In response to a request in comments…..

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The quality and scope of Saab’s innovations in the car industry probably outweigh their size or reputation. There are a number of things, however, that we can’t add to that list because even though they were taken quite a long way through the development journey, for some reason or another, they didn’t get to the end of that journey.

There may well be very good reasons why these developments were left on the shelf. The hard part about being a Saab fan and knowing about these developments is not knowing why they were stopped.

Solar cooling – Saab EV1

One of the many nifty innovations incorporated into Bjorn Envall’s Saab EV1 concept car in the mid 80s were a set of solar panels in the vehicle’s roof. These panels generated energy that would then drive cooling fans to keep the interior cabin cool in the sun.

If you think this is still somewhat space age, well it is to an extent, but there are car companies now offering this technology as an option, most notably Audi with their solar sunroof.

More recently, the Saab 9-X BioHybrid concept also featured solar cells in the roof of the vehicle. In this case, the solar energy is used to charge the vehicle’s lithium ion batteries.

The Saab V8

This is one case where we probably do know why the development stopped before it really got off the ground.

Back in the late 1980’s, some of Saab’s cousins at Valmet in Finland decided to try and fit a V8 into a Saab 9000. Spurred on by their counterparts in Trollhattan who said it wouldn’t fit, the Finns developed a V8 engine using what appears to be two Saab B202s.

It slotted right into the Saab 9000 with no modifications necessary, but GM’s purchase of 50% of Saab the year after it was done made the engine somewhat redundant as GM had V6 engines they wanted Saab to utilise. I wonder which out of the GM V6 or “Saab’s” V8 would have been more efficient and reliable?

You can read Eggs’ full entry on this engine here.

Saab Variable Compression

This was going to be the Golden Egg but it ended up being squashed by a goose in a suit.

Saab variable compression, as the name suggests, should have been the next big development in engine technology. The project started around 1990 and Saab started to make serious noise about it in the late 1990s.

The idea was simple enough: engines are fairly inefficient given that the one engine has to cope with running at variable speeds and loads. What Saab did in response was to develop an engine that featured variable compression via a ‘monohead’ that was hinged on one side whilst the other side moved up and down via hydraulic rams.

The results were very promising. From a supercharged, five cylinder 1.6 litre engine, Saab generated around 225hp and 305Nm of torque, with around 30% less fuel consumption compared to a larger engine with similar output.

Saab Combustion Control

If you believe the press release, Saab Combustion Control was perhaps the most production-ready of any of these technologies. From the October 2000 press release on the technology:

The SCC system will be launched in the next generation of Saab cars.

I can’t claim to understand this one sufficiently well enough, so here’s some details from the Saab 9-3x press materials (the original one that could have been built 6 or 7 years ago, not the XWD vehicle we’ll see next year).

This revolutionary technology from Saab improves fuel consumption by up to 10 per cent and cuts emissions by as much as 75 per cent, all without impairing engine performance. Direct injection, variable valve timing and a variable spark gap are the key features, allied to a spark plug injector which provides air-assisted fuel injection and turbulence for better combustion, as well as a high-energy spark.

SCC allows exhaust gases to comprise up to 70 per cent of the combustion mixture, a far higher proportion than conventional exhaust-gas-recirculation systems. Carbon monoxide and hyrdocarbon emissions are reduced by almost 50 per cent and nitrogen oxides by 75 per cent. The Saab Ecopower 2 V6 is the first production engine designed to incorporate this technology.

A 10% reduction in fuel consumption and a potential 75% reduction in emissions – and again, in 2001 this was intended for production in the next generation of Saab cars.

You can read a full press release on Saab Combustion Control over at Saabnet and there’s also a great article at SAE.org.

Saab’s plug-in Hybrid

The Saab BioPower Hybrid Convertible was first shown at the Stockholm Motor Show in March 2006. The big official news at that time was that it was the world’s first fossil-free hybrid vehicle and it was made all the more notable by the fact that all this technology was present in a convertible car.

The press release that accompanied the vehicle, however, wasn’t the original press release. What the published press release held back was the fact that the vehicle was also a plug-in hybrid. Behind the glued-in rear badge was a plug-in capability that lifted the technology and the mileage capability of the car to new levels. It was reported in Aftonbladet (in Swedish) that GM told Saab at the last minute before the Stockholm show, to re-write the press releases and glue shut the plug-in cover. The plug-in capability of this car was not to be revealed.

The original press release was circulated to several outlets and then pulled by Saab just prior to the Stockholm show. Some of those outlets published the original release, however, which read:

To optimise the availability of ‘Zero Mode’, a plug-in-feature is available which allows the battery bank to be connected to a mains electricity supply for additional charging in the garage. This would, for example, allow a driver commuting in heavy traffic to immediately resume in ‘Zero Mode’ the next morning after arriving home the previous evening having used up all its range. A neat socket is located behind the Saab badge on the 9-3 BioPower Hybrid Concept’s trunk lid.

