If the inside word is to be believed and the artist’s impressions are right, then Saab could well be looking at a Saab 9-5, possibly with a hatch variant of some sort, late next year. The timing seems to no longer be in doubt. Saab officials all the way up to Carl-Peter Forster have said that Saab’s plans remain on track to show the 9-5 and start producing it in late 2009.

These are the images that are considered the best guesses so far.

. .

Auto Motor and Sport have come across some images indicating that Saab won’t be alone in bringing a larger sized hatch to market late next year.

This, apparently, is the new 5-series BMW that AMS claim they’ll bring to market in the northern Autumn in 2009. I’m not sure if the photo’s for real (I’m assuming it’s a good photoshop job), but they have the full story in Swedish and some bigger photos here.

With thanks to Bengt P!!

–

Better?

GM are going to submit their plans for the future to the US congress today and every news service in the world is writing up its thoughts as to what’s going to happen. One thing I’m not sure of at this point is whether or not the public section of those documents will be made available straight away, or whether we’ll have to wait until the hearings later this week.

I guess we’ll find out soon enough.

I’m going to present those reports here in the order that I find them. No opinions or conflicts with other stories, just a quote and a link. The newest will be at the top. I’ll keep posting them for as long as I’m awake. Keep checking back.

And in case you don’t notice, there’s a definite trend as to what they’re predicting with regard to Saab.

——
NY Times via the Dallas Morning News:

For the Detroit Three automakers to win over Washington lawmakers in their bid for federal aid, they will have to address a key question in the business plans they present Congress with today.

Just how serious are they about shrinking their vast lineups of brands and models to match the harsh reality of the market?

All told, General Motors, Ford and Chrysler sell 112 car and truck models through 15 brands in the United States.

By contrast, the top three Japanese automakers – Toyota, Honda and Nissan – have roughly half as many choices, with 58 models sold through seven brands.

Shutting down a brand is a complicated, costly effort that requires buying out dealers protected by state franchise laws, as well as scaling back vehicle production.

Shrinking dealer networks may be a key component of the business plans that GM, Ford and Chrysler will present in an effort to show that they have viable, long-term strategies.

GM, for example, has about 6,700 dealers in the United States, compared with 1,200 for Toyota.

A thorny question, for GM in particular, is whether it can cut the number of dealers without incurring huge expenses to buy them out.

–
Edmunds (not bailout, but relevant, covering incentives in November):

Comparing all brands, in November MINI spent the least at $79 followed by Scion at $195 per vehicle sold. At the other end of the spectrum, Infiniti spent the most, $5,015, followed by SAAB at $4,860 per vehicle sold. Relative to their vehicle prices, Mercury and Kia spent the most, 15.4 percent and 13.9 percent of sticker price, respectively; while MINI spent just 0.4 and Scion spent 1.2 percent.

–

EnG here….From CNN:

Local United Auto Workers leaders from across the country will hold an emergency meeting in Detroit on Wednesday to discuss concessions the union could make to help auto companies get government loans.

UAW leaders called the meeting Monday night in an e-mail, obtained by The Associated Press, to local union presidents and bargaining chairmen.

Presidents from union locals for General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC will attend the meeting, according to the e-mail. A separate meeting for GM union officials will follow.

–

Spiegel:

“Lots of auto firms have been selling the wrong kinds of cars,” Swedish Prime Minister Frederik Reinfeldt said last week. “When someone thinks the state should come in and fix the situation, then I think they’re crazy.”

–

Trading Markets:

Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (Group) (SAIC) was reported to participate in the merger with General Motors (GM), which is on the verge of bankruptcy now, but the Chinese automaker gave a denial immediately…..

….experts forecasted that GM was likely to sell part of its assets in the near future, attracting several Chinese peers.

–

Wall St Journal:

…..vehicle sales in November are expected to come in at an annualized pace of just shy of 11 million vehicles, according to Barclays Capital, a slight improvement from October’s depressed rate of 10.6 million. That rate would be five million vehicles below the year-ago seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 16.1 million. All auto makers, including even normally recession-resistant luxury brands such as Mercedes-Benz and BMW AG, are expected to post big declines, with the Detroit three suffering drops of 30% or more, according to analyst estimates.

The dire news, however, could help the Big Three make their case in Washington for federal aid. Big declines for stronger rivals like BMW, Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. would support Detroit’s argument that the financial crisis is a major cause of trouble across the auto industry, and that GM, Ford and Chrysler just need a “bridge loan” to help them hang on until the economy improves.

