Saab 9-X Air - That Canopy Top
This is another press release from Saab with regard to the launch of the Saab 9-X Air.
How Saab Raised the Roof with its Canopy Top
The Saab 9-X Air redefines the look of a four-seat convertible by exploiting the distinction between a folding roof and a folding soft-top. “This has allowed us to completely alter the shape of the car,” explains designer Anthony Lo.
Lo and his team set out to bring convertible design closer to the looks of an open sports car or a closed coupé, depending on the configuration. They also wanted to improve open-top comfort for passengers. The result is Saab’s unique Canopy Top concept, an alternative to soft-tops or hoods with rear windows that leave the back of the cabin open when stowed.
A ‘stand alone’ rear screen - separate from the soft-top assembly - is located between the 9-X Air’s raked rear pillars. These support the Canopy Top, a development of the ‘Targa’ top principle. But instead of having a manually detachable roof section, the Saab Canopy Top is fully powered in operation and folds away for stowage in the trunk. Saab has already filed a patent application for this feature.
“Convertibles are traditionally developed from a sedan body and have a flat, open rear deck when the hood is down,” says Lo, Director of Advanced Design at General Motors Europe. “The Canopy Top has allowed us to introduce the rear pillars, which completely change the usual appearance of a convertible, giving it a more dynamic, coupé look. The pillars also anchor a complete wraparound glasshouse, which shelters the occupants from buffeting when the car is open.”
Design Efficiency
The 9-X Air was conceived in parallel with its 9-X BioHybrid sibling and, as a result, it is a design free from compromise or adaptation. The shape of the windshield and frontal styling, for example, was designed to work in both applications. The two cars share a focus on efficiency, with a powertrain that uses engine rightsizing, turbocharging, biofuel and hybrid technology to deliver sporty performance together with a significantly reduced environmental impact.
Improved efficiency is also a major benefit of the Canopy Top. As there is no rear screen and supporting material to fold away, it is smaller and lighter than a conventional soft-top. That means it takes up less trunk space when stowed.
Reduced weight was another consideration and that dictated the choice of fabric instead of metal for the Canopy Top. “It is the best material, as we save about 100 kilos in weight compared to using metal,” explains Lo. “We have chosen the fabric used for the current Saab Convertible. It is extremely durable and provides effective road noise insulation. For good handling and a lower center of gravity, you also don’t want any extra weight high up. All in all, we thought of quite a few drawbacks, and not so many gains, from going with a metal roof.”
As the 9-X Air was designed alongside the 9-X BioHybrid, the team was also able to keep weight down by minimizing the amount of structural reinforcement necessary to compensate for the removal of a fixed roof. The small strengthening members that were required are in aluminum for further weight saving.
With its Canopy Top stowed, the 9-X Air’s ‘surround glass’ cabin offers improved driver and passenger comfort by managing air flow to reduce turbulence and wind buffeting. The rear screen works in tandem with a small wind deflector on the top edge of the windshield header rail. This is actively deployed, rising and falling according to vehicle speed. At the rear, the screen helps prevent back drafts, as the air flow over the car is no longer sucked back in through an open rear deck.
The Canopy Top design also provides another practical benefit. Compared to the ‘stitched in’ screen of a conventional soft-top, the glass area of the 9-X Air’s rear screen is larger, offering the driver a wider field of vision.
Saab Signature
In evolving the 9-X Air and its sibling, Lo and his team worked in co-operation with colleagues from the Saab Brand Center in Sweden. This is a cross-functional group tasked with nurturing and developing all the qualities that go into making a Saab a Saab. It is a unique organization within GM’s global structure, with a unique way of working.
Visually, the 9-X Air carries forward signature features that reflect Saab’s Scandinavian design heritage and its roots in aviation. These include the extended wraparound effect of the windshield and side glazing, the Aero X-inspired frontal styling, the clean body surfaces, ‘ice block’ lighting themes and distinctive 3-D blue/green instrument graphics. Even the raked rear pillars echo the prominent C-pillar line seen in all Saab cars.
“Overall, the 9-X Air maintains our focus on efficiency,” adds Lo. “We have produced a sporty, innovative design that offers the sort of functional benefits you would expect from a Saab. It’s the design direction we’re exploring for a future Saab convertible.”
More from this category
- Saab 9-X Air quick video
- Is the Saab 9-X Air the best Saab concept car ever?
- Saab 9-X Air comes home
- Saab 9-X Air to show at Saab Museum
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First person to find a video and post the link gets a free virtual beer from me!
Uh: of the top being raised or lowered
Yet another concept!
Guys get Your act together and bulid the da*** cars!
See more on the car here http://www.aftonbladet.se/bil/article3327531.ab
They keep saying a glass house canopy, I wonder if all the windows can be FULLY lowered.
Otherwise it won’t work (for me) as a convertible.