It is thought that the plug-in capability was covered up as the technology was not going to be featured in light of the fact that GM had bigger fish to fry when it comes to electric cars – the Chevrolet Volt debuted in concept form in January 2007.

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My apologies for the indulgent nature of this post, but sometimes you can’t get to write the things you should until you’ve cleared away all the stuff that’s clogging you up.

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The gut

I have a pretty good gut. I have a very large gut because I feed it too much, but that’s a whole other story, and thankfully its largesse hasn’t decreased my capacity to feel.

At age 16, my gut told me it wasn’t OK to try and drink my father’s death away one night. So I didn’t. I’ve barely touched a drop since and I’m ever so grateful for it.

At age 18, my gut told me it would be bad news to go out with that girl. But who listens to their gut in that situation? I should have.

At around age 21, despite a purely Australian automotive upbringing, my gut told me that the Saab 9000 I was riding in was absolutely brilliant and would probably change my life. It has.

At age 24, and with no job or higher education, my gut told me everything would be alright. And it is.

At age 34 and 11 months, my gut told me that this new-fangled blogging thing might be worth a try, and seeing cars (and Saabs in particular) were the only things I felt passionate about, that’s what I’d write about.

The head

Like everyone else, I can feel right and wrong in my gut sometimes. And yet somehow, I don’t tend to act on it anywhere near as often as I should.

Some of that is down to timidity. I’m a fairly cautious person by nature. But it’s more than just timidity. It’s where my head comes in to the picture. Whilst my gut’s all emotion, my head is infatuated with a desire to reason. I am more often than not the devil’s advocate, no matter how lame the plight of the weakened argument I try to support.

At age 28, my head told me to marry my first wife, despite any misgivings I might have about us at the time.

After a national IQ test was held on television, my head told me to go and sit the IQ test being held locally shortly thereafter, sponsored by Mensa. My gut told me not to join, though.*

My head’s told me for the last four years that things will work out with Saab, that the next killer model is just around the corner.

My head tells me that I should continue negotiations with the media company that’s interested in buying Trollhattan Saab because I’ve worked bloody hard on it for four and a half years and something concrete should come out of that.

But then come the bones.

The bones

The bones are like the gut, but much, much stronger. When you feel something in your bones, it’s like you can smell it in a high wind. It’s the fear of loss. The thrill of imminent pleasure. The joy of a promosing road and knowing there’s not a soul around.

At age 30, my bones told me I’d never really loved my first wife. We divorced and it was 100% the right thing to do. At age 31 my bones told me I’d met the perfect woman for me. We married two years later.

At the same age my bones told me I was making a mistake selling my 99 Turbo. I bought it back three years later.

Your head can reason with your gut, but the bones are undeniable. I’ll probably buy that 99 Turbo a third time before things are all done and finished (if Bill will sell it).

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At age 38, my head is arguing that Saab are on a knife’s edge. My head tells me that the most promising way forward for Saab is with as little interruption and instability as possible, as if they’re doing a finely balanced juggling act and the slightest interruption could send it all tumbling. My head keeps telling me that the best way forward is for GM to still own Saab in few years from now, because that’s the most promising way for a continued existence.

But my gut tells me that Saab would be much better off without GM. My gut tells me that Saab are always going to be like a neglected child in GM’s house, eating scraps from the table and wearing hand-me-downs from older, more important siblings.

My gut tells me that if Saab were given one unrestrained chance at hitting a home run, they’d slug it into the next suburb.

My gut tells me that Saab will survive this somehow, in some form.

My bones don’t tell me anything other than the fact that this journey, this blog, is tied to Saab’s own journey, in as much as that journey still holds some promise of Saab being the company that I think they can be. The negotiations to sell this site are off becuase I can’t, in good faith, tie myself contractually to a brand when there’s a chance I may not believe in that brand any more.

Saab will survive. It’s just a matter of how, and how well.

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For what it’s worth, I think GM is too full of ‘head’ guys and too devoid of ‘gut’ guys. I think Bob Sinclair was a great businessman, and a ‘gut’ guy at heart. I think Bjorn Envall was totally a ‘gut’ guy, and most designers are. Their problem is that the ‘head’ guys are the ones with all the power. You can’t work gut into a ROI formula.

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And a final thought….

My head tells me that a replacement flagship vehicle in the Saab 9-5 is incredibly important for Saab, but my bones tell me that a smaller Saab 9-3 like the one they’ve talked about is the vehicle that Saab need more than any other.

