Thursday Snippets
It’s been an interesting few days:
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The lucky Saab nuts who scored a trip to Spain to drive the Turbo X on a top secret track there have come back gushing with stories about 240km/h drives and the general magnificence of the track and the event in general.
I hope to bring a few of those stories to you in due course.
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The future home of the Saab 9-3 rests largely on the question of which plants will be building vehicles on the Delta architecture. Saabists rejoiced recently at the news that the 9-3 would be built on Delta because it gave life to the possibility of a continued Saab manufacturing presence in Trollhattan.
Auto Motor and Sport in Germany are reporting that officials at the Russelsheim plant are contemplating making the plant capable of building both Epsilon and Delta vehicles, with the thought of capturing 9-3 production a priority in their minds.
You might think “well, at least Saab will have the 9-1 to build on Delta in Trollhattan”. Not necessarily. Do not go thinking that the 9-1 is a production car, because it still hasn’t been announced as such at this point.
In fact, in a recent email to Saab, a reader from this site was told in unequivocal terms that the 9-X BioHybrid is the not the basis for a production vehicle, but that elements from that vehicle will be incorporated into other future Saabs.
I love Saab cars. The machine that manages them? Not so much.
If Saab lose their manufacturing presence in Sweden, it really will make a difference to the identity of the company. You think GM ownership watered things down a bit? You ain’t seen nothing yet. The perception problems will be incredible and for those who love the brand as much as they love the functionality of the cars, it’s going to be a real struggle.
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Fellow Saab news-watchers would know that there’s been a Saab news story sweeping the web in the last 24 hours. I haven’t covered it here because I believe it to be inaccurate. The tale, seemingly innocuous but more than meets the eye, ties up GI Joe, Transformers, a Saab senior staffer who is mentioned by name - and it all started on April Fools Day.
Here’s a tip: there’s nothing wrong with writing a linkbait story for April Fools Day but leaving it out there without correcting it if you know it to be incorrect indicates there’s a problem. It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out.
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In other Turbo X news, it seems owners attending the Turbo X sessions of the Aero Academy after purchasing their car were treated to some video of the event. The video was shot while they were in the cars, edited on the spot and presented to them before they left the event.
A great operation that you can read more about here.
Has anyone reading this gone to the Academy as an owner and received one of these videos? Care to share?
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I’ve begun work on TS 2.0, and interestingly enough, the site that I just linked to is using a template set that I’ve been considering for TS. It’s a PITA to customise, however, and considering I hate the standard color schemes they’re offering, customisation is essential.
What do you all think of the functionality? Especially where the front page is concerned?
The two main options right now are either going to this template set, or adding a whole bunch of similar functionality to TS.
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Thanks to Albert VdB and Mark S
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I got a video… They are presented on a thump drive that is shaped like URSAAB. Its about a 1:30 video.
Excellent! Let us know if and when you post it, Kaylan?
GM sucks - I wish they would sell Saab pronto; I am giving up hope that Gm will ever be able to manage itself, much less a european marque.
If the 9-1 is never built and the German Opel factory makes all the Saabs, then Saab will have finally become just another generic GM brand name and all will have been lost.
If that’s to be the case, I kind of hope that what I wrote about last month comes to pass.
Nothing personal, but bad tidings GM Opel.
All I know is I want one of those new MacBook Pros to replace my PowerBook about as much as I’d like to swap my 9000 for a Turbo X.
and I hope my little name badge continues to be accurate in the future!
So the 9-X BH may just go down in history with the 9X and the 9-3X. Fantastic concepts but going nowhere. They could have all made the basis for great production cars.
Sadly the only concept car Saab has managed to produce this decade is the Sport Hatch concept.
I think that one was like discovering you’ve won lotto and then finding out there are 2000 other winners.
Quote from Swade: I’ve begun work on TS 2.0
I knew it was all a bad dream and I am glad I woke up. You silly blogger…
The recovery of Saab continues to be the disolving of Saab. Audi just anounced that they are planing on having 40 different models by 2015. Merc has stated that they are doubling there small car offerings and Saab cannot decide if it want’s a 4th model in its line up!
The TurboX’s are still lurking around Road Atlanta. One TurboX Sportcombi was used as a support vehicle for the regular Aero Academy that finished today (June 11). The rims and exhaust definitely stood out as “hey, that’s not one of ours.” Spent some time at lunch doing a walk-around. Neat car.
I tried to get an autocross lap in for Swade that was in the 29 seconds range. All I could manage was a consistent 30.xx second lap time. But, consistency is good … and the lane change still vexes me.
This was my second trip to Aero Academy. Same quality instruction and instructors. They tightened up the program a bit and improved the flow of the course. It probably helped there was a larger class than last time. We had students ranging from 18 yrs old on up to “29″ on every birthday. Several ladies in attendance. And wow, the folks in this class could DRIVE!
The GM rep in attendance was a great guy. My wife and I are still working with GM to determine how we can get our 9-7x Aero replaced due to an airbag failure. Doug B. … thanks for all the help and finding those 9 units available in the Southeast US. Jim Hudson Pontiac-GMC-Saab has also been OUTSTANDING throughout this situation. They set us up with an appropriate rental vehicle while this settles out.
Swade, thanks for keeping this thing ticking. Please, please, please don’t burn yourself up.
Mitch, good to hear it. Am pleased you’re receiving some good assistance.
I’ll be posting a great writeup tonight on the Turbo X experience recently held in Spain. Received it today and boy, did those guys have a good time!!
“Has anyone reading this gone to the Academy as an owner and received one of these videos? Care to share?”
Swade, I think you’ve been scooped by Saab History.
Forgot to add: Guys are sure to enjoy the film.
I’m not sure, Ted. I found it a little curious that that entry popped up about an hour after I posted the request, above. Kaylan’s pretty well known in Saab online circles and I’d love to know if she got an email from SH right after she posted that comment here. I don’t know that that’s the case, but I found the timing very curious, along with the fact that she hadn’t even put it on her own blog at that time.
After what I wrote the other day, I think Ryan would take a great deal of pride in one-upping me, even if I’m on a hiatus. Which is fine.