More pictures http://www.bilsport.se/news.php?id=60408
Does this car have no rear window (when the top is up)?
http://di.se/Nyheter/?page=/Avdelningar/Artikel.aspx%3FArticleID%3D2008%5C09%5C16%5C301058%26sectionid%3DEttan
Click on “Starta Bildspel” = Start picture show!
My wife says “I want one!”
1985 Gripen,
There’s a vertical glass in the rear that provides the seal when the top is up. The glass retracts to lower/raise the soft top, but it goes back up to provide an integrated wind-screen in the rear even when the top is down. I assume it can be lowered when the top is down to provide more air-flow as well.
~p
Saab/GM,
I’m actually getting sick of the concept cars. Build one already why don’t ya? All this “innovation” is worthless to me or anyone else if I can’t benefit from it.
Seriously, build the 9-X (whatever you will call it) and then make a convertible version. Make the interior very functional, and nice to look at. Push the design envelop, but don’t break it.
Now, if Saab/GM could show a production-ready 9-X (or even a 9-5), at a major auto show and have it in showrooms a few months later, that would turn the auto industry on it’s head. That’s what I’d love to see Saab do. It seems that it takes Saab/GM longer to bring a concept to production (in the rare cases that they do that) than it takes most car companies to bring a whole new car to market.
Most car companies re-design their production cars (BMW’s 3,5,6,7 series… Audi’s A4/6/8, etc…) for a new model cycle. Saab is stuck redesigning their concept cars. (Isn’t the 9-X a re-imagined 9-1x/whatever from a few years ago?)
Okay, my rant is over. I just can’t stand to see Saab’s products so stagnant.
~P
I liked the car until I saw the soft top. It reminds me of a man with a receding hairline or toupe!
LOL! I thought the same thing when I saw it, Andy! I thought of a guy who dyes his hair black and combs it over for some reason. Ever see that episode of The Simpsons where Homer and Lisa are fugitives and Homer dons a disguise of shoe-polish hair and sideburns and tells people his name is “Brock Strongberg” or “Lance Uppercut”? That’s what I thought of!!!
Sorry, the Simpsons episode I was alluding to was The Dad Who Knew Too Little and the alias was “Rock Strongo”.
Hotel clerk: “Your names?”
Lisa: “Lady Penelope Ariel Ponyweather”
Homer: “Uh…Rock Strongo.”
Hotel clerk: “Your real name?”
Homer: “Lance Uppercut.”
Hotel clerk: “Thank you.”
Homer used globs of black shoe polish to fashion a big pompadour hair style with sideburns that looked like Elvis’. The front of the pompadour looks like the front of the 9-X Air’s roof.
Here’s a pic.
Back to your regularly-scheduled programming.
i think it looks good, it looks different so people are always going to have different opinions on it.
Debate is a good thing because hopefully it’ll get it into the wider knowledge. I’d buy one for sure but i’d leave the top down most of the time, emergencies only.
Now i know why these guys are employed, to come up with interesting solutions
I think what Saab mean by compact segment vehicle is ‘what you’re looking at here is the next 9-3′
So lets get this right.. the next gen 9-3 is just over 3 years away. That for me is the bad news. The good news…. it’s going to be a hatchback and a Coupe / Targa styled vert. can there be any better news…
I think so… from various CGi’s if seen of future Audi’s and BMW’s this 9-x air (er 9-3 convertible) is totally radical in design. Love it hate it.. From the various images dotted around the internet, it has the same bio-hybrid effect for me as in, from some angles I get a ‘knee jurk’ reaction, from others I am in awe of the beautiful lines created by the designers.
In previous posts I’ve mentioned I wasn’t sure.. Now I am… When this car hits the show rooms it will be worthy of my money… But Saab; I hope your patent is that the roof is a complete panoramic glass top that turns dark smokey black at a touch of a button. I’ll take the extra 100kg because such an innovation will leave the competition dead in the water.
OK, so I’ve not yet read about or seen the windows down. They can go down, I hope? Hey, in my ‘vert, I want buffetting!! If I don’t want buffetting, I’ll leave the top closed, n’est ce pas?
Exactly, Mr. Rupert. Looks like a bad toupe. And yes Gripen, just like that Simpsons episode, I know exactly what you mean.
I don’t get it, what’s the advantage? Despite the write up, as best I can tell those rear wings just block the view whether the top is up or down, rather than just when the top is up like on a normal convertible. And isn’t the emphasis on the wrap around greenhouse the opposite of what people want in a convertible?
To me the 9-4X and 9-XBH were disappointing, now this is just confusing.
the soft top looks like a “chapela”, “boina”, or in english, “beret vasque”, “beret”…….
the car looks awesome.
Taking a look at the European patent search and i don’t find anything about the roof.
http://ep.espacenet.com/
there is something interesting, recently they patented a new window controls, very similar to the ones used in old Saabs between the seats.
regards
me likey. it’s tight.
* i miss the gripen on the back, though.
* the dash is groovy.
