New 9-5 still a little while away
Djup Strupe’s been at it again and he’s in two places at once at the moment!
I’ve just been reviewing some content (the source and nature of which I’ll leave unspecified) that indicated to me that we might still have a little while to wait before seeing the next generation of Saab 9-5s.
The information came from two independant sources, both known to this site, and was identical from both sources. It is US-based though the production-specific nature of it means it’ll likely be the same elsewhere.
The info indicated that for the 2009 model year, the Saab 9-5 would be produced as it is now - in a 2.3T and an Aero form - for the first six months of the model year only. The model year generally starts around August of the preceding year. In the second half of the 2009 model year (say, Feb09 onwards), the Saab 9-5 would go into a runout mode and a special edition called the Griffin Edition will be produced.
Details of the Griffin Edition are as yet unknown, but here’s hoping it’s a buttkicking runout model that pays proper tribute to the service the Saab 9-5 has given. For those who haven’t seen it, here’s my wishlist.
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With production of the current 9-5 slated for most of the 2009 model year, that would mean we’re not likely to be able to buy a next-generation Saab 9-5 until very late MY2009 or even MY2010.
I still maintain that they’ll unveil a 9-5 concept vehicle that will be very close to production at the Paris Motor Show late in 2008. Should be exciting!
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Not good news at all, the current car is over a generation behind the competition already and by the time the new car comes the likes of Audi and BMW will be working on their new ‘5-sized’ models. I still think GM is losing interest.
This timing is exactly as we’d been led to expect as far as I’m concerned. The 9-5 is virtually invisible to most anyway and is just a small blip on the sales charts. I don’t think we had any reason to believe that the 9-5 was going to come as a MY09.
I also do not believe GM is losing interest. They found interest a couple of years ago and this is how long it takes to bring quality new cars into production. Would it better for it to be half-baked?
Things only get worse from a model’s launch onwards. If the car is under-engineered to start with you may never recover. We are still seeing the after effects of the 03-04 9-3SS quality disasters.
Seeing the 9-4x mule pics is proof enough to me that there is indeed momentum to Saab.
I was under the impression most regulars here by now knew that the new 9-5 will be a MY09.5. Djup Strupe is just the official (hehe) confirmation.
Here’s to hoping that these delays mean that it’s in the process of being designed to compete with the next generation of A6, 5-series, and E-class. It would be nice to see Saab on top of the pile in terms of modern models for a change.
The same goes for the next-gen 9-3, the 9-4x, and the 9-1.
As long as we see the new model at a show THIS year I’ll be happy.
Besides, we all need some time to save, no?
Call me what you will, but I appreciate the look of the current 9-5 better than that of the 9-3. However, I also agree that it’s been time for a new 9-5. And I am hoping that it is something special. Saab needs something special.
Oh My God -
I’m hoping Saab will still be quasi relevant at that point. That’s tooooo far off.
So, when the car does arrive, if it does, how many will be built for the USA in 2010? Will we witness another hoopla but no availability? And when it does come out, should we expect it to match the current competition? If the new 9.5 is not pushing for top marks among the very best, the competition will be ready for their next generation and leave the Saab behind. Leave it to Saab & we stand a chance. Leave it to GM and it will fall into another ‘nice’ car category.
I thought that’s when it was going to show up anyway, so this isn’t much of a surprise to me. I didn’t really think that Saab would refresh the 9-3 for 08 and then have a new 9-5 the very next year, especially with all the concepts that have been flying around.
I think it will be very hard for Saab to produce anything that leap-frogs the competition. I look to the new Jag for an idea of what the 9-5 might be like. The new Jag is looking forward yet has roots in the past. It is a great car but nothing that vanquishes the opposition.
As far as I know MY 2010 is in the planning for a long time.
That’s probably the reason why we didn’t see any test cars around so far.
Funny I was just reading the preview article of Turbo X in Car & Driver (June ‘08) and it briefly mentioned the XWD will be available in the 9-5 later this (’08) Fall.
You can find the article if you go to C&D online and search “Turbo X”, it’s the June ‘08 article.
Here’s the quote:
“XWD is currently optional only on 9-3 Aeros; it will be optional on all 9-3s for 2009. Buyers wanting all-wheel drive in the step-up 9-5 model must wait until fall.”