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* Yes, I sat the Mensa exam and yes, I passed and was told I was in the top percentile of people who had taken the exam. This should tell you little about me, though, and more about the nature of perceived intelligence. If you want to know something about my own intelligence, witness the frequent mistakes here on this site. I’m just as dumb as the next guy.

It’s a fait accompli that many Saab executives drive Saabs. A lot of the time they get them as company cars and whilst they might be nice versions of the Saabs currently on the market (earlier this year, Jan-Ake Jonsson assured me he was going to nab a Turbo X for a little while), I’m more interested in what they have in their personal garage, what they’ve spent their own hard earned money on.

I was pleased as punch when I learned that one of Jan-Ake Jonsson’s first cars was a Saab 600, for example. And whilst SaabUSA’s Jan-Willem Vester has a Porsche 911 for fun in the US, he’s also got a imaaculate classic Saab 900 back at home in the Netherlands. Saab 9-4x designer Andrew Dyson probably has some non-descript runabout at work in Germany, but he’s also got a C900 in his garage back in England.

These guys love Saab. And so does the guy I’ve been in touch with recently.

The name may or may not be familiar to you, but Taras Czornyj’s work will be very familiar to you. And his personal car is an absolute cracker!!!

Taras doesn’t work for Saab right now, as you’ll read about shortly, but he’s got good reasons for choosing the Saab that’s currently in his driveway, and good reasons for the way it’s been enhanced, too.

Here’s a little Q&A we did via email in the last week:

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When were you with Saab?

I was at Saab from 2000 to 2006. I started in Trollhättan and moved to the new GME Advanced Design Center in Göteborg in 2003. Its a company I wanted to work for because of its design heritage and potential.

What did you work on?

My first project when I joined Saab was the 443 (9-3X) exterior design. There was no wagon at the time only a 9-3 based crossover. The project had been underway for a least a year. Michael Mauer restarted the project with a new phase of design development and it was then that my design was chosen to be developed. At this point the Sportcombi came into the picture. From a design point of view the crossover was the lead vehicle. Unfortunately this car was canned by GM, one of the reasons being that it was too small for the US. Interestingly the X3 and the Outback felt right at home with little or no competition in the US.

93-X Concept exterior design…..

This project ran parallel with the wagons. This concept was the preview to the 443. It was the same platform but in coupe/ hatch body style. Shows the rear design theme you see on today’s sportcombi.

I worked on the two last years of exterior production development of the 9-3 convertible. Following a design direction set by Michael Mauer and Tony Catignani.

9-3 Sporthatch Concept exterior design…..

A preview to the sportcombi. This project was close to me for a couple of reasons. This was the first show car to be built in house at Saabs prototype modelling dept KMX. There were a few all nighters spent on the car putting it together but the final result was world class. Secondly the exterior design was basically the canned 443, that the cladding splits were filled and the car was lowered giving a more rally on road look.

9-3 Sportcombi exterior design…..

A very satisfying project. A hard slog with engineers at times but well worth it! I learned a lot and worked with some fantastic people like Ziggy Bis the 9-3 studio engineer and Erik Sörum from design quality to name just a couple. I am particularly pleased about the rear lamps. One thing to point out was how streamlined and efficient the staff at Saab were, something I realised later, working at Volvo. There was myself on exterior design, Lars Falk on interior and we basically discussed the design directly with Michael Mauer. There was not the overblown set up as in other companies with a designer, senior designer, assistant chief designer, chief designer, exterior chief, and the design director.

Next generation convertible concept…..

A study into what could the next cab could be. A skunk works type of group was formed to look into this. Somebody from marketing, engineering, myself from design, and a few others. We test drove and benchmarked competitors, brainstormed and came up with a roof concept which was presented as a full size model to GME managment and culminated in a patent that I am 75% credited with. The basic idea was to be shown a couple of years later on the 9-X Air concept. These types of project are gold dust for a designer, where you are given the opportunity to start with a blank sheet and really do something new.

2008 9-3 facelift…..

I developed the design theme and carried out the early design development for the face lift which Ola Granlund later followed through to production.

I also worked on a variety of advanced design projects for various brands in the GM family. These will not see the light of day but might influence future products.

What have you been doing since you left?

When GM decided to move Saabs main design operations to Germany I made the decision not to follow. After six and a half years I felt I needed a change of scene and to experience the design process at another company. So in late 2006 I took up a position at Daihatsu in Ikeda, Japan leading a small group of non Japanese designers in a strategic and advanced design group. We developed ideas which ultimately became the Mud Master C, I love that name, OFC-1 and the HSC show cars.

