Bilnorge, from Norway, have some new spyshots of the Saab 9-4x undergoing winter testing.

As you can see, Saab have all but given up on disguising the car, with only a few black triangles covering up the true lines of the vehicle.

Looks great! But how does it drive?

The full library of photos (all of which are bigger than this snippet that I’ve cropped for use here) are available at Bilnorge.

Thanks to you-know-who-you-are!

A carrier pigeon dropped this in my mailbox through the week. From parts unknown.

I work at a Saab dealership. A little while ago we had a meeting bringing together a number of dealerships with some senior Saab officials.

We were shown a few pictures of the new 9-5, both the sedan and wagon. They were absolutely amazing! We saw a picture of one of the first pre-production 9-5’s, in white. It may be the car that appeared in Spain. We were asked to kindly keep our phones and cameras in our pockets…

He told us that the 9-4x 9-3x (sorry, my misprint – SW) will have its debut in Geneva on March 09, and the 9-5 on Sept. 19 in Frankfurt.

Most important: 2009 will be, as we know, a tough year for Saab. But from 2010 you should expect an upwards trend! Saab doesn’t want to be another Audi, but wants to be the Apple of the automotive industry. A small company, but with a name ten times bigger and loved by a special group of people. Smashing design, environmental turbo technology, aircraft heritage. A wanna-have car.

Encouraging stuff, indeed. Djup Strupe also related some real optimism amongst those in attendance. I bet they can’t wait to get those new vehicles in their forecourts.

I can’t wait to get one in my driveway!

I mentioned some Saab 9-4x news the other day, but couldn’t write about it until I had it confirmed.

The confirmation I was hoping for hasn’t come through yet and I’ll let you know when it does, but I’ve received enough info from an appropriate source to be able to tell you something.

What I initially received was an email from a guy in Belgium (name withheld, but let’s call him Djup Strupe) telling me that he’d just placed an order for a Saab 9-4x at the Brussels Motor Show. The Saab 9-4x BioPower Concept vehicle is/was on display there, and dealers at the show were actually taking orders on the Saab CUV based on interest derived from the concept vehicle.

Our purchaser indicated that he’d paid a 2,500Euro deposit and was quoted a ballpark price of 35,000Euro for a 2.0 litre base model vehicle. The exact price, colors and specifications were yet to be determined.

He indicated that Saab dealer reps at the show had taken 16 such orders as of last weekend AND that they’d received expressions of serious interest in the new Saab 9-5 as well.

A Saab staffer in the region has confirmed to me that orders are being taken for the 9-4x, though there was no confirmation that deposits are being taken.

So…. it definitely looks like the Saab 9-4x is in Saab’s plans for a more independent future. And it certainly looks like there’s some interest in European markets.

The first orders are now in the system. Woohoo!!

Edmunds Inside Line have a decent little story covering developments with Saab. I particularly liked this bit:

As widely reported this week in Europe, the solution for Saab is to return to its autonomous near-premium car-builder roots. When we asked Saab spokesman Eric Geers recently at the Detroit auto show, he observed, “You would not believe just how happy everyone in Trollhättan is about this. Ecstatic.”

They’re not the only ones.

And then there’s this:

Saab plans to use the Swedish line of credit to help carry out the new plan of reconsolidating everything Saab back in Trollhättan, preferably by the start of 2010. A Saab contact tells Inside Line, “GM has been absolutely cooperative in letting us take this road home. They frankly have much bigger fish to fry and no time at all to really focus on resolving our situation, so there is no resistance from Detroit.”

See. There are advantages in being small and smart!

But the point of this post today is this line:

Not only will Saab now be building the next 9-5 family in Trollhättan together with the 9-3 — thus changing the earlier plan to build the 9-5 at Opel’s Russelsheim factory — but the 9-4X crossover will be pulled from Mexican production at the Ramos Arizpe factory and instead also will be built in Trollhättan.

Inside Line leave no room for misunderstanding with the way that’s written, which makes me think they’ve misunderstood something they’ve been told.

