More 9-3 production news….
First it was Epsilon in Russelsheim….
Then we found out about Delta and there was a very strong tip that it would be made in Trollhattan.
A week or so ago the unions in Germany claimed they were going to expand production capability and that the 9-3 would be made there.
Today…..
Today I’ve just got wind of an internal mail going around in Sweden, stating that an official announcement is imminent, and that the announcement would confirm that production of the next generation Saab 9-3 would take place in Trollhattan, Sweden.
This news comes directly from a Swedish source and if confirmed, will be the best Saab news in a long, long time.
I’ve written recently about the importance of a 9-3 made in Sweden. It’s essential to the fabric of the company that they keep as big a Swedish presence as possible.
I can’t wait for the official confirmation. Happy days!
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UPDATE - Straight after I hit the “publish” button I get a link in my inbox. AMS in Sweden are covering the story as well.
Can anyone manage a translation?
Again…..O happy day!!!!!!
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UPDATE II
Ttela, the local paper, are covering it as well!!
Thanks Drapa!
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UPDATE III
Saab Sweden have now issued a press release on the matter. Here’s a rough translation:
General motors relocate the production of next generation Saab 9-3 in Trollhättan factory. Saabledningen was informed about this this morning through Carl Peter Forster, GM Europe’s CEO and Saab automobile’s board chairmen.
” this is of course a lot of positive news for our organization and for the region. The shows that the exists a confidence for our ability to build cars with quality in world class and to maintain and all the time to improve our effectiveness, “says Saab automobile’s CEO, Jan Åke Jonsson.
” in April the previous year informed GM about the plans on relocating production of next generation compact travels by car in Trollhättan and now feels the good that we can begin to focus on building next generation Saab 9-3. “
In order to starch your competitiveness introduced Trollhättefabriken for a number years since the production system GM-GMS, that has a strict standard for quality, involved personnel, permanent improvement and short boredom times in the production process.
The factory has today approximately 1700 employees.
O happy da-ay!
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Nate, in comments, reminds us all of the poll that was posted here earlier in the week on the topic of maintaining Saab in Sweden. Nearly 700 votes later…….
The results indicate that there should be a bunch of people pretty happy with this decision to build the next Saab 9-3 in Sweden. The overwhelming majority of voters favoured options 1 and 2, aimed at maintaining the biggest Swedish presence.
It really is crucial to Saab and this decision is the right decision for so many reasons. Here are the results.
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It’s offical.
http://www.ttela.se/?article=40222
Big smiles over here.
It´s confirmed! http://www.di.se or http://www.automotorsport.se
Awesome! Congrats to all the people who got the deal done. I’m sure there were some secret union deals and handshakes made that we’ll never hear about.
Great news though.
Pleasant way to start the day. Good news.
Finally, somebody managed to make a decision. I hope they will not change their minds too many times. 2011 is far away.
Online translation of the ttela article:
9-3 is, of course, Saab core products and that we have this production is very positive for Pondicherry, says Saab’s CEO Jan-Åke Jonsson. In the initial stage it is estimated that production will stand at around 100 000 cars, about the same as the current volume. Some decisions on the small Saab, the so-called 9-1 or other future models in Trollhättefabriken, is pending.
Swedish-English translator here.
Reuters reports today that GM plans to halt any production on new SUV’s for now and work on more fuel efficient cars. Also, they are cancelling a new model from Hummer and CONSIDERING SHUTTING DOWN ANOTHER BRAND. (no names mentioned…) Let’s hope not.
Mike C.,
Buick? GMC?
If I undertsand Swedish media correct, Saab management was informed this morning about the decision. I wonder if there were some other big decisions yesterday…
Good news for Saab and Trollhattan, and the right choice!
its a done deal
In Autonews.com they say this…
German plant loses bid for Saab 9-3
Production of the Saab 9-3 will remain in Sweden, a General Motors Europe spokesman said today.
Media reports had suggested that production of the next-generation 9-3 would move to GM Europe’s Opel plant in Ruesselsheim, near Frankfurt, Germany, from Saab’s Trollhattan, Sweden, factory.
To compensate for not getting the 9-3, GM Europe will add production of the Saab 9-5 and a compact car at Ruesselsheim.