I wonder if the Griffin edition (presumably on sale in late ‘08 as ‘09MY will feature XWD ?
It would not be economic sense to add XWD to the 9-5 when it’s sales are so small and it’s so close to being replaced. I suggest Car & Driver are a year out with their predictions?
Spied: Opel Insigna Hatchback:
http://www.leftlanenews.com/opel-insignia-hatchback.html
Or is it the new 9-5 heavily disguised?
My impression was always that we see the 9-5 not before MY 2010, so no surprise. However, it is really, really time for a new 9-5!
That pretty well confirms what we knew so far: engine production will end in late 2008, which means that 9-5 production will stop soon after that. It makes more sense to make one last batch early in the year, rather than producing a trickle of 9-5’s for six more months.
The replacement model should start production in mid-2009, with first deliveries in Q3 (as a 2010 model). Hopefully, this will have given GM enough time to debug the platform at the expense of Opel buyers…
Turbin - Let’s hope the 9-5 isn’t quite as bland as the XF. As cool as it is, the XF has painfully boring sheetmetal and a fugly front end.
I remember seeing 9-5 and 9-3 SS for the first time. I was very disappointed on what I saw. I thought the were really bland and too much looking like other cars out there. Today I don´t think so. So, I´m really prepared for being uppset by the look of new 9-5 first.
Oh man, I still wish Saab would built 900 again. I know, I know, all this retro hype is going on with several automakers and C900 should not be treated with other bland stupid lookalike.
But what if…
I can picture a car that looks very much like C900 (not rounded like NG900, oh no) with sharp but smooth lines, upright front with largeish chrome grille, wrap around windscreen, a 3 door hatch with reeeaaally long fast-back shape rear, and what´s more - no nonsense interior, very basic and no bling, heavy duty swithes, actually it could be copied almost straight from C900, only two liter turbo´s under the hood, XWD option (of course we´re living in 21st century), and so on. It should look like no other car than 900. So close to the original that there´s no possibility to be mistaken anything else. Only for diehard Saabers.
Is it just me who has thoughts like this? I know Saab needs to go on and to look in the future, but can´t help me playing with the idea of a new Saab 900 turbo.
2008 International engine of the year has been selected. BMW won several categories and, I have to say, they really deserved it. I´ve driven 2-litre twinturbo diesel and 3 litre twinturbo petrol. They are moth magnificent engines. Performance and consumption - top quality.
I really would´ve liked to see a Saab engine, but they didn´t reach the top in any categories.
Just like I stated few weeks ago - VAG TFSI and BMW twin turbo´s are the top of today. Unfortunately. Saab TTid for example, did not get ranked
The timeline is just as expected for the NG9-5. Reveal autumn 2008 and delivery starting summer 2009 or autumn 2009 as MY 2010. This has been said here over and over.
And concerning the Delta based 9-3. This has been confirmed 7/5 in local paper TTELA by the head of the Metall union at Saab and by the way he was quoted it seemed like he had known that for some time. Is there really a problem here? Oh, I´ve been sceptical but I´ve rethought. When it comes to size of the platform there is no problem. (The Ovlvo V50 is based on the same platform as the Mazda3 and Ford Focus) The timeline could also be met. The dicision to go with the Delta platform was probably made long before journalists got the news. Design of the vehicle inside and out is probably soon finalised (If not ready) and remember that the NG900 was developed from scratch to finished product in only 3 years. Ok it had it´s early flaws but technique in most aspects has come along way since the early 90´s. Look at the Japs and koreans.. They spit out new models and it´s not a problem for them.. So why should it be for GM? If they want to they can speed up the process.. I´m hoping we´ll be amazed.
No problem with downsizing. It´s the way to go. We´re heading to more and more enviromental problems, consuption plays a big role in car pricing in Europe tomorrow. Those news telling that 9-2 will be a smaller version of 9-3 sounds good too.
And what especially caught my attention is that the next gen 9-3 will be Swedish, build in Trollhattan! I´m really happy for that.
I wish they´d come up with some new engines as well.