Firstly, the main reason for building the Saab 9-4x in Mexico is that it’s prime market is in the United States. Building it in the dollar zone makes perfect sense. Building it in Sweden where it’ll be subject to the same $-SEK problems as other models makes absolutely no sense for Saab at all.

Second, it makes no sense for GM to move the 9-4x from Mexico. They get to ’sell’ the vehicle to Saab, make a dollar on it, and have Saab sell it in the US (predominantly) where hopefully Saab’s business will build, thereby benefitting GM again. In addition, building the 9-4x in Mexico lowers the average cost of the Cadillac SRX’s that will be built there.

I’ll touch base with Saab and see what’s going on with this report. If I’m wrong, then I’m wrong, but I think Inside Line’s gone outside the realm of accuracy on this one.

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Our mates at Auto Motor and Sport in Sweden have picked up some more Saab 9-4x spyphotos.

This time the 9-4x was caught testing somewhere in northern Sweden and it’s almost completely nude – including the inside.

I’m diggin this!!

I’m not so hot on the steering wheel or the dial surrounds, but everything else looks very promising. You’ll see on the hi-res version (at AMS, see below) that the materials aroud the center console area look great. It’s quite Saaby, without doubt.

It’s almost got me lusting after an SUV. Almost. I definitely want to drive it.

Go over to Auto Motor and Sport and get a much bigger version of this image. Theirs is a massive 2400px wide. I’ve reduced it to 700px as it’s their image, reproduced with gratitude and their permission.

They’ve also got some exterior shots of the car, but there’s no doubt that this shot is the prize.

There’s a fair possiblity that you’re also looking at what will for the basis of the new Saab 9-5 interior, too. I’d imagine they will theme both of them in a similar manner.

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Thanks AMS, and WooDz!

One thing to remember in this whoe GM-Saab reorganisation this is that even if Saab are made more autonomous – a scenario we’d all like to see – they’ll most likely still be part of GM for the foreseeable future.

Which means if GM goes under then Saab go under, too.

GM still have a bucketload of reorganisation to do in order to satisfy the US government to hold off calling in the suits and forcing an orderly bankruptcy proceeding. They’ve got to convince bondholders to exchange their debto for equity, which isn’t a foregone conclusion just yet.

Then there’s the market conditions. GM have released their own revision to the market conditions they used for their submission to Congress – and they revised the number down. Their initial projections were based on 12 million US sales in 2009. They’re now predicting a conservative base case of 10.5 million sales, which was their worst case scenario when they spoke to Congress.

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I was going to skip this road test, but seeing as several people wrote in to me about it, I thought I’d better publish it.

Why skip it, especially when the reviewer gives the Saab 9-3 Aero a five star rating? Well, let’s just say the review is a little…..quirky.

Saab 9-3 Aero review at Canadian Driver

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Ivan makes custom Saab T-Shirts.

He also designs and produces custom Saab badges (see here and here)

If you’re lamenting the fact that your modern Saab doesn’t have a Turbo badge anywhere, Ivan can fix that. You can contact him at saabdesignshop@gmail.com and talk about your needs with regards to sizes, etc.

Above is in Turbo X style, below is the original 900 style. Brushed metal finish with adhesive backing.

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Saab Australia are having a sales event called TurboFest.

This is the email graphic that’s going around. Click to enlarge.

What’s got me fascinated is the “Saab – Move Your Mind” graphic in the bottom right corner. As you may (or may not) know, Saab are going to lose the use of the griffin symbology at the end of this year. They had a 20 year agreement with Scania but that’s almost up now.

Could this be the new motif for ads, with the SAAB part being what’s seen on the cars (a-la the badging on the Saab 9-4x concept vehicle).

Just wondering.

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No pictures here, just some feedback I received from Djup Strupe on my post in anticipation of the next generation Saab 9-5.

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I was just reading your article about the reveal of the 9-5 and I thought I would drop you a quick email. I have had the pleasure of seeing the new 9-5 in the flesh, along with the 9-4 and the 9-3x.

