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I can’t say it’s been the greatest year in the blog’s history, but there was no shortage of drama in 2008.

This year saw three more Saab concept cars, the retirement of Saab Sweden’s Christer Nilsson, sales o the Turbo X and TTiD began in earnest with both vehicles being well received but all Saabs being under-purchased. Late in the year we had the general financial crisis, falling sales and the question marks over Saab’s continued existence, with GM or without.

Let’s take a look back.

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January 2008

The biggest event in January 2008 was my trip to Detroit to view the Saab 9-4x concept vehicle. Whilst not a typical Saab market segment, the vehicle made a positive impression at the show, especially because of the interior. And if you think there was a lack of interest in the vehicle here at TS, I can tell you that I’ve never seen the comment count accumulate as quickly as it did on that post.

During that trip I did interviews with Saab USA’s Steve Shannon (who confirmed that the 9-3x would be coming and I’m not sure he intended to do that at that time), designer Anthony Lo, designer Andrew Dyson and the Saab Brand Center’s Gunilla Gustavs.

With respect to those named above, the absolute highlight of my North American adventure was travelling with Gripen up to Santa Barabara and spending the afternoon with Saab USA’s former head honcho, Bob Sinclair. Spend some time with Bob and you can see why his career, and the 80’s for Saab, were so succesful. He doesn’t pull punches and he’s not overly sentimental. He got things done and had fun doing it.

From a nonDetroit point of view, perhaps the most interesting article of the month was TedJS’s look into how Tech II gets your Saab to talk to your mechanic.

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February 2008

In February, we had a good chat about what we’d do if we were the General’s generals. Considering the current state of Saab and GM, it might make for some good reading for someone in charge.

As our first TS-reader TTiD ownership experience took place, our unofficial Saab Ambassador in the UK took posession of a TTiD for 8 weeks, charged with getting as many test drivers as possible. The prize: a trip to Sweden, which he won. And speaking of Sweden, Saab created a huge Move Your Mind experience at Sweden’s Ice Hotel.

Carl-Peter Forster in Febraury 2008:

Saab is a premium brand, known for its environmentally friendly technology. Furthermore, Saab attracts people with the highest income and the highest education. It’s a group of people you absolutely want to have as customers. We have also started to look again at old Saab technology with small turbocharged engines.

Team D did the Alcan Rally – 5,000 miles in 10 days in northern Canada.

Whilst we took a better look at the Saab 9-4x interior, glimpses of the Saab 9-1 BioHybrid started to emerge – both official and unofficial.

Finally, February saw the winners announced in our Saab Pride of Ownership competition.

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March 2008

March started with a bang, with Subaru providing some exceptional customer service and giving me a WRX to drive after querying their advertising integrity. It was supposed to be for a few weeks and turned outto be around three months. Video.

Despite the Suuby being around, I re-discovered my love for the Viggen, again, again, again and again.

We finally got to see the 9-X BioHybrid at the Geneva Motor Show, where it won the Best Concept Car award just like it’s big brother two years before.

Bob Lutz quoted at the Geneva Motor Show:

I really believe in Saab. The cars we develop at the moment are the most typical Saabs in the last 30-40 years.

All this belief led Bob and his cronies to cancel the 9-X’s production successor, the Saab 9-1, in favour of making the 9-3 smaller. That news came out shortly afterwards.

It didn’t take too long before we got some alternative colour Saab 9-X’s drifting in, and then some more.

The New York Motor Show was the next cab off the rank and it was notable for what might be tied for the greatest waste of marketing money Saab undertook this year – the BioPower clothing line. I’ll get to the other waste of Saab marketing money in a later instalment.

The final highlight for March 2008 was the opportunity I got to do a recorded interview with Bob Sinclair, the former chief of Saab USA. As I didn’t record anything when we met face to face in January, this was a fantastic opportunity to share some war stories from the old days and a few thoughts on the new.