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It’s a new month, so watch out for vehicle sales data that should start coming in on Monday. We’ve already been through Black September. I’m predicting (in my best Tom Clancy style) a Red October for all the bloodletting that’s going to come.
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Speaking of which, Farago from The Truth About Cars has outdone even his usual sensationalst efforts with his Wildass Rumor of Day:
Deep Throat tells us GM’s putting its research and development facilities on ice– and not just to save a few bob. Nope. It appears that The General is about to kill– as in starve to death HUMMER-style– Saab and GMC. Oh, and commercial trucks.
According to TTAC, that news is supposed to come via a special GM news announcement on Monday. Personally, I think Monday will be more about October sales and the replacement for a used vehicle incentive scheme that GM just canned.
Never let common sense get in the way of a good headline.
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Via Autoblog, there’s a useful article over at Popular Mechanics about parts restoration for the common man. Times are tighter and more people will consider keeping their old car instead of upgrading to a newer one. This article’s for them.
….you may be able to save some money—maybe lots of money—by rebuilding certain systems yourself. That goes double for offbeat, antique or performance vehicles……but there’s some satisfaction to be had in rescuing a good part and Saving the Planet, one piston at a time. So here’s the lowdown on when to fix and when to ditch that broken part.
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Aks Patty provides the fairer sex’s view of the Lynx Yellow Saab 9-3 Convertible, and it’s well worth a read.
I don’t read reviews written by women very often, mainly because there’s far fewer women working in the field than men. This review is written by a woman with a female readership in mind, so it’s a different perspective, and quite a worthwhile one.
It’s a common sense and practical review. Recommended reading.
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I saw this yesterday and I wasn’t going to cover it, but this morning I’m thinking “what the heck….” as it’s doing the rounds anyway.
Mark Kruse is a design student, and for reasons that I’m yet to figure out, his design drawings for a vehicle named the Saab Blackbird ended up on Autoblog yesterday. Maybe he knows someone there, because it’s not that often that a random design sketch from a student turns up on a site like that.
Anyway, when operating in design-land, the vehicle features a solar skin that powers electric motors in the wheels. The name is inspired not by one of Saab’s own planes, but by a Lockheed aircraft, the SR71 Blackbird, which just causes me to scratch my head even more.
And the final big question: what has any of this design got to do with any of Saab’s design heritage? I see a wraparound screen and a slight Aero-X nod at the front, and that’s it. But it’s design school, so I guess it doesn’t have to link in any way.
Congratulations to Mr Kruse for getting noticed.
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9 responses so far ↓
1 eggsngrits
// Nov 2, 2008 at 8:44 am
Mr. Farago has been so right before
2 ctm
// Nov 2, 2008 at 9:28 am
Even a blind hen…
3 Alex
// Nov 2, 2008 at 9:42 am
While I don’t want to believe it, I also wouldn’t be surprised. Saab’s buyer loyalty numbers are terrible and GM’s starved the brand of anything resembling competitive products.
Given the current economic climate, I have a hard time seeing too many Saab dealerships survive until even the NG9-5 and 9-4X get here so the brand’s effectively dying as we speak, no matter how good the NG9-5 and 9-4X might be.
4 Jeff
// Nov 2, 2008 at 1:35 pm
I have a love/hate relationship with design. Sometimes, I love it. Usually, I hate what’s considered “good design,” because my ideas about good design seem to be completely at odds with the design world. I think good design means striking the perfect balance between practicality and aesthetics. The design world seems to think it’s either entirely practicality or entirely aesthetics, and anything in the middle is bad design.
They’re worse than art people sometimes.
This concept is impractical and kind of ugly.
5 Tompa
// Nov 2, 2008 at 7:41 pm
Saab´s demise.. Hardly. Yepp, GM may not hold on to Saab, but Saab will not die with that. Some company will buy it bacause it has a name, herritage, tech etc.
I wish people would stop painting everything in black.
My wish is that the Fiat group buy Saab and rapidly launch the GMNG9-5 and 9-4X and then make a 91 from the basis of the MiTo, a new 9-3 from the Saab cooperated Brera base (Might be to heavy?) and a Aero-X Halo car from 8C but with an E85 6 cylinder.
No? But.. I realy believe that GM will hold on to Saab
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That design kid has seen Joseph Kosinskis beautiful work with the Saab Blackbird video and held on to a cool name.
6 Bernard
// Nov 2, 2008 at 11:05 pm
GM has already put Saab’s R&D capabilities on ice. As far as anyone can tell, the 9-4x will be a Cadillac with a different grille, tail lights and trim package. The 9-5 will be the same thing, except based on an Opel. At this point, we would all be happy if GM found some spare change under the couch cushions in Trollhattan so that Saab can bend some sheet metal and make a 9-1 out of the next Astra.
I am hopeful that things will get better in the medium term, but Farago’s statements are a pretty fair descritpion of the last 6 years at Saab. My hope is that GM will eventually be forced to promote some non-US executives to decision-making positions.
The Blackbird concept reminds me of the Plymouth Prowler. Any design student worth his/her salt would rather be associated with Saab than Plymouth, so that’s why the Saab branding was added.
It is somewhat unfortunate that the concept doesn’t pay tribute to Saab’s design philosophy
7 MarkoA
// Nov 2, 2008 at 11:36 pm
I just read a story of Opel Insignia. It really worries me. It was designed from a scratch. No already available parts were used, everything is specially designed for Insignia. Then in the end of a story was mentioned that the new 9-5 will be built from those Opel components. I know, it might be a good car. But is it going to be closer to Opel? More than 9-3?? Holy crap!
8 900TurboSE
// Nov 3, 2008 at 8:24 am
So what if Saab is sold? What does that do to all the existing GM warranties? It’s certainly another reason, the warranty coverage, why Saab’s are appealing. Sure they could be sold, but what does that do to the new current owners? I’m very, very tempted to purchase a 93 Aero with the XWD, knowing the discounts will be very good, but I would hate to purchase a car with no means of service available while still under warranty. Thoughts…..
9 Brandys
// Nov 8, 2008 at 3:40 am
Thank you very much for including my review of the Lynx Yellow Saab 9-3 convertible. As the editor for http://www.AskPatty.com, I review dozens of vehicles each year for their family friendliness, and this is one of the few vehicles that I mourned after returning!