–

Forbes:

…..judges cannot make workers accept lower wages and they cannot order customers into the showroom. A GM bankruptcy could drag down hundreds of suppliers and redouble existing worries about whether warranties will be honored.

GM’s crisis is so dire that the company might well be able to achieve significant concessions without having to file for bankruptcy. This assumes, however, that management sheds its business-as-usual mentality.

–

Globe and Mail:

The most radical surgery is expected at GM, analysts said yesterday. It could include the end of the line for Pontiac, Saab and perhaps Saturn.

One industry observer suggested that Saab is almost certain to go, given that its sales are poor and it is not a core GM brand.

–

BNET:

Pushed by the same market forces, the car companies tend to move in a pack. Ford and GM bulked up on acquisitions in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and now they’re shedding those acquisitions. With GM fighting for its life, can it afford to keep hanging onto Saab for a rainy day?

–

The Straits Times:

STOCKHOLM – THE Swedish government has ruled out a takeover of the country’s beleaguered automaker Volvo Cars if its owner, US group Ford, decides to sell it, daily Dagens Nyheter reported on Tuesday.

‘It’s not in our industrial policy to own carmakers and we will not jeopardise taxpayers’ money,’ Enterprise and Energy Minister Maud Olofsson told Sweden’s newspaper of reference on the sidelines of a meeting in Brussels.

The centre-right government has on the contrary pursued a policy of selling state assets since it came to power in 2006.

‘We need to look at what the government can do without jeopardising taxpayers’ money,’ she added.

Among possible buyers seen for Volvo are Germany’s BMW and France’s Renault.

‘But selling car companies in the midst of this financial crisis is hard,’ Ms Olofsson acknowledged.

Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt recalled that Volvo and Sweden’s other carmaker Saab, owned by General Motors, have appealed to the government for various forms of state aid.

‘We are not an emergency bank where companies can get money when things take a turn for the worse. That would just be a misappropriation of taxpayers’ money,’ he told Dagens Nyheter.

–

Associated Press:

GM will outline efforts to negotiate swapping some of the company’s debt for equity stakes in the automaker, either shares or warrants for them, said two people briefed on the company’s plan.

With eight separate brands, GM will also discuss efforts to shed brands but it would prefer to sell them instead of shutting down Pontiac, Saturn or Saab, said one of the people briefed on the plan. Killing off brands, like GM did with Oldsmobile in 2004, would require cash the company doesn’t have, the person said. The people briefed on GM’s preparations didn’t want to be identified because the plan hadn’t been completed.

–

Financial Post (Canada):

FordMotorCo. and GeneralMotors Corp. could dump their Swedish brands as the Detroit companies press U. S. and Canadian lawmakers for emergency aid that may hinge on keeping jobs in North America.

Ford said yesterday it is weighing whether to sell Volvo Cars, its Swedish luxury unit. A person close to GM confirmed the company is reviewing whether to sell or drop at least three brands, including Saab Automobile AB.

–

Los Angeles Times:

But saying a brand is for sale and actually selling it are two different things, said Robert Schulz, an auto industry analyst for Standard & Poor’s. With lending for corporate acquisitions all but frozen, there may be few takers for even a prestige marque such as Volvo.

“There’s no obvious candidate to offload these assets to,” Schulz said.

–

Detroit News:

The business plans GM, Ford and Chrysler have prepared for Congress include seeking additional givebacks from the UAW as one way to cut costs, according to sources with knowledge of the plans.

A person familiar with one automaker’s plan said a variety of topics are being explored. Key issues include reopening the contract, eliminating the controversial jobs bank that still pays workers even when they are laid off, and how much and how quickly the automakers will contribute to a trust fund to be run by the UAW that will take over responsibility for retiree health care beginning in 2010.

–

Business Week:

GM is trying to work out a sale of Saab, BusinessWeek has learned. For several months, GM has been shopping the brand to Chinese, Indian, and Russian carmakers, as well as to the Swedish government, sources familiar with the talks said. Saab Managing Director Jan Ake Jonsson and GM-Europe President Carl-Peter Forster have been leading the efforts to find a buyer, or at least get someone to take the company off GM’s hands.

–

Bloomberg:

In GM’s case, the Detroit-based automaker needs to shed brands including Buick, Pontiac, Saab and Saturn as it no longer can afford to keep developing products for each, Noble said. People familiar with GM’s plans said the automaker has studied shedding Saab, Saturn and Pontiac. Hummer is already for sale.