Tompa: Some good comments. If you get the chance to read Anders Tunberg’s ecellent book “SAAB 900 A Swedish story” you’ll see that some of the design work for the NG900 was done prior to GM buying 50% of Saab. The basic design was then adapted to a platform made from a composite of GM cars (Cavalier/Vectra, Calibra and Astra). However, Saab modified and improved many of the basic GM components.
Looking back, I think Saab would’ve preferred another 12 months developement on the NG900. The car would then have been much closer to what would eventually become the OG9-3.
That would have been nice, the OG9-3 would have been a fantastic car back in 1993 but by 1998 it was way behind the times compared to it’s actual competition.
All I really care about is Saab finally nailing the handling on both the new 9-3 and the 9-5. People don’t care as much about a car’s actual limits because most will never reach them, what they care about is how well a car drives and how crisp the road, steering, and shifting feedback is.
Mark: I will read the book
Ofcourse Saab would have liked to have worked on the 900 for yet another year. I don´t want to think of all the problems MY -93B and -94 had. (Did they still use the term B then?) Close to 15 years ago and I remember the launch in Swedish Channel 4 (TV4), running for several hours, like it was yesterday.. But then again I´m 37 ;-). That program must be the absolute biggest product launch GM has ever done for Saab I guess. People got to phone in and win everything from 2 liter S´s up to 2,5 V6 SE´s. The 900 desperately needed a replacement and GM went for the quick and huge launch. In some ways it was a success and in others it was not.
The 9-5 on the other hand was scheduled for an early -96 launch, but the guy bought over from Ovlov (Can´t remember his name?? 850 project manager) in charge of the project pointed out the early NG900 problems and asked for the 9-5 launch to be halted for 18 months. And he was right in doing so. The 9-5 was the first car to go through Swedish magazine “Vi Bilägare´s” 100.000 km test without any faults only regular service. (As I remember it was a red metallic 2,0t) And comparing the OG900/NG900 to the 9000/9-5 stories, the 9000 was a much more modern car and that could endure yet a couple of years in the market in wait for it´s replacement. Saab has a history of long productcycles but the market does not accept that anymore. So here´s to hoping that GM do the right thing and get the 9-1 out in phase with the new Astra (would be Astra I as the one now is H) as well with the NG9-3.
And Swade: HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!
Tompa, I still have one of the first 9-5 adverts, where 9000 was also showed. They said that 9000 will be continued next to 9-5 for few months. I don´t know if this ever happened, or was it just selling some stock cars. After all 9000 was not considered really old car when it went away. It was still winning comparisons on Finnish car mags, right till the end, 1998. A truly great car.
9-5 is different game. It was state of the art, but not anymore - allthough it´s still very good car. It´s not tested or compared against anyone. It´s just too old to be intersting. No matter how good it was, and still is.
Tompa: For Saab’s sake I think the 9-1 has to be released shortly after the new Astra. Perhaps six months at the most? Definitely no later than MY2011. If the next 9-3 relates quite closely to the 9-1, it should be released a year later making around MY2012 as predicted.
Saab got the launch of the 9-5 pretty much right in the nineties, I hope they can do the same with the new 9-5 and the 9-1.
It must have been quite interesting and exciting to see the NG900 launched in Sweden?
I’m guessing that the launch for the 9-3SS was nowhere near as interesting?
Alex: It’s truly interesting to speculate what the NG900 might have been like if Saab could have given it an extra 12 months developement?
They were only given a hotch pocth of relatively old GM components to work with and although eventually they managed to make something quite reasonable out of the bits (OG9-3), the NG900 when it was released, was merely just adequate when it could have been class leading.
In the July 2008 edition of What Car magazine, they are quoting the release of the New Saab 9-5 for Autumn 2008….
Does anyone have any news to substantiate this? Any news ona decent 3.0 V6 diesel engine for it ? and even XWD ???
Nigel, I think the new 9-5 will appear in a motor show in Autumn, but it’s actual release will be a year later, MY2010.
Yeah we’ll probably see the concept make it’s debut this fall, with the production car likely hitting the lots around the summer of 2009 as a 2010 model. After seeing the insignia hatch I hope that Saab has the sense to build a 9-5 hatch.
I’m also curious about when the dealers will get the 9-4x, and whether it will be a late 2009 model or an early 2010 model. While SUV sales are on the decline, a sporty CUV will do nothing but help Saab’s sales in the US.