Monthly Archives: June 2008

Swade’s Canadian connections pay off for Saab

Posted on by
3

As he has mentioned in the past, Swade’s better half, Mrs. Swade, has family near the Pacific coast of Canada in the province of British Columbia. It appears that the connection has paid dividends with the Vancouver Sun, the newspaper that serves that region.

Mr. John Turley-Ewart, a writer for the Canwest News Service, wrote a review of the Saab Turbo X that was published in the Sun this week. In contrast to at least one earlier article, it appears that Mr. Turley-Ewart actually drove the Turbo X and, as a result, he knows how good it is.

First, he recognizes Saab’s heritage and philosophy:

Introducing a turbocharged sedan to the media on a Friday the 13th and encouraging autojournalists to drive it as hard as they like on a closed track would be tempting fate for some automakers. Not so for Saab, the Swedish company that builds some of the safest and most practical cars in the world.

In 2007, Saab’s 9-3 sedan was the U.S. Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s Top Safety Pick in the mid-sized car category. The year before, it was also the Top Safety Pick and, in 2005, the 9-3 garnered the Double Best Pick crash test rating. Despite high marks in crash tests, the best means of ensuring safety remains helping drivers avoid crashes altogether. The 2008 Turbo X 9-3 showcases this reality.

Next, he heaps praise onto the XWD system:

Heading into both dry and wet corners, I purposefully understeered the car while braking hard, a move that sent the car hurtling into the corner rather than safely around it. I corrected the understeer at the last moment, and the cross-drive system smoothly transferred power to the wheels that needed it in order to keep me on track and around the corner. I also went into the same corners and oversteered, correcting the error at the last moment and, again, the cross-wheel drive ensured I made it through safely and on track.

There is no doubt that Saab’s new cross-wheel-drive system is the equal to Audi’s quattro or BMW’s X-drive, and it certainly surpasses Volkswagen’s 4Motion.

I’ll repeat that last part, just in case you weren’t reading:

There is no doubt that Saab’s new cross-wheel-drive system is the equal to Audi’s quattro or BMW’s X-drive, and it certainly surpasses Volkswagen’s 4Motion.

Finally, I love Mr. Turley-Ewart’s summation:

The 2008 Turbo X 9-3 is not a Swedish version of BMW’s M3 or Audi’s S4. It is very much a reflection of the best traditions of Swedish design — practical, efficient and safe with the added bonus of luxury trim and an engine that has what it takes to keep most hearts racing.

Well said, well said.

I think that I like Canada more and more as time goes by. Swade, please look this man up before you visit Canada in order to shake his hand!!

Saab 95 vs Honda Fit

Posted on by
14

OK, so here’s a comparison that not many people are likely to make, but it’s a story that deserves to be told, nonetheless, because it encapsulates the feelings of many people when it comes to old-vs-new cars.

So, without further delay……

In the red corner, we have an old and rather funny looking Saab 95 wagon:

Saab 95

And in the blue corner we have a modern and technologically-superior-in-every-way Honda Fit.

Honda Fit

The story comes from Jim W. It was told via a VSaab circular email and Jim’s kindly given me permission to reproduce it here.

This is why it’s good to have a classic in your perfect garage plans…..

Obviously for daily transportation needs a modern car, such as a Honda Fit S (‘m leasing one) is much, much more practical than a vintage SAAB.

But not everyone wants or needs to be practical all the time, and if such a person wants a Saab 95 (I had to sell mine because it looked like I was about to lose my job) then why not? Let the story end there…..

Or not, because my ownership of the 95 and my tenure with the Fit overlapped a bit, so I had an interesting opportunity to make a head-to-head “lifestyle” comparison: not about the cars themselves (as noted, the Fit obviously is a superior built car in every way) but in terms of what they did for my life.

The Fit is wonderfully reliable and holds a lot of stuff (although its load bay isn’t as long as a 95′s.) The bottom seat cushion is too short and the steering wheel is too far away, and it isn’t as easy to get in and out of as a 95, but no biggie.

The Fit feels agile and fun to drive, and in terms of quantitative performance it would smoke any but the most extreme streetable vintage SAAB.

But driving mine doesn’t put a smile on my face the way driving my 95 always did.