“It is good news that Ruesselsheim will get an extra model, a third shift and that 9-3 production will remain in Saab’s home country,” said GM Europe spokesman Joerg Schrott.
When I voted in the poll this week I did not feel that keeping the brand Swedish built was essential. I cannot help but think that I was wrong with the sense of pride I feel that the 9-3 wil still be produced in Trollhattan. I’m not even Swedish! Go Trolls!
at Media.saab.com Sweden there is the official info
That’s the one I’ve translated, Edu. Cheers - SW
Excellent news.
RE: the Reuters report, my guess is that Saab is not the next brand to be under consideration. Saab is pretty small, so there’s not a lot of money to be had in selling it; it sells relatively fuel efficient cars and contributes to the success of GM Europe. Saab’s problems in North America are dwarfed by GM’s overall problems here.
No, based on a focus on fuel efficiency, my guess is the next brand to go is GMC - it sells only trucks and SUV’s - and they are all re-badged Chevys at that. There’s no point in propping up a brand whose entire lineup has been rendered uncompetitive by high gas prices.
So Sweden is out of Euro 2008 but they get the 9-3. Sounds like a fair enough exchange.
This is great news for all the staff at Saab HQ. Does this more or less confirm that the new 9-3 is going to be smaller than the current car?
Zippy, it confirms (without saying it directly) that the 9-3 will b built on Delta, the compact platform. Trollhattan was confirmed some time ago as one of the 4 Euro plants to be re-tooled for Delta, so that’s a given.
As to the actual size (i.e. smaller?), we’ll have to wait and see.
It seems sanity has prevailed. Now all we need is a 9-1 announcement. As everyone keeps stressing, that car needs to be on the market pretty close to when the new Astra is released.
I hope Russelsheim gets to build many thousands of Chevrolet Epicas. They can have the Caddies too!
Saab hangs on again… 9-3 is true to its core, great news… Some good things do come, in time.
Swade, after i post it I care it was. Thanks for edit the post.
THe big question now is the technical issue. it could competitive and premium a Saab developed in a architecture developed for a compact car??
road quality, safety, space and so…
regards
You said it Swade, Oh happy day!!!
Lately I´ve been quite sceptical about the future of Saab and it´s products. Now this is really good news!! Saabs should be made (at least) in Sweden to maintain the spirit. I´m pretty sure that this was right decision from the marketing point of view also.
Now I can keep up the hope of getting a Saab for my next car.
Oh big bosses of GM, give us 9-3X, 9X and Aero X. Let Saab engineers continue with SVC. And put Sonett on the future list. North America should have their 9-4X, but rest of the world wants something different…
To EduSaab, compact car could definitely be safe, spacious, effective and good to drive. Go and drive Vectra, then jump into 9-3 and try to figure out how two cars can be so different while they´re sharing the platform + several other parts.
Oh happy days..
great news.
a car of this importance to saab should be built in trollhattan.
I know very well how different is the 9-3ss compared to the vectra. That cost too much in the development of Saab in terms of money and GM after that decided to cut all the development strategy.
But the thing is compared to its rivals. The base to fight with them its enough competitive?? the effort to do it competitive its profitable??
There are a lot of questions that GM/saab I imagine they checked before decide it, but looking at the way is going everything the last 3-5 years when in less than 2 years they changed the strategy of saab so many times…..
Until I see the car I won’t be calm.
regards
One thing at a time edusaab! A swedish built SAAB, I love it! Swade how about a 9-1 poll. They seem to help persuade (fingers crossed)!
This is great news! If the new 9-3 is gonna be made in Sweden then it could be my next car - I plan a long way in advance!
Now I need to know more about Delta platform (or is it Delta 2?). I remember its supposed to be designed with hybrid drivetrains in mind, but what about XWD? Also, Epsilon 2 was gonna give Saab a more upmarket suspension setup than the equivalent Vauxhall/Open - will Delta give Saab the same options?
On the Swedish site, di.se, Jan-Ake says (in translation): This doesnt change the need for an even smaller car and we’re looking at a few alternatives. We’ll hope to make a decision the following year.
I’ll guess he’s meaning decision during 2009… and thats just the decision to make the car.
Some years ago, Nissan put in practice a project of automated car factory in a low scale in Japan. With one man controlling the process, in one side it enters all the raw materials and in the other side of the factory appears the car build and ready to sell.
