This is the second-longest comment in Trollhattan Saab history, and I think it well and truly deserves to be transferred here to the front page as a post in its own right. The article comes from “Jeff” and was posted in comments to the poll I had here recently on the 9-X BioHybrid rear end.

I’ve separated it into two parts. This first one looks at the rear end in particular, as well as few tweaks. Thanks Jeff, for all the effort. Your image kicked off the poll and the discussion in the first place, and your comments on it, reproduced here, make for some great reading.

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My gut reaction to first seeing the concept was mixed. After having anticipated the launch of the car for so long (how many years now?) and owning an 01′ 9-3 SE myself, I was hoping that we would see something really progressive, really edgy, really tight, and really SAAB.

Well, I can’t sound as though I’m disappointed. Hats off to Anthony Lo and the rest of the Saab/GM design team for being brave enough to think unconventionally. If what Swade hypothesized is true, and I suspect he’s dead on, that the showing of this concept had been moved up several months and that what we saw was a very raw (or medium-rare perhaps) version of a final concept, then it is an even greater accomplishment. Yes, the interior may look like crap, but come on, you all have to admit, putting driver information displays on the upper door area is pretty genius, and very very jet-cockpit inspired. While the information bar across the top may seem very Honda Civic, the intent for it has been there since my first 900, and evolved into the blip in the current 9-3 dash. This leads me to my most important point about why this whole exercise is intriguing at all.

We often forget about conceptual design and its role in defining a creative vision. I’m an architect, and I can tell you first hand that the creative process is only truly successful when rooted in brave conceputal thinking. It’s clear that the priority of the Aero-X was to explore Saab’s relationship to its jet manufacturing heritage. Perhaps it was a tad literal with the cockpit door, but those details all added up to a beautiful package that we all can agree stopped us cold. I have heard many complaints that Saab should be releasing new products, closer to production grade with interiors more in line with the 9-4x. But I think this concept is really encouraging because it shows us that Saab really is a brand that is trying to completely redefine itself.

In the design world, we often pin up our work on the wall for each other to see, quite often during the initial design phase where we can be collaborative about directions that fresh eyes could take our visions. These auto shows provide the designers with a real review from the public to gauge if they are on the right track. Both of these exercises are critical (thus the word, critique) in the creative process. So while I’d like to go out and buy one in three months, I’m really happy to see the behind the scenes inner workings of GM/Saab, and I’m very happy with what I see.

With the 9-X BioHybrid, I feel the designers did what one of my best design professors liked to call “Frankensteining;” obviously the Aero-X nose and 9-X tail had to be reconciled somehow. This is where the controversy starts.

First off, I’ll argue that the silhouette of the 9-X BioHybrid is not simply VW Golf, see:

The proportions of the sloping roof and rising window line certainly set them apart. I would argue that Saab is onto a new idea that Land Rover is working with as well in their new LRX concept, which quite frankly, looks stolen as one of the commenters on autoblog noted from the Saab 9-3x concept:

Either way, it’s no VW Golf. And instead of calling it a bus, how about we refer to the profile as a bullet? Sound better?

The reverse hockey stick (started by the Nissan Murano in the US I would say) is pretty damn brilliant, and gives the tail a sense of lift to the rear of the vehicle that has been missing as of late in the latest generation 9-3. The kink also gives that brilliant front angled shot that plays perspectival tricks with itself:

Notice how the kink has straightened itself out and now resembles the vertical 9-X original. I am sure there are others out there, besides myself, who wonder why they love the car so much from this angle, but not so much the direct side profile. I’m tempted to glob the back of the 9-3 SportCombi (ugh, I hate saying that name so much, anything that rhymes with Barbie should not be in a name for a car, let alone a Saab). That would result in the photoshops from Ryan and Tompa. I completely understand the gripe at the lack of inclusion of the forward sloping hockey stick, I get it…it’s as Saab as the Hoffmeister kink is BMW. But come on, that reverse kink is totally hockey stick, actually, its MORE hockey stick. Instead of the C-Pillar sheetmetal as hockey stick, the inside profile of the glass takes its place. It works, and it works well.

But here’s the sticky part: that big, huge honking C-Pillar. Let check out the rear 3/4 view as well, the balance of the window glass to the C-Pillar really does play tricks on your eyes just as the front angle shot did:

What’s going on here? Is the sheet metal really THAT big? Maybe it’s the spoiler? And what is with the sloping rear glass but the rigid spoler.
Lets shrink it. Why not go all the way and slope the spoiler back for a really edgy profile?

Mmmm, me gusta, much better. Now just for curiousity’s sake, I lopped off the back into a wedge, just to see if this perspective would help out a bit.

Hmm. I’m not such a fan come to think of it. Maybe it’s just my sloppy 5 minute photoshopping, but the proportions still concern me. What actually might help here is to rework the lower bumper to taper in as well. All fun questions to ask, all of which I’m sure were already asked by the design team before.

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Part 2 of this article will be posted shortly.