The 95 was commodious and welcoming in a way that a Fit just isn’t. Sliding easily onto that slippery vinyl seat, relaxing into that comfortably upright driving position, and grabbing that big, conveniently spaced steering wheel made me feel ready for fun, even if I was only going to the office or the grocery store. The bright, airy interior, with its warm colors and big windows, put me in a good mood. And while I never let people ride in the third seat because of its lack of crash protection, it was a great spot for sitting, conveniently canopied by the raised tailgate, to watch a sandlot baseball game or a sunset.

And it was a completely usable everyday car: carrying people, carrying stuff, starting dependably, keeping up easily with around-town traffic, and getting reasonably good gas mileage.

Working in Corporate America as I do, a lot of my time is spent doing mindless crap; often, driving my 95 was the one bright spot in my day.

Meanwhile, owning the 95 was probably as close as I’ll ever come to being a celebrity. I loved the way people I passed would point, smile, nudge their friends; it was pleasant to think that my car was a small bright spot in their day, too. Some people think my Sonett is pretty cool, but it just doesn’t inspire affection the way a 95 does.

True story: The 95 was still my daily driver when I was in the process of ordering my Fit (at that time there was a three-month waiting list for them.) One day I needed to go over some details with my salesperson, so I drove the 95 out to the dealership and parked it in the customer parking area at the edge of the new-car lot. My salesperson was away from her desk, so I had about 20 minutes to sit and people-watch.

My attention was caught by a young guy who was there to meet his salesman and, together, try to get his wife’s blessing on his plan to buy a Pilot SUV. Of course the salesman wanted to help with this process, so they met the wife together at the door.

“See anything you like?” said the salesman jovially, gesturing across the new Hondas on the lot.

“The one I really like is THAT one!” said the wife enthusiastically, smiling brightly and pointing… to my 95.

“Well, I’m afraid we can’t sell you that one,” the salesman said, “but I suppose there’s no harm in going over and having a look.”

I watched the three of them making their way around my 95, smiling and gesturing at its various quirky details until my salesperson got back to her desk. I have no idea if the young guy ever got his Pilot or not.

– jw, 95-less in ne

A great story. Saabs have always been like that for me, too. Maybe that’s because until relatively recently, all I had were older ones :-)

Whatever.

I’d like to thank Jim W for putting his thoughts into words, and allowing me to share them all here.

-

Friday Snip-o-rama

Posted on by
4

Tomorrow, I’ll be here….

That’s the GM Holden proving grounds at Lang Lang, in Victoria’s south east. It’s not quite Milford in Michigan or that regal-looking IDIADA track in Spain (I know….I probably got the name wrong again), but it’ll be fun nonetheless.

The two focal points for the day are the Turbo X and the TTiD. I think I’ll be spending most of my time with the TTiD. Firstly, there’s only going to be one Turbo X there, so time-per-person will be minimal. Second, you’ve already seen a fair bit of the Turbo X, and conversely, many have seen nothing of the Aero TTiD.

——

And whilst we’re playing with maps, this is a Swedish version of a Google Maps type thing, which has great resolution.

If you’ve been to Trollhattan, then go there again in Hi-res by clicking here (that’ll land you at ANA).

Here’s the beautiful Scandic Swania hotel, where I spent many an hour between midnight and 3am writing posts for your reading pleasure in June last year. Meeeeeemoriiiieeeeeees

Trollhattan

Thanks Robin!

——

The event that I’m going to tomorrow was conducted earlier this week for the motoring press here in Australia.

Carpoint have published two articles today as a result:

To be honest, the standard of writing there means that they don’t make for the easiest reading, but it’s still good press over all.

Thanks Turbin

——

Finally, in the midst of a lot of bad news for GM in the states (lowest share price since, like, forever) it bears rememebring that things are bad all over right now. This from Automotive News:

It is getting more difficult to be optimistic about European automakers’ profitability.

The European market is stagnant in volume terms. The model mix is shifting toward smaller, lower-margin cars as well as to less-profitable fleet sales.

Exporters to the U.S. are getting hit twice: the softening of the market means fewer sales and the unsustainable dollar-euro rate makes many of those sales unattractive.

And finally, the price of some key raw materials such as steel has already gone up more this year than in all of 2007.

——

It’s going to be an interesting weekend…….I hope you have a great one.