You can imagine what happened when the japanese government know about this project.
When we arrive at this state, it doesn’t matter where you build the car or the product. In the 80’s we begin to see that you can produce more GBP without increasing or decreasing the human labour.
Check how many people there are now in Trollhattan in the lines producing the 9-3 and 9-5 and what capacity of production has the factory(250000units per year). If Trollhattan want to survive it needs to increase its flexibility and the production of high value cars.
The capability of producing differents cars of different segments and specialized products.
The production of cars like and Astra, with high volumes and low value and based in low cost, low margin is not the way to follow if the factory wants to continue, because its easy that this type of product goes to another factory with better labour costs.
“THe big question now is the technical issue. it could competitive and premium a Saab developed in a architecture developed for a compact car?”
Edusaab,
Do you consider the Audi A3 to be premium, compact, neither, or both?
How about the Passat, or the TT?
All of these cars (and dozens of Skoda and Seat variants) are built on the Golf platform, which is comparable in size to the Astra platform.
I’m not saying that Saab should copy VAG, just that this new strategy is not unheard of in the automotive world.
Hmmmm But will the Delta II be as flexible as VAG’s PQ35/PQ46 (Golf/Passat)?
Ripper!
Wow. This is very good news. I will be buying a new car in a few years and I really was thinking it would not be another Saab. Great news.
It is terrific news, but Saab have to make a great car on the Delta II platform, not just an adequate one. Too many mistakes were made with the 9-3SS and it has taken until now just to make it reasonably good. The next 9-3 has to be class leading from the start. There won’t be any second chances. I’m confident that can happen, but GM just has to let it happen…
Fantastic news.
What a great way to start the day!
That’s it Bernard, the A3 its a compact car, like the Golf, Astra, Megane and similar, but with some premium feeling in its class, as the 1Series…..
All we know the similarities between the new Passat and the Golf, but Do you consider the Passat as a premium sedan??
I am confident that Saab could do a great job, but the problem is that isn’t the same to work as a base with something developed to meet the requirements as a compact car and to begin to work with a platform developed for meeting the requirements of a Sedan and premium sedans.
Its a hard job and also the other problem is that now the priority is to reduce costos, consumption, wheight and other features that could affect to overal performance, but the good point is that every brand is looking for it and Saab has a big advantage in terms of Safety and ecology.
PD; about the TT, I never liked it, xDDD
regards
I don’t consider the Passat to be a premium sedan because it has the traditional VW understeer, wooden brakes, lifeless steering and dead zone above 4,000 rpm…
On the plus side, the platform is very stiff and quiet, perhaps more than the pre-facelift 9-3ss.
None of the issues with the Passat are insurmountable. Given the same platform, Saab could make a great car.
Well, I have to say that I commented that I thought that labor sources were NOT good sources on production specifics — they had a motive to make it sound like a done deal even when it wasn’t. I hope that AutoWoche prints a retraction.
Trollhattan wins. Let’s hope that build quality continues to improve. Saab’s reliability numbers aren’t that good right now, and they need to be top-notch to survive.
As far as GM brands that will get the ax, Greg has an intriguing thought with GMC. However, they are the truck division of the Pontiac-Buick-GMC dealership, and I think that’s going to be unpopular with dealers. Trucks sales are slowing, but they still comprise a large amount of annual sales.
My opinion: Hummer is the next one to be shopped for sale, and Pontiac gets the ax. I would guess Buick, but they are selling a lot of Buick-branded products in China and the marketing schtick is that the Chinese are getting a “true American luxury sedan” when they buy a Buick. Buick stays to keep that link. When Pontiac goes, the G-series cars will be moved into the Buick or Saturn lines.
That’s my guess, anyway.
Talking about 9-3 production news, it would be really great to get some teaser of coming “allroad” 9-3. I´d like to know engines available and is there any real changes to interior/exterior. Or is it mainly cosmetic details.
Would be great if they´d install something special, like seats with different cloth patterns, maybe some stitched text there and the like. Those little details could make a big difference and really make the car feel special.
There´s been nothing official yet, at least I haven´t heard of. I know that some of you reading this know more. Please give at least some details.
That what I said weeks earlier…..the new production will be done in Trolhattan :P:P:P