I have to say I am very much biased as I have grown up with Saab and have a genuine love of the brand, but, I really think the new 9-5 is going to be a real success. The car looks fantastic, it is one of the best looking cars I have seen in the last 5 years. The car that I would compare it to in looks is the Jaguar XF, which is my currently my favourite new product on the market (a beautiful car).

Part of the reason why I think it is going to be a success is that there has been a real concentration on ensuring the right engines are available for the 9-5. A strong emphasis has been put on CO2, a key to the European market. In addition, it looks like it will be coming with the required accessories for a car in its class (it looks like HUD is on the way…woohoo!).

Just a little on the 9-4x, which is also a great looking vehicle. Its rear light cluster is stunning, and very different to anything on the market at the moment. The vehicle itself is far larger than I thought it would be, although it will only come in a 5 seater version (which hasn’t effected the X5). My fear with this car is that it is probably too late in coming to the market as the trend is now strongly moving away from SUVs and crossovers.

Still, it will provide Saab with more bullets in its arsenal. Never a bad thing.

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My thanks to Djup Strupe for chipping in. Despite the gloomy conditions around at the moment, I think there really is light at the end of the tunnel for Saab.

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I thought I’d bring these issues up from comments and on to the front page. One of them has already been covered here earlier in the week, but it’s relevant so I’ll mention it again.

These comments have come to the site from Saab dealers, who I understand have been briefed on developments within Saab, which is the normal course of events several times a year and usually prior to big motor shows.

The first comment was the one covered earlier this week. This comes from a long-time commenter here at TS who’s a Saab dealer of some 20 years standing.

GM announced to the US Saab dealers that the “new” 9-5 is back on schedule….

And further on the 9-5, from a dealer who I assume Kroum would be happy to verify through his personal contact with the dealer concerned:

Hey guys,

Happy days ahead for the 2010 Saab 9-5. Should have pictures released after Feb 18 2009!!

I’m excited as a dealer to finally see this car added to round out our new family of Saabs

Now there’s something to look forward to next month! We’ll wait and see.

Others have mentioned in comments that their dealers have starting talking to them about a new Saab 9-5 later in 2009 as well, so the word is definitely getting out there.

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This later comment also comes from our 20-year Saab guy and it rings true to the various bits and pieces that I’m hearing unconfirmed over the wires in recent months.

Rumor mill here in the US has GM on its knees begging the Swedish Gov’t to “BUY” (bailout) half of Saab. They have to put the new 9-5 on the road to make the company have any appeal to any prospective buyer (investor-partner). All the work is done on the car. 9-4 work is all done too.

Caution, though: GM has promised the US dealer body so many things that have never come to fruition it would make your head spin……

Saab Sweden’s Eric Geers has finished nearly every interview he’s done in the Swedish press recently with the words “We are speaking with the Swedish government constantly and the progress has been very encouraging” or words to that effect. The possibility that they’re looking for government support to continue operations in the absence of a buyer for the brand (as per other stories in the last few days) is not a big surprise.

The other interesting snippet there is that the work is done on the Saab 9-4x.

We’ve saw photos all through 2008 of that car being tested so it’s not really a big surprise to hear that the work is basically all done on the vehicle. The fact then, that it’s still a year away from release just highlights why Saab need to get out from under GM’s thumb.

Saab dealers in most countries are effectively living on a one-car lineup at the moment. Swedish dealers still have some interest in the 9-5 because of BioPower, but elsewhere it’s the 9-3 and nothing else in backup.

To have a lineup so thin and vehicle ready to go, but withheld, is indicative of GM’s care for the brand. Cadillac will show their SRX (the sister vehicle to the 9-4x) at the Detroit Auto Show starting from tomorrow, and Saab will have to wait a year????

This Caddy-first mentality is never going to benefit Saab in a tangible way.

If those mumblings about GM wanting the Swedish government to buy-in are true (and remember, according to Dagens Nhyeter there’s going to be some sort of announcement from Detroit with Swedish government representatives in attendance on Monday), then I say “Bring it on”

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