–

Mailr has re-examined those AMS images, focusing on the exterior. Inconclusive, but interesting.

Here’s the outside of the car as featured at AMS. Click to enlarge.

One of the strange things about this photo is that it was taken in October, when the Insignia was already released. So why have it all disguised? The interior shot gave away the fact that it wasn’t necessarily an Insignia, though people wondered if it was really a test mule 9-5 or just an Insignia with a 9-5 dash slotted in for testing.

Here are Mailr’s comments about it after he took a good second and third look:

I went back and looked at the front of the Insignia with 9-5 interior, and realized, when looking carefully at the lower parts of the front, that it is definitely not the Insignia front. The bottom looks just like I would expect a Saab front to look, and there also seems to be sime kind of crude seam two inches below the headlights. The hood also seems not to fit properly with the front, and the top inch of the front center has a strange sunken look, and there is a seem between the headlights and the grille at the same position as the seem between the hood and the front on the 9-5 Dame Edna design (the uneven reflection in the black paint (or is it tape?) gives it away). So my guess is that it is a adopted Saab front and an a Insignia hood there. I guess that car is a lot more 9-5 than I previously thought.

Now, compare to the sketches and it starts to make sense:

For further comparison’s sake, here’s the Insignia/9-5 mule again with a real Insignia publicity shot (which I’ve flipped so it’s pointing the same way).

Like I said, inconclusive but interesting. Even if it is a real 9-5 mule (which I think it is) then all we can really learn is that Insignia panels don’t fit straight over the top of it, which they shouldn’t do anyway.

It should also be said that all this pre-supposes that those sketches are indicative of what we’ll see when the new 9-5 finally arrives. Sketches have a habit of being a fair bit more racier than the real thing. The comparison between the mule and a real Opel Insignia is definitely interesting, though.

It’s always fun to try and figure these things out. Thanks to Mailr for his efforts.

–

In part one of this interview, we covered the general conditions at Saab at the moment, especially in light of the current situation facing parent company General Motors.

Here’s part 2:

——

Trollhattan Saab: We’ve heard that they’ve been delayed, but how close were the 9-5 and 9-4x to being finished? We’ve heard that GM set priorities whereby a car had to be 90% ready to continue on in this current climate. How close were these cars to being done on time?

Eric Geers: First of all, we never officially indicate when we’re going to launch new products, but as I said earlier, there were so many speculations that in the end, dates end up almost living their own lives. So as long as a car hasn’t yet made it to market, it’s very difficult to talk about a delay.

There are always re-timings when you are developing a product. There are always timing issues for various reasons. What we did say is that the 9-4x has been delayed a little bit but the 9-5 is currently completely on schedule.

TS: So the 9-5 is on schedule from your perspective?

EG: Yeah.

TS: And that schedule hasn’t changed in the last six weeks?

EG: …….

——

Note, the vehicle is on schedule from Eric’s point of view. Whether that schedule ever aligned with the speculations here or elsewhere in the automotive web is another matter.

Suffice to say that should GM and Saab survive the next few months and the market improves, then I firmly believe that 2009 is going to be a better year than what we thought it was a few weeks ago.

——

Trollhattan Saab: The other vehicle I wanted to ask about was the 9-3x…

Eric Geers: The 9-3x is going to be here. I just don’t know yet if we’re going to do an official press release and turn that into something…but as of next week the 9-3x is going to be out for test driving on public roads around Trollhattan so we can give you a look at this one.

TS: I don’t know if I can ask you this, but are we likely to see this before the 9-5?

EG: Yeah, that will be before the 9-5

——

This is great news, but not too surprising. The 2008 Saab 9-3 facelift was seen on public roads in Trollhattan well before the official unveiling at the Saab Festival in June last year. That the 9-3x, which is basically a 9-3 SportCombi in heavy boots, will do the same is good to hear, but not a big surprise.

It’s also encouraging that this vehicle will come about before the 9-5. There was recent news from one particular market that the 9-3x would be delayed in that market until 2010. It’s quite clear now that if that news still holds, then that’s for that specific market only and not for all markets.

——

TS: The big question, because this would be such a good seller, with the 9-3x being raised up a little, is there now room for a diesel engine (in combination with XWD)?

