added to the collection of Saab Wallpapers here at TS.

And if you can figure out what the heck these French guys are up to, then please let me know. Looks like a show of some sort, but there’s so much information there I can’t really tell.

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Socialites from Montreal have a chance to win a 36 month lease of a Saab 9-3.

Wednesday, April 2. Eighth annual Miriam Foundation raffle, 8 p.m. at Le Windsor, 1170 Peel St. Draw, chaired by J.C. Gravel, unfolds during the final night of the foundation’s Texas hold ‘em tournament. Prizes include $25,000 cash or a 36-month lease of a 2008 Saab 9-3 Sedan, Pontiac Solstice Base or Cadillac CTS, home entertainment equipment (valued at $7,500), a $5,000 shopping spree at Lou Goldberg Jewellers. Visit www.themiriamfoundation.ca

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Richard Branson has put his biofuel money where his mouth is, sort of.

The Saab BioPower driver has just sent a Virgin plane on a flight from Amsterdam to London running partly on biofuel. When he received his Saab 9-5 BioPower, Branson stated that he was going to invest in biofuels and this seems to be the first step down that path.

Only one of the plane’s four engines ran on 20% jungle juice and had a separate tank built in specifically for the purpose. The flight carried crew only, no passengers, but apparently went off without a hitch.

The fuel was made from a mix of coconut oil and babassu palms. Enviro-spokesmodels claimed he’d rape the earth, but Branson stated that they’d look more towards algae for fuel cultivation in the future.

It’s a small step, but a step nonetheless and that’s exactly how many of these things develop - in small steps.

Of course, none of this has much to do with cars at this point, but just wait….