In 2007 I started a design company Mutations AB together with my wife Ingrid who is also a designer. This was a real opportunity for a bit of freedom and to choose exactly the projects I wanted to work with. We work with a variety of partners primarily within transportation.

I spent most of 2007 at Volvo cars. I worked on a proposal for an all new model. Very interesting to see things from the ‘other side’.

Since late 2007 I have been working with Hirsch Performance developing initially the 2008 9-3 range exterior products. Wheels, aerodynamic kit, spoilers etc. Looking forward to working on future Saab cars.

I am presently leading the exterior design on a project at Scania Trucks. An exciting and new challenge in an industry where design is gaining more importance.

I am also tutoring at Umeå Institute of Design.

Cars that you drive?

As a daily driver a 2008 9-3 Sportcombi 2.0 Biopower Aero. Hirsch have recently fully upgraded it and I must say in my honest humble opinion the car moves like a rocket and looks s?#t hot!

I also own a 1995 Ovlov 480 Turbo, one of the last ones built. It’s the only ovlov I would drive and a car I loved when I was younger.

It’s actually quite Saabesque in concept, a practical sports car. A shooting brake bodystyle, one that I admire, think 2001 9X, P1800 ES, Z3 coupe. A body style gaining favour again with cars like the 2007 9X, Renault Altica concept, VW Scirroco, Mini Clubman and the C30. Now and then I take a spin in my wife’s 2002 9-3 Aero.

And a final question….how the heck do you pronounce Czornyj??

It’s pronouced chorneey. If you can, you roll the R.

Its Ukrainian and means black. Very designer!

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My thanks to Taras for taking the time to fill us all in and sharing a few pics of his cars with us.

He is a deadset legend, as we like to say here in Oz.

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The weekend’s well and truly over and that means the pundits are out pundit-ing again. The Detroit News has an interesting piece on what might happen with the Detroit-based companies’ European operations if it all goes belly-up on the home-front and the US government enforce an ‘orderly’ Chapter 11.

The DN consultants believe we’re in for a period of widespread consolidation, with strong companies buying up the weaker ones, or in the case of the Detroit 3, the weaker divisions that may need to be cast aside as part of the C11 process.

They see BMW possibly buying just about anyone in an effort to get into the small car market in a cost effective manner.

What about Saab?

They talked to a guy from Germany called Professor Ferdinand Dudenhoeffer, who is newly appointed to the chair of automotive economics at the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany. The Dude (you can’t tell me that isn’t his nickname) has the following to say:

“Saab is a mess and there’s no indication it will improve in the future. Making Cadillacs at Saab was a decision that went extremely wrong. I’ve not seen a successful management decision at GM Europe in 5 years. It didn’t decide to close any plants in Europe and that was wrong,” Dudenhoeffer said. “It faces a very tough story for the future and I personally don’t see any hope that it will manage to turn around.

“It is completely another story with Ford. It has been doing well in Europe, making about 800 million euros last year (about $1 billion) and was making a profit up to the 3rd quarter. It’s got good products like the new Fiesta, Ka, Kuga, Mondeo and Focus. Compared with GM and Opel it has a far better model line and far better capacity management compared with GM Europe,” according to Dudenhoeffer.

Dude!

Let’s break it down and take it to the bridge, shall we?

Saab is a mess and there’s no indication it will improve in the future.

Actually, whilst Saab has been a mess for a few years now, there’s definitely plans in place for things to get better. The introduction of XWD was a start. It’ll open a whole range of models to Saab that are well within the Saab ethos of safety and practicality.

All things going well for Saab’s survival, we’ll see the first of these most likely some time early in 2009 with the Saab 9-3x. XWD technology will also be key to the success of the 9-4x when it arrives and I’m sure there are XWD plans for special variants of the 9-5 as well.

And those new models are the very core indicator that the Dude has missed all together. I’ll get to that a little later.

Making Cadillacs at Saab was a decision that went extremely wrong.

Well, you’re not going to get any argument from me there. If there’s an indicator of a mess, this is it. That mess falls right into GM Europe’s lap, though, not Saabs. I’m sure Saab would have loved to use all the money that GM Europe have poured into Cadillac at the behest of the Board in Detroit.

I’ve not seen a successful management decision at GM Europe in 5 years. It didn’t decide to close any plants in Europe and that was wrong,” Dudenhoeffer said. “It faces a very tough story for the future and I personally don’t see any hope that it will manage to turn around.

I’m sure there’s been quite a few decent decisions at GM Europe in the last 5 years. The Insignia recently won the European Car of the Year, for example. That was a good decision. Chevrolet have been a huge hit in many European markets in the last five years, which I’m sure is the result of a good decision somewhere or other.

See Dude, all you have to do is look. I know you wanted statements that could support your arguments, but the picture is bigger than that.