EG: …..(pause)….err, that’s part of the thing that’s still being discussed, powertrain. At this point I can’t give you the full update, but BioPower will be there. Diesel is still being discussed but I assume that that’s also the case, but it might not be because of the XWD issues. We also have to look at the numbers and the markets, they’re changing and the sectors are changing. In the end it becomes a business case, whether it does make sense to have it with a diesel or not.

TS: I’ve had quite a few people, especially from Europe, asking about the combination of the TTiD and XWD..

EG: Yeah. I know…..but I can’t say too much about that one. It would be great to get it in there but in the end it’s going to be the volumes that dictate whether it makes sense to do it.

——

Reading between the lines here, it sounds a little like the TTiD/XWD is physically possible, but maybe only with a bunch of expensive modifications that Saab will have to justify with projected sales numbers.

I really hope they do it, but knowing that the SportCombi is already a niche seller, and that the 9-3x will be another niche, I think it’s going to be a little tough to make a case for a niche within the niche within the niche. If you know what I mean.

——

TS: Assuming that there would be a delay in the new 9-5, I was wondering how you anticipate plugging any gap that may arise between the old one and the new one. Do you have enough of the old one left to see you through if necessary?

EG: I wouldn’t worry about that one too much…

TS: Well, the main concern was with the engines. Do you have enough of them? You sold the engine plant a while ago, right?

EG: Yeah, but that’s a matter of planning and banking and so on.

TS: So you’ve got plenty of those engines hanging around then?

EG: Yeah, that’s all under control.

TS: You want to send one down to me?

EG: (laughs) Yeah, we can ship you a couple. It might take a couple of months, but they’ll be there….

TS: I’ve got nothing to put it in, I might have to shoehorn it into my 900

EG: Sounds good….

——

That’s all for the second installment and we’re about two thirds of the way through the call.

Still more to come.

–

Here’s the text. Click to enarge or just view the large version in all it’s glory.

——

The Bologna Motor Show is set to start in early December, and Saab will be showing it’s 2009 Griffin edition Saab 9-5s at the show.

Another groovy new set of Saab wheels is born!!

——

The real carnage hasn’t even begun but already the body count is starting to mount in the wake of the global financial crisis and the way it’s hitting automakers.

Dashboard plan closes in the UK:

More than 80 staff at a manufacturing firm were today told they face being made redundant before Christmas. Lawrence Automotives, which has been operating since 1875, is expected to cease trading on December 18….

…The firm, which is based in Victoria Business Park in Netherfield, produces dashboards for cars including Peugeot 207s and Saab 95s.

Getrag and Chrysler dissolve US transmission plant plans and start suing one another:

The roundabout that was the Chrysler, LLC-Getrag partnership recently came to an end with Chrysler pulling out the deal, citing untenable financing terms. Now Getrag Transmission Manufacturing, the U.S. company that was going to build the dual-clutch transmissions for Chrysler, has filed for Chapter 11. Getrag has done so in order to streamline its handling of claims and creditors.

Detroit ad agencies are in for some pain:

Word that General Motors Corp. will slash its 2009 marketing spending by a “double-digit” percentage is the latest bad news for Detroit’s struggling advertising industry.

The cut is part of the automaker’s attempt to stay afloat financially after reporting a $2.5 billion third-quarter loss and warning that it could run out of cash next year.

It’s all happening, people.

——

Guys from GM Europe on speaking with the German government:

Opel thanks German Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU), Economics Minister Michael Glos (CSU) and Finance Minister Peer Steinbrück (SPD) for the opportunity to meet in the Federal Chancellery today and to talk about possible government guarantees. The talks were conducted in a very constructive and open atmosphere. The representatives of Adam Opel GmbH are therefore reassured that their request was listened to seriously and will be so considered.

Carl-Peter Forster, Supervisory Board President of Adam Opel GmbH and President of General Motors Europe underscores once again the special situation of Opel as a subsidiary of General Motors. “Opel does not have a short-term liquidity problem,” Forster says. Instead, the talks were required in the worst-case scenario that financial flows from the US no longer would be possible. It would then be necessary to secure the competitiveness of Opel. In this case, a government guarantee could be a solution. “We are not talking about subsidies, rather a protective umbrella of available liquidity in the worst case,” Forster says.

The Opel management, Forster says, feels duty bound to work toward the goal of securing the future of this traditional brand. This is particularly important for the future of great automobiles: On the very day of the chancellery talks, the new Opel Insignia was awarded “Car of the Year 2009” by expert motoring journalists.

