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Carpix have been kind enough to send me a full size photo showing the rear badge of the Saab 9-3x vehicle photographed in northern Sweden in the last few days.
With the name settled, you can now resume your normal whining about how this car is too little, too late, etc.
Personally, I’m with PT on this issue:
Just a foot note for those who have their knickers in a twist about this car. Some Porsche-o-philes had the same reaction to the Cayenne and dittto for the X5 and ML series. All of those cars have basically bankrolled their respective companies to enable the ongoing production of their “true” models like 911s and M3s. Saab needs all the models and range-width it can get with a minimum of expense so please save your bleeding hearts and 4wd-phobia for someone else. If you want this company to hang around, you have to support this car and others like it. Its too late to be sitting on the fence and debating the merits of what is or is not art.
‘Support’ in this context will be different things to different people. Some will ’support’ it by buying it. Some will ’support’ it by just thinking it’s good to have it around.
There are no finger-snap solutions to Saab’s car range. This is a step in the right direction. One of many steps that are needed, but a step nonetheless.
I think this is a great step, and I’m looking forward to seeing it for myself.
19 responses so far ↓
1 Dan9-1
// Feb 6, 2009 at 8:19 am
couldn’t agree more. end of story
2 MarkS
// Feb 6, 2009 at 8:20 am
I’m all for it……this beats the hell out of the 9-7X!!
3 turbin
// Feb 6, 2009 at 8:28 am
Agreed.
Esp in 2.0T form this is going to be a reasonably light (Euro competitors are 1800kg to 2000kg) and chuckable entrant in the field. The pro-active rear wheel hookup with E-LSD (what a term) will ensure that reviewers are going to have a hell of alot of fun with this. Body roll should be relatively mild. If this has been tuned by Backlund or any of his mates it is going to be a hell of a fun dirt/snow/ice driver.
And it’s a combi! Got my vote. This to me is what Saab should be about in this day and age.
4 turbin
// Feb 6, 2009 at 8:38 am
BTW: PT – Excellently crafted rant.
5 ctm
// Feb 6, 2009 at 8:39 am
Agree. I wrote that myself several times here on TS. Times moves on. What was unthinkable for BMW or Porsche fans 10 years ago, is now something completely normal since that is what the brand consists of today. Period.
6 Markac
// Feb 6, 2009 at 8:50 am
They could’ve been more creative with the name, but I guess GM has always stifled Saab’s creativity. I’ve already responded to PT’s comments. I think crossovers are where Saab should have naturally progressed to. It should have happened at the start of the decade and not the end of it, but that’s probably GM again. It may be ironic, but I think the 9-3x will be the last of the current 9-3 series to be replaced. I’m guessing it will overlap with the new model by at least 12 months. I just hope there’s still something like the ‘crossover coupe’ in Saab’s future. I still think that’s a niche Saab could fill, and fill extremely well.
7 Kroum
// Feb 6, 2009 at 8:53 am
Very well put, Swade. 100% behidn that statement and what PT said in comments.
Time for some of us to move on and remember change is the only constant.
8 Markac
// Feb 6, 2009 at 9:04 am
9-5x and 9-1x anyone?
9 Joe Lobo
// Feb 6, 2009 at 9:55 am
I have joked many times in the past about PT running Saab OZ due to his accurate aptitude in understanding true business matters in the most logical way. Here is proof again through his latest comments which are darn spot on as the many previous ones we’ve had. The example of the Cayenne is one of many mistakes that have been made where the opportunity was totally missed by Saab and the revenue generator (cash cow) was never part of the equation. Business is business and provided it all blends in to your core activity, you have to provide what the market wants. Saab as we all want it is too niche and not for the mass consumer. Another “money engine” is needed to keep it moving as our passion on its own will not do it !!!
10 Markac
// Feb 6, 2009 at 11:22 am
Joe, PT running Saab Oz would have made little difference as there haven’t been the products to sell. Having good business sense and a great sales plan don’t do much if you’ve got nothing to market. The problem goes a lot deeper than that. GM has tried to make Saab too mainstream and at the same time deprived it of the resources to achieve anything, and we’ve ended up with a decade of stagnation. Most of Saab’s good ideas have been poached off to lesser brands within GM. I can just imagine how frustrating it has been to work at Saab!