“It is completely another story with Ford. It has been doing well in Europe, making about 800 million euros last year (about $1 billion) and was making a profit up to the 3rd quarter. It’s got good products like the new Fiesta, Ka, Kuga, Mondeo and Focus. Compared with GM and Opel it has a far better model line and far better capacity management compared with GM Europe,” according to Dudenhoeffer.

Back to where I was earlier, Ford might have a good European lineup, thought that doesn’t mean the Opel doesn’t have a bad one.

But what the Dude has conveniently left out of his Ford comments here is the relative positions of Saab and Volvo.

Volvo have a larger range and a well understood and appreciated brand. Like everyone else, though, their sales have been dropping through the floor. And unlike Saab, Volvo is fat.

Volvo are cutting jobs left, right and center right now, in a belated move to make the company leaner and more attractive to potential suitors. Whilst Ford might be profitable in Europe, Volvo’s been making losses for some time now and the rumours of Ford shopping Volvo around just refuse to go away.

Saab, on the other hand, have used the product-lean times of the last few years to get their house in order. All those new models that are coming down the pike for Saab, combined with Saab’s leaner structure, mean that Saab only need sales in the order of 150,000 to 200,000 in order to be profitable. Whilst they’ll fall well short of the low tide mark this year, they almost got to 150,000 back in 2006 with a much more stale model range than what they’ll have in a few years from now.

So, Dude, I don’t know who you had to impress to get that cushy academic job you’ve got now, but I’ll bet they weren’t Swedish. Your lack of knowledge on what’s really happening at Saab is plain for all to see.

Saab aren’t a strong company, but they’ve definitely got a chance given a favourable outcome for GM and a relatively small investment.

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As some of you know, I am on holiday here in Australia and our man Swade has kindly agreed to let me make a somewhat personal post…

People have taken Saab and the spirit of Saab to their hearts the world over. Yet in a far off land with cultural frameworks far removed from a Swedish winter, Saab has a following that has surprised even this dedicated Saabist.

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Lance Cole is a writer living in England and has penned several books on automobiles and aviation. Saab enthusiasts would know him best for the book Saab 99 and 900: The Complete Story, which is an excellent volume and available for sale at the TS Shop. At the bottom of the left sidebar you’ll see a list of authors here at TS. Click Lance’s name to read all of his contributed pieces.

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All photos by Lance Cole. Click to enlarge

You know that there is an Australian stereotype – in fact there are several. Cars ‘Down Under’ have always been big, brawny, rear wheel drive affairs best suited to the huge mileages Aussies do on their cross country and interstate journeys. Holden and Ford have ruled the roost for decades with their own brands of modified bodies and engines that started life in Europe and the US as other cars.

GM used the doors off the old European Opel Ascona/Vauxhall Cavalier to create a Holden Commodore a few years back. And by adding huge front and rear overhangs to the Opel Omega, the Aussies created the last-but-one, Holden Statesman.

But times and fashions change and other cars have now begun to make inroads into the Aussie car market.

Yet, Saab is huge here and has been for decades. They bought 99s and 900s in vast numbers – and now 9-3s and 9-5s.

On a drive up into the Blue Mountains west of Sydney I was swept aside by a red Classic 900 SPG Turbo, a three door beauty blasting up Katoomba hill. The car had to be 15 years old and yet it looked brand new. Coming down the hill a few minutes later was an early Classic 900 turbo in white, screaming down through the S bends – its driver grinning hugely.

Then there was the farmer’s wife driving a red Classic 900 convertible, which seemed incongruous in a land of huge four wheel drive monsters and pick ups – ‘Utes’ to the locals. And the old 1950s Saab 93 I found as a barn find in the back-of-beyond in Victoria underlined the point. Melbourne is packed with Saabs – especially convertibles.

In Sydney, the local Saab Car Club blokes, organised by Brendon – Trollhattan Saab readers all – turned out in cars ranging from a new Turbo X to Simon’s pristine, restored 99 Turbo three door in Cardinal Red metallic. The by-now infamous Belgian Beer Cafe provided a strong backdrop. These guys are true hardcore Saab nuts.

Joe Lobo asked me what was it that made Saabs so popular in Britain. I guess the next question is what is it that makes Saabs so popular in Australia?

En route to finding the answer via Swade, I discovered the stunning, amazing collage of scenery that is Tasmania. Imagine the Scottish highlands, the Lake District, the Blue Hills of Virginia, blended with vistas of Kenya and dotted with lochs, lakes, harbours and wooden lodges.

I came here to meet Mr TS – our man Swade and visit Trollhattan Towers. And if I thought mainland Australia – the Big Island – was Saab mad, that was as nothing to the sheer size of the Saab population in Tasmania.