* i hope it’s made with a manual tranny, too.
* j_trued’s link to the slideshow is fabulous. (thx.)
* with all the pictures of it being driven, it doesn’t seem like a concept car to me.
* that could easily be my first convert.
I thought it looked like a beret too. That car is really great looking. My wife wants one too. But she also wants a 9-4, 9-5, 9-1BH and now this! Very European. The back of the car looks great and I am glad they are using that round/curved rear and that Aero X tail light. The exhaust pipes look great too. Good job guys.
I´ve been won over. This car is Amazing!!! Build now and don´t let Opel or say Chevy put that canopy top in use prior to Saab!
Build it, along with a 3-door fastback to go along with it, and sell them as “sonetts” or something like that. These cars would have the potential to be some real TT killers.
thanks Jorgen for the link.
a very amazing couple of days here.
thank you everybody.
adam
i think the pix with the windows up are to deminstrate the advanced roof profile.
in real life…
the window would be down most of the time…..
a least that how i play here in cleveland ohio
Anyone notice that the rear of the car kind of resembles the old “Catherina” Sonnet prototype?
Imaginary at best, hideous at worst. Looks like a scalped Audi TT. With a three year wait for the 9-1, one can only guess when this will come to market. Saab needs products and they need them soon. An elegant folding hardtop for the 9-3 vert would be a start. I am so tired of this, probably still why I’m driving a 900…
For a small segment ‘vert I think it’s beautiful, definitely puts the 1-series and A3 in their place in the looks stakes. If it appears in a showroom in a few years then I’d definitely be interesting in picking one up as a summer car. The canopy roof might benefit from being available in a range of colours though - say black, red, blue, green and cream…
I’ve thrown together a quick-and-dirty photoshop job with a different colour canopy and body combo, and (IMHO) I think it’s an improvement on Saab’s black over white combination. Whilst that pearlescent white has looked stunning on the other concepts, I don’t think it does the Air any justice…
Red Canopy, Espresso Black
Video!
http://mittklipp.aftonbladet.se/app/viewMovie.action?id=23102
http://mittklipp.aftonbladet.se/app/viewMovie.action?id=23102
The 9-X has a turbocharged 1,4 litre 4-banger under the bonnet.. Good. And so does the Cherrolet Cruz.. Is that a good thing to have the same type of engine in premium cars and in low budget (allthought quite ok looking) cars?
Speaking of looks and hybrids.. Have you seen anything more ugly than the Chevy Volt? Looks cheap and plasticy. It even makes the Prius look like something sporty.. Well thats my humble opinion anyway.
Cheers! Oh, did I offend anyone? Sorry
The Air Canopy will save SAAB
Thank you GM for the rash of award winning concept cars. Where would our hope (and this blog) be without them. SAAB would seem to have some kind of crazy scheme to build name recognition for being a radical innovator of extreme good taste without having to sell a single new car.
This is more radical than the hatchback with the deploying upper and lower wings. Today SAAB suffers from being invisible. The only car with good market share is the 9-3 convertible. But this (and the hatchback wing deployment) would get noticed.
Remember the old classically-styled BMW 7 series and Dodge pickup truck? They had virtually no market share. Then came the radically restyled, love it or hate it models and sales went way up and stayed up. Not Toyota or Honda up, but up enough to make money.
I like the Air Canopy. It’s great for those very cold, but very sunny days and it looks purposeful. Let the 9-3 be conventional and sell this to crazies like me.b
The first official video footage : http://saab.skynetblogs.be
here : http://saab.skynetblogs.be/
Eggs, my post got lost somehow - I have excatly the same feeling regarding this:
I hope the side and rear quater window can be lowered.
If not, then it’s not a convertible in my book, and yes, I LOVE bufferting in a convertible, that’s the point right?
Get a coupe if you want your hair piece to stay on…
All convertible lovers from around the world are welcome to Trollhättan / Sweden next year for the 2nd Swedish CabrioChallenge held in conjunction with the Biannual SAAB Festival. Check out this link http://www.cabriochallenge.se/ and sign up!
@ Jörgen, You already know the date of the festval 2009 ?
Thanks Mad Max and Etienne for the video posts!
I’m loving it and the video is even better. I can see though why it has been designed to reduce buffeting, Anthony Lo would obviously hate having his hairdo messed with!
Nice video. What kind of engine is in the concepts BHC and Air? 1,4i or 1,6 turbo from the Corsa and Astra?? Or is it a 1,4 turbo?
Is the transmission double clutch? I guess a DSG like transmission must be ready atleast for the Opel Insignia and NGSaab 9-5…? Somebody know some real facts?
*Ahem.* See my comment below:
http://www.trollhattansaab.net/archives/2008/07/saab-convertible-concept-in-paris.html
What do I win, what do I win? Or will you consider me as one of those “Djup Strupe”:s from now? Or did SAAB read my comment and stole my idea? I guess we’ll never know.