Saab can never be mass market, that’s what brands like Opel and Volkswagen are for. Much as I hate the comparison, Saab needs try and be the “Apple” of the auto market like others have said. It needs to find what’s missing in the big boys model ranges and offer alternatives. Maybe it can begin to do that with “crossover” versions of it’s core models.
I’m sure a 9-5x would go down well and even a 9-1x would have great potential. Sticking Saab badges on Subarus and GM SUVs was never the way to go and whilst the 9-4x might have a little more Saab DNA, I think it should only be considered an interim measure to bring in some much needed cash, whilst Saab works out it’s true direction. After all, you could attach a Griffen emblem to a farm tractor, but would that truly make it a Saab?
11 SaabKen
// Feb 6, 2009 at 2:56 pm
Markac – let’s focus on the future, and not the past, the could-haves, would-haves, should-haves, OK ?
12 greenmatt
// Feb 6, 2009 at 3:14 pm
Looks like a good practical car. Very tempting in Sydney where our roads keep getting worse and more speed humps keep popping up. Basically a subaru forester with refinement, nothing wrong with that.
13 Markac
// Feb 6, 2009 at 3:24 pm
SaabKen: I was mostly positive and future focussed in my second paragraph, but it pays to remember the hard lessons that have been learned. Hopefully all those problems are behind Saab and it is heading for more prosperous times. Maybe we can agree on that one at least?
14 SaabKen
// Feb 6, 2009 at 4:09 pm
Markac – I think we all agree on that, no worries. But repeating that isn’t going to change history nor shed anything new here.
I’m not criticizing you in anyway, sorry if I came across that way. I just mean the lessons that GM learned/learning/will learn are quite clear to us in the Saab community.
Better days ahead. Let’s all toast to that.
Peace.
15 Markac
// Feb 6, 2009 at 4:53 pm
SaabKen: Agreed. I didn’t mean to be antagonistic to anyone but sometimes I get on my soapbox, especially when I feel people are being too simplistic about things. I guess that stems from spending almost my whole career in Television and all the BS I’ve had to endure! Peace and happy Saabing!
PS: I stil think a 9-5x and a 9-1x would be a good idea.
16 Ken H
// Feb 6, 2009 at 6:03 pm
How sacrilegious to mention the 9-3X in the same sentence as X5 and Cayenne…
I can understand this car much more than any SUV out there, included the new “cross-dressing” variants. Shoul drive well and car-like, but can still handle potholes and speedbumps in a good way.
17 Joe Lobo
// Feb 6, 2009 at 8:11 pm
Markac, despite your views and mine the fact remains that even with the limited line up something good can be done. Let’s look Saab in the UK and other markets. Granted and pointless in regurgitating the current state of business however, PT and some others will do a bloody good job in lifting the current position of Saab in OZ !!! Starting with fixing the dealer network will make a huge difference as I know many potential buyers looking at changing to Saab but where will they buy these from ??? Lowly clued Holden dealers. They head to As and we loose’m. Fixing this will make a huge difference and PT is the man to get it done !!!
18 Markac
// Feb 6, 2009 at 9:23 pm
Joe, I agree totally about the dealer network. Here in Adelaide for instance, Saab’s first dealer would rather have sold you a Porsche. It’s second dealer prefrerred to sell Subarus and the current one is an offshoot of a Holden dealer that now has to accomodate Hummers as well with just one tiny showroom! Something better can almost certainly be done. But what new dealer in these times is going to embrace Saab without new product to sell? Until they see something concrete, it’s just vapourware to them. And much as I love Saab, I can’t blame them.
19 Me
// Feb 7, 2009 at 5:59 am
Hey guys,
I’ve just read on the german AMS, Audi will present its new A4 allroad quatro in Geneva. As this is one of the car to beat, it is good that both (9-3X and A4 allroad quattro) make their first public appearance at the same venue.