Hobart and the rest of the place is seething with Saabs – it’s a Saab island, however small; the locals love them. I saw eight Classic 900 four doors in a few days, hoardes of convertibles and it is a sea of newer models too.

Maybe this Saabness is in part behind Swade’s obvious passion and dedication to Saab. Maybe that is part of the creation and success of Trollhattan Saab – mixed in with the Big Island’s love of Saabs too?

It was a privilege to meet Mr Trollhattan Saab and see him at work. I have tried to convince of his achievement with TS but he is so modest he hates any suggestion of PR plugging! But I reckon there’s a whole lot more to come from TS.

Drew B – he of the incredible Saab collection and local Saab Club Chair, organised a dealer day with the local Saab dealer (Motors Saab) and we took off to the hills in a range of cars including a Turbo X wagon – great fun on amazing roads.

Drew and I also headed south a few days later in the beautifully balanced 9-3 TTiD courtesy of Saab and took some photos. It is superb car and in my view pick of the sub-Turbo X range – except for the rubbish electric window switches and low-rent fascia plastics. The auto box works really well with the TTiD, by the way. Despite the poor cabin trim, I loved this car and reckon it is the best diesel power application on the market – it’s turbine smooth with that auto.

Oh and Tasmania is full of Alfas too – so we can forgive Swade picking me up at the airport in an Italian job… I think it’s just his sense of humour.

All the Aussie Saab nuts need now are new models and like me, they cannot understand the delays to the 9-5 and 9-4X. After all, Bob Lutz justified the stop-gap Saab-Subarus by saying they would create new models whilst Saab dealers and customers awaited the real, new Saabs. Ok, so now they are ready, using that logic, how on earth does Saab justify the reverse logic of delaying these cars?

The Saab Island expects.

Finally, huge thanks to Swade and everyone for hosting me and making it the trip of a lifetime for Saab nerd from Mud Island.

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From Swade:

SW

Here’s a fun little mystery that EduSaab has begun unravelling.

EduSaab is the Saab enthusiast world’s premiere patent researcher. Every story I’ve come up with here that’s involved registering a patent or design or whatever has come through his work. And here’s his latest effort.

He was looking around this weekend and having some trouble finding anything Saab related. GM are now registering new stuff as “GM” rather than “Saab” so it’s getting tougher to find things, though not impossible. By some clever use of search filters, EduSaab managed to come up with a new patent labelled as an “automobile” that he hadn’t seen before. The applicant were Anthony Lo and Anders Gustafsson and the applicant was GM Global Operations, Inc.

It gets even more interesting – the patent application was registered very recently – on the 4th November 2008, in fact.

There were no drawing with the initial page that EduSaab found, but he kept digging. A few searches later, he came up with these by searching via the patent number.

Now, those of you who are relatively new here at Trollhattan Saab might be seeing this vehice for the first time.

Those of you who have been here since the early days would recognise a very strong similarity between these images and the Saab 9-6x that was being proposed back around 2005.

These were the days of the 9-2x, when General Motors still owned part of Fuji Heavy Industries. The proposal was for a second Saab-Subaru collaboration, one that would provide Saab with a midsize SUV largely based on the Subaru B9 Tribeca.

These were amongst the first ever spyshots I showed here at Trollhattan Saab, back in August 2005:

The vehicle in the patent is a five-door vehicle and the one in the spyshots is a three door vehicle but the similarities are obvious and undeniable.

It’s an interesting development and one can’t help but be curious about why they’re lodging a design patent in 2008 on a vehicle that was canned back in 2005/2006.

The other interesting angle is to pause and reflect on a vehicle that was widely regarded with a tinge of caution (to say the least) a few years ago. As you know, the 9-2x was critically panned because it was way too much Subaru and too little Saab. Enthusiasts viewed these photos with a certain amount of cautious optimism, fearing that the 9-6x would be more of the same – too much Tribeca and not enough Saab.

The sale of GM’s interest in FHI took care of everyone’s concerns as the plans were cancelled. We’ve still got the 9-7x as we wait for the 9-4x to come to market.

Again – why register the design now, in November 2008?

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Many thanks to EduSaab for the excellent detective work!!

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Sorry, but this financial crisis stuff is just too big to let go for too long. It’s taken another twist today with GM’s boss Rick Wagoner doing an interview with Automotive News:

General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner says GM’s financial distress is so dire that it must line up financial assistance from Washington before President-elect Barack Obama takes office in January.

“This is an issue that needs to be addressed urgently,” Wagoner said during an exclusive interview today with Automotive News. Now is the time to “overshoot, not undershoot” when it comes to assistance for the auto industry, he added.

The problems with this scenario are numerous.

