Saab to release “Air Edition” Convertible?
I’ve been travelling and internet access has been just a little sporadic, hence I’m not across all the details of this story like I should be, but it seems to me that the inmates are running the asylum where the 9-X Air and its associated news items are concerned.
First there’s the drip feed as far as official documentation and imagery is concerned. Saab, rather than waiting for the Paris Motor Show, set GM’s 100th birthday as The Date for 9-X Air information. When that date came along, there was precious little available at GM Media and all the imagery came courtesy of the Swedish motoring press, who had been granted access to the car in previous weeks.
Official information is now available. I don’t have time to post all the official images as we’re heading into downtown Victoria today for a bit of touring, but here’s the link for all the images, which you’re able to download.
Then there’s the 9-4x Saab Chile fiasco (now apparently not the official 9-4x, just some guys in Chile messing around - but it’s still a fiasco that it would show up on a site linked by Saab Global). I’m not sure who’s responsible for that one, but constructing a test site live on the web and expecting it to remain undiscovered isn’t exactly the wisest decision, especially if it’s linked to your main global site.
Now, in a third instalment, we have the Saab Global site looking like a dog’s breakfast and posting details of a Saab 9-3 convertible special edition that I’m not sure are supposed to be released yet.
The Saab 9-3 Convertible “Air Edition”
Here’s how the page looks this morning. I think there’s a problem with the CSS at the global site. I’ve tried this on FF3 and on IE7 and neither are working properly.
Let’s put aside the site problems, however, and focus on the nitty gritties.
A month or so ago, some spies in Trollhattan sent through a photo of this ‘unknown’ Saab 9-3 convertible, the photo being taken in the car park of Saab’s facilities there. I think we can safely say now that it’s a 9-3 Convertible Air Edition.
What confused us about the photo was the odd yellow color. It wasn’t the now defunct Lime Yellow, nor is it the new Lynx Yellow. It looks to me like it could be Bright Champagne metallic, though, which is one of the three signature colors for the Air Edition.
The Saab 9-3 convertible Air Edition will feature many of the trim pieces from the Saab Turbo X. The 18″ wheels are finished in silver rather than the two-tone finish of the Turbo X. It’ll also feature interior elements from the Turbo X, though some of these are hard to discern due to the website’s rendering problems.
The car will be available with a number of ‘Aero’ engines, though the markets where the full range of engines are not identified on the global site. You’ll need to check locally when more information is available.
The engines mentioned on the site are:
- the 280hp 2.8T V6
- the 210hp 2.0T four
- the 180hp TTiD
- the 200hp BioPower 2.0t
So what we have here is basically a special edition of the 9-3 Convertible, which will probably be made available some time nearer to the Paris Motor Show when the 9-X Air is seen for real.
Oh, and the other thing we have here is further evidence that Saab could still use some help co-ordinating their internet presence and developing their web-based following.
Just sayin’.
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That color is or looks very close to Pepper Green?
Those are the same “plain” Turbo X 18″ rims we saw a couple of months ago. A black convertible was it not?
Speaking of rims.. Even though the Opel Insignia has not gotten to the OPC stage yet (wich will be interesting and blow the Saab Turbo X/Aero XWD of the grid because GME loves Opel/Vauxhall and mearly excepts Saab as it´s wannabe cousin. I mean common Opel 12 models and Saab 2) they still manage to have both 19 and 20″ rims as an option… Saab? 19″ as an option for the Turbo X…. 20″? No… 21″ Yes.. On our concepts….
I know some of you look at this as something completely unnecessary, but MANY of the high end buyers do want it. Opel High end? Saab High end? The latter I´d say..
I have no trouble watching the “air edition” site. Using IE7.
Nice lookin’ car.
Dissapointing about the 9-4x. I was skeptical after seeing the leaked photo of the production version several months ago that this was the real thing. The devil is in the details and I’m really worried the production version lost some of the few details that made it different. Items such as the gloss black review mirrors, lower air intakes with the cool vertical LED fogs, saab-esk head restraints & lack of roof rails. Since this will be the first Saab to recieve the new design language it would be a shame if GM cut some corners with their parts bin.
Trompa, I completely agree! Like I said above the devil is in the details and large rims make a HUGE difference in a cars appearance. I get many compliments on the 10 spoke rims and the low profile tires on my ‘03 9-5 areo from people are not car nuts let alone SAAB nuts, its something people notice. They need to keep the large wheels and get the turbine design into production.
Tompa, I have had a Russelheim staffer assure me that Saab will be higher end and higher specced than the ‘equivalent’ Opel. I therefore expect that Aero 9-5s will be tuned a bit higher than OPCs.
The Color is between Lime Yellow and Parchment Silver in real.
“Just sayin’.” Tee Hee!!
about time for a bit of wranglers loving wouldn’t you say swade??
Wrangler loving? Someone get Jose on the phone, stat!!
That looks like the new color available for all 2009 9-3s. Its called Bright Champagne. I saw the 2009 color information from the salesman at the dealer I work for.
Anybody notice that they are listing the 280hp motor as an available engine? And the convertible is still FWD?
With the current 9-3s they have limited the FWD 2.8t cars to 255hp iirc… interesting!
Iron Joe: good catch.
that css issue is your “fox”…i’m sure they are still shooting for the IE masses…not cool, but hey that’s life.
beren
The Vectra OPC had the 280 hp 2,8V6 and that car could handle the power (Almost anyway) so I guess the 9-3 FWD could pull it off to..?
Speaking of FWD and power.. I don´t know if other diesel markets have the tuned 1,9TiD 175hp engine as an option for the 9-5 as we do in Sweden? Saw this just yesterday! AND the Linear is gone, replaced with the Linear Active (Power seat etc) wich have been the step up for some time.. The NG9-5 is realy close now…
A comparison in overtaking 60-100km/h in forth gear between the 9-5SS 1,9TiD 175hp and the 9-5SS 2,3T Aero 260hp. 1,9TiD 175 6,6 sec vs 2,3T Aero 260 6,5 sec
Oh, the TiD 150.. 7,5 sec
Cheers/Tom