Saab Concept Car Weekend in Trollhattan

Posted by swade on May 4th, 2008 13 Comments Printer-Friendly

This weekend, Saab are showing all of their concept cars in The Saab Museum at the same time. Given that two of them are brand new in 2008, this is obviously the first time that it’s happened with the full current lineup.

It’s not just that, though. The Saab Museum has a lot more cars in it’s collection than it can show at one time, so it’s not unusual for one or two to be out of sight. For example, last year at the Saab Festival they didn’t have the EV-1 on display, though it did come out for a quick drive every now and then. So this all-at-once event is actually pretty special.

Kenneth was so keen to get to the Museum that he strapped a Viggen to the roof of his Turbo X for some extra boost!!

SaabRobz also attended the event and took a bunch of fantastic photos. He’s loaded them all up at Flickr and they’re well worth a look.

Don’t you hate it when you’ve got to park your all-conquering Saab 99 rally car outside??

There were a bunch of other vintage Saabs outside, too. If you’re new here and haven’t heard much about the Saab Museum, it really is a brilliant place to visit. The Saabs are all in great condition, but they’re not just museum pieces. The great thing about this collection is that they’re all kept in running condition and many of the cars were taken out onto the track last year during the Saab Festival.

I recorded a video inside the Saab Museum last year and you can view that video here.

It seems the concept car action was all inside the Museum. From what I can tell, all the cars were indeed present and the full list would include:

I hope I didn’t miss anything there. Writing from memory, you know.

Head on over to SaabRobz’s Flickr account. There’s some excellent shots of ALL the cars, including the vintage Saabs outside. Here’s just two shots from inside.

The Saab 9-4x and 9-X BioHybrid

The Saab BioPower100 with the coolest tail lamps EVER!

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Here’s a bunch more photos from Kenneth:

Some detail on the 9-X BioHybrid interior that we didn’t get such a close look at from its previous appearances. You can note how the driver interface continues around into the doors.

Some previous concepts…..

The 9-3x from the rear. As much as I like the 9-X BioHybrid they could have saved a bunch of money and just turned this into a production car. It it PERFECT as it is.

Note the Turbo X inspiration exhaust outlets.

The Saab 9x concept, notable not only for its groundbreaking design, but also for the fact that the “x” has been missing off the rear badge for several years now and they still haven’t replaced it

And the Saab EV-1, notable because it was Saab’s first ever swing-for-the-fences concept car, it appeared in Back to the Future II, and designer Bjorn Envall did burnouts while driving it at the Saab Festival last year

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I have a feeling that I’m going to be thinking of Trollhattan a lot as our winter approaches. It’s such a beautiful place and these photos serve as a great reminder of how special it was to visit there last year during Saab Festival.

I hope a lot of you are planning to attend Saab Festival next year. It’s well worth the trip.

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robin m said:

Only 13 months Swade.

-May 4th, 2008 at 5:50 pm
Robbie said:

Visit this year?! =)

-May 4th, 2008 at 8:46 pm
alaero said:

sigh the 9-x..

every time i see you i wish they built you..

damm i love that car!!

a.

-May 4th, 2008 at 8:54 pm
Jon said:

Awesome pictures and of course awesome cars. Id love to be there.

However one concept that is not there and one that seems to have vanished without a trace

The NG 900 SVO Concept - the father of the 9-3 Viggen

-May 4th, 2008 at 11:59 pm
Jon said:

I stand corrected. Swade did find it on his trip to Trollhattan

http://www.trollhattansaab.net/archives/2008/03/saab-9-3-viggen-a-history.html

-May 5th, 2008 at 2:47 am
Richie said:

Just got back from a trip to Trollhättan. Lots of stuff to look at - can’t wait to see what the production 9-1 will be like. The ski carrier in the 9-4X is daft though. 3 sets of skis for a 4 seater car…

-May 5th, 2008 at 2:56 am
johnk said:

Can someone explain to me why the 9-3x was not made into a production car? I’m new to Saab and don’t know the history on that one. Thanks.

-May 5th, 2008 at 11:19 am
swade (Author) said:

John, the generally accepted story is that Saab had a number of cars on the drawing board at about the time of the 9-3x. The chief designer at that time was a guy by the name of Michael Mauer. He’d put together a design for the Saab 9-5 that was going to be built in conjunction with Alfa Romeo’s design of the 159 on a new premium platform.

Prior to all this, Saab spent what was considered to be way too much money in the development of the 9-3 Sport Sedan. What’s worse, they configured the car in such a way so that many of it’s components couldn’t be shared with other GM models and it couldn’t be produced anywhere but in Trollhattan.

GM tightened the purse strings completely at this time and one of the consequences was the cancellation of a number of vehicles, incluing Mauers new 9-5 and the variants of the 9-3 that were planned, which included a production form of the 9-3x. Mauer left Saab for Porsche and I imagine he’s quite happily altering one line on the 911 per year.

GM subsequently paid $2Billion to get out of their relationship with Fiat a little while later, which would have made the 9-5 development more strained, anyway. We’ve been waiting for a new 9-5 ever since.

-May 5th, 2008 at 11:26 am
Saaboy said:

that c900 looks so out of place with that hood setup…

-May 5th, 2008 at 6:53 pm
riku1100s said:

Maybe because it’ s a 99 with the extra lights which don’t allow the use of standard hood linkage (well, the rally cars didn’t use it anyway…)

-May 5th, 2008 at 8:02 pm
robin m said:

Well I feel silly now, I’ve been reading Saaboy’s somments time and time again, and looking at the pictures trying to work out what he was on about. Then der, the penny dropped. Your hood is our bonnet. I’ve been searching for a convertible with-in the pictures to try and see what was wrong with the hood/roof. Back to the lessons. lol.

-May 5th, 2008 at 8:17 pm
johnk said:

Thanks Swade. I would have liked to have seen the 9-3x make it. Here’s hoping that XWD models and a new 9-5 and 9-4x gives Saab a big boost! Meanwhile, I’ll continue to be happy in my ‘08 9-3 2.0 (purchased in March after turning in my BMW X3).

-May 5th, 2008 at 11:28 pm
1985 Gripen said:

What about adding the “BioPower Beast” (which pre-dated the BioPower 100) to your list? You know, the 310 horsepower (and 441 Nm torque) 9-5 Aero sedan with the BioPower 2.3-liter engine and ran off E85 they had on display at the L.A. Auto Show in 2006?

-May 6th, 2008 at 3:48 am