First, you’ve got the fact that President Bush still holds the reins until January 20, and he’s already said “no” once. GM are eligible for a share of $25billion that’s aimed at getting more fuel efficient cars on the road, but what they want is access to another $25billion just to keep the lights on.

There are a number of commentators now saying that maybe GM should get a payout, that the consequences of letting them go bankrupt would be too dire to contemplate:

“If GM goes down, it will take down companies like Lear and Johnson Controls,” Wolkonowicz says. “That will shut Ford down, and it would shut down production at Toyota and Honda. They would go down like dominoes.”

One supplier CEO agreed. “Any occurrence of bad debt would be a death blow to the industry,” said the executive, who asked not to be identified because he does business with the Detroit 3.

“If GM filed for bankruptcy, … the impact would be so catastrophic that it would make the current industrial downturn look like a walk in the park.”

But many are also saying that if they do get a payout, there should be some pretty serious strings attached. Strings that look like nooses, perhaps. Around the collective necks of the current powers that be. This from the Wall Street Journal:

Let’s assume that the powers in Washington — the Bush team now, the Obama team soon — deem GM too big to let fail. If so, it’s also too big to be entrusted to the same people who have led it to its current, perilous state, and who are too tied to the past to create a different future.

In return for any direct government aid, the board and the management should go. Shareholders should lose their paltry remaining equity. And a government-appointed receiver — someone hard-nosed and nonpolitical — should have broad power to revamp GM with a viable business plan and return it to a private operation as soon as possible.

Wagoner himself is having none of that:

But Wagoner said he is not prepared to resign in return for government aid. “I don’t think it’d be a very smart move,” he said. “I think our job is to make sure we have the best management team to run GM. It’s not clear to me what purpose would be served. …”

A quick tangent – that’s Wagoner trailing off there, as printed by Automotive News. What a weak, weak response, and what a weaker-than-weak report in that they let him get away with it. I guess they’d lose the story if they’d have asked him for some justification as to why he should be kept at the helm. Maybe he should stay at the helm. I don’t know. But I definitely think he should justify why he should be allowed to stay, given that he’s presided over a mess that’s at least 50% of GM’s own making. End of tangent.

Meanwhile, a guy from Deutsche Bank has done what we bloggers call linkbaiting by rating GM shares as a “sell” with a value of $0. Attention-seeking aside, he actually had some interesting things to say as well, especially for we Saab nuts:

GM’s collapse [is] “inevitable” without federal aid. Rod Lache of Deutsche Bank said GM may otherwise run out of cash before the end of the year…..

….GM might need to eliminate five brands, close five assembly plants and renegotiate the United Auto Workers contract under a restructuring scenario unveiled Monday by Lache.

A leaner GM could emerge by keeping three brands — Chevrolet, Cadillac and Buick — and eliminating GMC, Hummer, Pontiac, Saturn and Saab, Lache said. GM would lose $2 billion in gross profits by killing those brands but cut $5 billion in costs, he said.

GM may need to reopen the UAW contract and cut hourly compensation for core employees from $71 an hour to about $40.50 an hour, Lache said.

$71 an hour?!?!?! But I digress.

This isn’t the first analyst saying that GM should cut Saab loose and I’m sure he won’t be the last. But the question I’m pondering tonight is what would that entity named Saab look like, and whether there would realistically be a buyer for it.

You and I have the utmost faith in a properly resourced Saab being of value to someone out there. The Saab way is the way of the future and has been for 30 years. Smaller, turbocharged engines. An emphasis on aerodynamics, safety and design. What’s not to like about these core values. The problem is that Saab were too small to start with and have never got big enough to stand on their own two feet. It’s amazing they’ve lasted 60 years, really.

Will someone else have faith in the Saab brand, though? Faith big enough to buck a global financial squeeze and throw what many would say is good money after bad, and actually buy the brand and invest in it?

The reason I’m left asking this question is because as yet, no-one’s been willing to come forth and purchase what was perhaps the most well-defined brand in GM’s stable – HUMMER.

Hummers make no sense to you or me, but there’s a desert-load of wealthy people out there who love their vehicle big and brash, and I’m sure there’s still a market for a company that wanted to take Hummer beyond the image it’s already created. If GM can’t sell a brand as well defined as Hummer, then what chance are they going to have with a little brand from Sweden that everyone really liked 20 years ago?

Then, of course, you have the integration argument – that Saab are so integrated with GM platforms and parts that a new owner couldn’t separate them from the mothership. This is something I don’t necessarily agree with. Where there’s a will, there’s a way.