Saab 9-4x interior comparo

Posted on by
33

My countrymen at CarAdvice are featuring some Saab 9-4x pictures today. There’s not a lot that we haven’t seen before, though I think one of the profile shots might be a new angle. It makes the car look quite large-ish, too.

The one that got me digging through my archives was the interior shot. If you think they’re just slapping any old console into the test car, I’d suggest you look again.

Here’s the interior of the test car as shown at CarAdvice:

Saab 9-4x

And here’s the interior of the concept car from Detroit:

Saab 9-4x

Click either of them to enlarge.

As you can see, the interior they’re running in the test car is very similar, in design terms, to the concept interior. A few pointers:

    - It looks like the fancy-schmancy stereo controls have been ditched in favour of the corporate radio (bad move IMHO).

    - The shape of the console is the same as the interior. Note the trim starting at the gearshift that sweep to the side and up the console. The shape of the shift is the same as well.

    - Door trims carry the same shapes.

    - Gauges carrying the same shapes and chrome trims.

    - Vents carrying the same shapes.

I suggest to you that what we’re seeing here is very close to production trim, indeed. What remains to be seen is whether or not they’ve been able to develop any of that iceblock material to production standards for inclusion in a high-end version of the trim. And if so, what that might mean for controls, etc, given that the concept controls won’t see production.

My bet?

Any overtures about the iceblock fascia being close to production ready were wishful thinking (that I fell for, by the way – hook, line and sinker). At best we’ll see a stick-on trim in the Aero model that may or may not resemble the concept.

With all that said, though, it should be noted that the 9-4x had a very nice layout in Detroit, so there’s high hopes for the production version. This shot shows us a sea of grey plastic, albeit a well organised sea of grey plastic. Here’s hoping there’s something there to break up the grey a little when the real car comes around.

The interior’s so important to so many people. It’s where you spend all your time with the car, so it’s got to be good.

-

Thursday night snippets

Posted on by
6

There’s not much to write about this evening, but here’s a few interesting tidbits…

——

Previous announcements about the Saab 9-5 showing at the Geneva Motor Show in 2009 were based on representatives hearing this at a recent GM dealer conference in Germany.

It’s not that there was any doubt about this at all, but it was good to get it confirmed via an internal GM email this week that happened to get diverted across my desk.

To the good folks at GM Europe: Geneva’s awfully difficult for accommodation. Please book me a spot now, ok ;-)

——

ctm’s passed along an interesting bit of analysis, which I think has come from the Dagens Industri story about Volvo’s recent concerns about being sold, etc…. there’s some Saab stuff in that story, too, an apparently it’s all very positive (good to hear).

Saab sold around 130,000 vehicles last year, which were made using the services of around 4,700 employees. That equates to around 28 vehicles sold per employee.

Volvo, on the other hand, sold around 450,000 vehicles using the services of 25,000 employees in production. That’s closer to 18 vehicles per employee. Audi come in at a similar ratio.

What this means is that Saab’s operating on a very, very lean structure and with so much in the pipeline, the people at Saab are actually pretty optimistic about their prospects for the future (as long as the corporate mothership stays afloat).

Good to hear.

——

SaabUSA are nominated for an Outstanding Interactive Ad Award in a set of LGBT awards called the Images In Advertising Awards.

This is a raw front screen of the ad campaign in question, though I’m not sure how the rest of the campaign played out.

I’m really hooked into advertising at the moment and may have to do an ad-intensive series in the near future. SaabUSA were filming in the rural US recently, so they’ll have some new ads to look at. It’d be good to do so with an educated eye.

You up for it?

——

A fresh shot of the Saab Mavic SportCombi in Philadelphia recently. Thanks Jeremy.

Saab Mavic

There’s more shots here.

——

Tomorrow I jump on a plane and head off to Melbourne where I, along with a bunch of people from the Saab Car Club of Australia, will be driving the Turbo X and the TTiD at Holden’s proving grounds in south-east Victoria.

I’ve been given some reasonably rare permission to bring my cameras along, so there should be some TTiD coverage for you a few days later.

The drive is on Saturday. The night before, on Friday, it looks like the Aussie contingent from the Saab Festival last year will be getting together. Even Brendan’s driving down from Sydney for the weekend!

-

Thursday Snippets

Posted on by
11

There’s lots of interesting reading and viewing out there today…..

——

For the car photography buffs, there’s an article from Autoweek about….car photography. There’s no earth shattering revelations here but there are some good tips if you read it closely. The main grab I got from it was that taking good car photos is like anything else – if you want to do it well you have to go the extra mile (locations, setup, bracketing, etc etc)

——

The BIG news for today is the report in Swedish paper, Dagens Industri, saying that Ford are negotiating with a Chinese company with regard to selling Volvo (Autoblog’s report).

They say it, Ford deny it. Who’s right and who’s wrong?

The answer to that question doesn’t matter too much to the 2,000 Volvo workers that got axed today. 1200 of those jobs are in Sweden itself, where things are definitely happening and much of it is in response to the softened US market.

Can Saab escape similar consequences? It’s hard to see this happening to one company and not imagine it happening to the other, given that they’re both exposed to very similar conditions.

——

Following on from yesterday’s discussion of the perfect garage, I’m unsure as to whether I’d ever want a car with stuff like this in it.

Next up was a demo of customized personalized morning news, an example of how a user could set it up to start their daily commute. In the engineer’s example, the Jeep rattled off a few stock quotes, the local weather, sports scores for a favorite team, which local gas station had the best price today, and which of three pre-programmed routes looked like it had the least traffic for the ride to work. Your own morning routine could be whatever helps get you going. Maybe it’s the shortest distance to the nearest Starbucks, the joke of the day, a favorite tune for a quick sing along, or perhaps a compliment on your tie. “Good morning! My, you look sharp! By the way, the Mobil on the corner is $3.95 for a gallon of regular!”

There’s something about my car talking to me and knowing all this stuff that gives me some Stephen-King-style heebiejeebies. I want my radio to inform me when I choose for it to do so. My car is there to be driven.

——

And speaking further of what you might want in a car, GM Europe are asking for your comments on that very subject at their Driving Conversations blog:

….we are devoting a great deal of investment and energy to ensure that our next generation products are both fuel efficient and environmentally friendly…..Moving forward, where should GM focus its innovation resources? How can we make you say WOW? Is it flying cars, self-cleaning cars, driver-free cars – you name it. We want to hear your thoughts. Push the limit with us.

——

I’m watching a new-for-2008 TV show here in Australia called The Gruen Transfer. I hope you other Aussies are watching it as well. I’m not sure if this is an original Australian concept or if it’s been on elsewhere and this is just an Aussie version, but it’s fantastic.

The idea of the show is to deconstruct the advertising industry. Each week they show a bunch of ads and they have ad industry people there to talk about why they’re working (or not). It makes for fascinating viewing.

Last night they covered a bunch of car ads and it got me thinking again of how much fun it would be to come up with user-generated car ads for Saab. Well, it’d be fun as long as they were good, I suppose.

Fascinating stuff, though.

The shows are 30 minutes each and you can download each one from the Gruen Transfer website. This week’s show with the car ads (mostly SUV ads) can be viewed here.

-

What’s your perfect real-world garage?

Posted on by
46

In the wake of unfortunate circumstances that unfolded almost a year ago, I find myself today without a car that I loved a heck of a lot – my Saab 9-3 Viggen. Fortunately, though, my personal cloud had a silver lining, and after some successful arguments with my insurers, I think we’ve got a scaled down version of what I’d consider to be almost the ideal set of cars parked in our driveway.

What’s the ideal mix, Swade style? It’s three cars, as follows:

One – the dependable one.

One thing you definitely need is one reasonably modern and reliable vehicle. This is the car that the Mrs drives (you don’t want her getting stranded) and that you can drive if and when one of the others isn’t working.

It’s not that modern now, but our 1994 Saab 9000 is ultra dependable and has almost all the modern conveniences. We’ve had it for around 5 years now and have only had the radiator go in an unexpected manner. Everything else has been just routine maintenance. It’s taken us on family holidays all around the state and has always eaten up the miles with style.

Two – the classic.

If you’re a car enthusiast with an affinity for a particular type of car, then you’ll probably want to add an iconic example of the brand to your garage. Something that really typifies that brand for you. The age is immaterial. It’s the example that matters. Ideally, this is a car that you won’t do too much with. Modifications should be minimal as the preservation of the brand is of some significance.