But would a new parent company want to deal with a legacy supplier of parts that might be going down the tubes? Could they secure a supply of components to keep building them if the supplier goes belly-up? They’d need to design all new models – and pronto – so that they’re self sufficient in the quickest possible time. Who’s got the money to do that right now? Especially with a brand that’s little known, despite being a global presence.

If worse comes to worst, we might end up with a scenario where the Saab name and badge are sold, only to be left on the shelf until the buyer can come up with the cash to kickstart design and production again. With that sort of momentum shift, Saab could be gathering dust for some time.

All this is just theorising, though. If it came to that, I’m sure GM wouldn’t get much for the brand and they’d most likely mothball Saab in their own dungeon whilst they sorted out their affairs.

If they can’t sell Hummer, can we reasonably expect that they could sell Saab?

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The GM financial news revealed earlier today has revealed that the Saab 9-4x won’t be seen until some time in 2010. Given that the 2009 Saab 9-7x is the last of that line (the plant that produces the 9-7x will close in late December 2008) it’s fair to assume that there will be a reasonable gap between the last 9-7x being sold and the first 9-4x coming landing on a showroom floor.

Enter the Saab 9-3x.

This is the car that Saab will need to plug that gap. The anti-SUV.

I want to take a moment to review the recent correspondence about this car as I believe there may be some misconceptions about when it may be coming. Right now, I’d suggest it’s ery much needed.

I’ve received several bits of Djup Strupe news about this car in the last few months. The problem is that they’re spread out over several entries and even updates within those entries, so I want to gather them all here in one place. We can’t get a definitive idea of when this car will come, but at least we might get a little clarity.

The first bit of bad news that came about this car was from a major-market Djup Strupe back in early October. At that time, he provided this information which was relevant to his market:

December 2008: We’ll get to see initial info and photos for the new Saab 9-5 sedan

February 2009: Motorshow appearance for 9-5 sedan

September 2009: 9-5 Sedan on the road

February 2010: Launch for the Saab 9-4x

September 2010: Saab 9-5 wagon and 9-3x launch

2011: Saab 9-3, written to me as being a facelift

2012: Saab 9-1 launch

And an update to that post contained the following:

A recent communication with Saab indicated that they were looking to the XWD 9-3 SportCombi to cross any gap between the 9-7x’s demise and the release of the 9-4x. I’d imagine the correspondent was referring to the 9-3x, which would make sense in that particular market (the US) and this would infer that the 9-3x would be seen some time in 2009.

Regarding the 9-3x info from Djup Strupe, above, it’s fair to draw the conclusion that the info doesn’t come from the US market and therefore, that the 9-3x might be released there first and in other markets at a later time depending on the demand they anticipate.

So, at that point we have the 9-3x coming to one major Saab market that isn’t the US in late 2010. There’s also the inference from another source that the car would still be seen in the US in 2009.

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Later in October, I was able to share some intel from another Djup Strupe, this one being European based and verified, that the Saab 9-5 would be delayed. At that time, publications in Europe also reported possible delays to other Saab models and this was based on the same information I received from that Djup Strupe.

I wrote as follows:

Saab 9-3x: If anything on the horizon for Saab could be seen as non-essential, this is it. I’d already heard from Djup Strupe that the 9-3x was delayed until 2010. This could kill it completely.

In short, from what Djup Strupe had seen, the plans for the 9-3x had either been delayed or even cancelled. This is to say that in a scenario where he should have seen that information, the information had now been removed, which was unusual.

The European news reports about this issue drew a response from Saab Sweden’s Eric Geers in the Dutch paper, Auto Telegraaf, where he denied the delays, saying to them that they could “call him at the photo shoot”

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Just this morning I spoke with Jan-Willem Vester from SaabUSA and asked him about the possible delay or cancellation of this model.

JWV was pretty guarded during the conversation in general, but when I asked about this car and any possible delay or cancellation his response was to the effect of “well, it wouldn’t make a lot of sense (to cancel it)”.

JWV said that the technology was there and the market was there for the vehicle and as far as I could tell from what he told me (not a lot) and the way he said it (a little more free than with the rest of my questions) I’d suspect that this car is a goer, for the US market in the near term, at least.

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To that, I say a nice big hearty and well-meaning, non-blasphemous Hallelujah!

The 9-3x is now needed more than we realised. This slow leak of information hasn’t given us a full picture, but it’s given enough t see where the pieces fit in the puzzle. I loved the idea of the 9-3x when I first heard about it and was really disappointed the prospect of its loss.

It’s a car that uses existing architectures, existing mechanicals and interior with just a few modifications here and there. This truly is a car that shouldn’t cost much to bring to market and with the looming gap in Saab’s SUV line later next year, I really do hope that they can bring it sooner in the markets for which it’s needed.

In the words of those philophers from The Offspring: Give it to me, baby!

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