For me, that’s my 1985 Saab 900 Aero. It’s classic Saab. An icon of the brand. The design is instantly recognisable and it’s turbocharged, just like a Saab should be in my mind.

Three – the fun car.

If you’re fortunate enough to have your modern, dependable car as your fun car, then congratulations. That was the case when I had my Viggen, but we’ve chosen to tread a different path now.

My fun car is essentially an expendable fun car – the Alfa Romeo 33. Hopefully it’ll never get to a point where I might lose the car, but if it does then I won’t be taking the hit I did a year ago. It’s done its job perfectly so far. It’s totally unrefined, uncomfortable and quite primitive. But that doesn’t really matter. It handles like a go kart, has a lot of power for its weight (the best weight reduction strategy for this car would be for me to diet and exercise) and it’s got more character than sack full of grand-pappies.

——

So that’s my ideal mix in theory, and the way it’s played out in reality.

    A reasonable modern and dependable car – Saab 9000
    A classic that sums up what I love about Saab – Saab 900 Aero
    A fun car for club events and general hoonage – Alfa 33

That’s the way it is now, but I’m not sure that’s how I’d like it to be. Those three are all pretty affordable in today’s dollars and didn’t break our bank to purchase, though the maintenance could prove to be a pain.

If we had some spare cash laying around then I wouldn’t mind keeping the configuration but changing that collection to:

    Dependable, modern car – Saab 9-5 Aero
    Classic car – Saab 99 Turbo or Saab Sonett III
    Fun car – Probably another type of Alfa, or if I were to feel greedy, a Viggen

——

So what’s your ideal setup and what cars would you choose to fulfill it? Would they all be Saabs or would you throw something else into the mix as well?

This might be a good time to mention that earlier this year I met three of the most prominent executives from SaabUSA during my visit to Detroit. One of them has a classic Buick in the shed. Another has a Porsche 911, and the final one has a 1980s Ferrari. So don’t feel traitorous if they’re not all Saabs, ok?

Fire away with your thoughts in comments, but keep it real. No fantasy garages here. Something attainable in terms of both configuration and the cars you’d use to fill the spots available.

-

Another Award for the Saab 9-X BioHybrid

Posted on by
19

This one’s just come down the tubes from Saab USA:

Already labeled “Best Concept” by AutoWeek Magazine upon its world debut at the Geneva auto show last March, the Saab 9-X BioHybrid has been voted “Specialty Concept Car of the Year” by a jury of 25 professional North American automotive journalists. The award ceremony took place at the Automotive Hall of Fame in Dearborn, Michigan.

Now in its 7th rendition, the annual Concept Car of the Year Awards recognize those vehicles that are most likely to shape the future of the automobile industry.

Now, hold on a second…..

Before Saab go and take a whole heap of pride in this award – which they are quite justified in doing, by the way – I’d like to get you all to read that last sentence again:

Now in its 7th rendition, the annual Concept Car of the Year Awards recognize those vehicles that are most likely to shape the future of the automobile industry.

I’d like to point out the bleedin’ obvious for those at GMEurope who haven’t noticed it yet. The Saab 9-X BioHybrid is not going to shape the future of the automobile industry in any way whatsoever unless you build it.

(or something close to it, at least)

BUILD THIS SUCKER AND WE WILL COME IN LARGE NUMBERS!!!!

OK, back to the press release, which you can read at your own leisure. I’ve made my point.

The winners were selected from 40 concept cars and 12 production preview vehicles that made their North American debut during the 2008 auto show season.

“The Saab 9-X BioHybrid blends organic form with ecologically sound propulsion for both aesthetic and environmental appeal”, said jury panel member Arv Voss of Auto Impressions. Added Bob Kroupa of the Automotive Writers Group: “Saab takes center stage with a new design approach for a compact vehicle. With the BioHybrid turbo engine included, we have a winner”.

“We are honored by this important recognition from an expert North American media organization,” said Saab Automobile USA marketing director Roger McCormack accepting the award. “As we witnessed first hand from public reactions at the New York auto show, the 9-X BioHybrid Concept has exceeded many optimistic expectations. Following in the footsteps of the highly inspirational Aero X, and the 9-4X BioPower crossover concept which also debuted earlier this year, the 9-X BioHybrid demonstrates that Saab is truly on the move.”

Continue reading →