Participants in the talks for Opel were Carl Peter Forster, Supervisory Board President of Adam Opel GmbH and President of General Motors Europe; Hans Demant, Opel Managing Director and Klaus Franz, head of Opel Works Council.

Note: Any funds they secure for Opel have to stay in Germany and don’t necessarily help Saab, especially in Sweden, but progress is progress nonetheless.

–

When GM let it be known last week that the fit was in the process of hitting the shan, I called SaabUSA and penned an email to Saab Sweden. The USA call didn’t yield much information, I’m afraid, but I received this email from Saab Sweden and am compelled to share the news:

For your information: you shouldn’t expect the new 9-5 early next year but expect some ‘activity’ in the latter part of 2009. What you should excpect though is that the car looks pretty spectacular also from an interior perspective.

The Trollhättan operations are in good shape (however, if you can end the economic downturn we could produce a few more..) with best ever quality of products roling out of our plant and we are preparing for production of next gen 9-3. sorry, no timing here either…

Note that we did some photoshooting of the 9-3X last week so who knows was there a spy photographer hiding in a tree who might serve up an image of a product that looks really cool!

The 9-5 info is the biggest news here, of course. This is something we assumed would be the case when news of the production car’s delay was ade known, but there was still a glimmer of hope that we might see it early next year.

That appears to not be the case, now. It makes sense, really, but it’s a bummer nonetheless. With news coming through that the 9-5 is likely to be released in the 1st quarter of 2010, I think it’s a safe bet to forecast an appearance at the Frankfurt Motor Show in the last quarter of 2009.

I’ve written back to ask if there’s any photos of the 9-3x on the cutting room floor. Will see what transpires, eh?

–

We’ve had notice about the fact that the Saab 9-5 and Saab 9-4x – two vehicles that Saab dealers need desperately – are going to appear late due to GM’s current crisis. This comment from a US-based dealer puts some flesh on those bones:

GM, in an IDL (read: internal) broadcast told us on Monday to not expect to see the new 9-5 until at least first quarter of 2010. And the 9-4 is pushed back a full year until third quarter of ‘10.

Our big debut this model year will be the 9-5 Griffin. Whoopee! The model we sell one a month of dressed up with a rear deck spoiler, different wheels and matte chrome headlight surrounds and grille. Wow…be still my heart!

We are for all intentions a one model car company……to the best of my knowledge a first in automobile retail history,with the possible exception of the Ford Model-T.You can get the 9-3 in other colors, however, which gives us a leg-up on the “T”.

Aside from almost taking comment of the year status, this is the sort of timetable news we’ve been waiting to hear. It hurts, but you’ve got to get the truth out there.

The next thing to find out, if only for the sake of Zippy, Robin M, Golfhunter and Etienne, is whether the 9-5 will still show in Geneva in March next year as originally intended. Those guys have already made their plans. I have a feeling that with the new model release date being a full year away from the 2009 Geneva show, Saab will probably alter theirs.

——

Something interesting that I read today…..

This appeared in Crikey, an Aussie corporate and media watching magazine (which, incidentally, was started by a mate of mine from school, Stephen Mayne. My one local claim to being close to fame, aside from knowing Richo).

Crikey have some dot points at the bottom of an article on GM’s current debacle. On of them in particular caught my eye:

In its own history, GM reports: “By 1920, in the midst of a nationwide economic crisis, GM was on the verge of financial collapse. The crisis marked the turning point in General Motors’ history. New men were asked to assume leadership of the corporation. A new concept of management was forged and a new concept of product emerged.”

Is history about to repeat?

–

Right now, the poll stands at 57% for the old 9-3 tail lamps and 43% for the new mascara lamps, which shows that if nothing else, it’s a divisive move. Personally, I’m still in the mascara column, but I’d probably be even more selective about the body color than I’d normally be if I were getting one.

Click here to view the poll results and if you haven’t done so already, place your vote.

In comments to that article, Gripen noted a Next Autos article on Cars that looked better before their makeovers, an article in which Saab gets a mention.

It’s not the 9-3 that cops a whack, however, it’s the Saab 9-5.

I’m on the record as not being a huge fan of the Dame Edna look when it first surfaced. My writings here started as reserved, followed by dubious and descended into put it out of it’s misery. Funny enough, I’ve felt the same way, initially, about several vehicles I’ve now come to appreciate as great designs.

The Saab 99, for example, which I thought was mildly amusing until I saw a 900, at which time I began to appreciate the 99′s inner qualities. I now rate it as more beautiful than the 900 when presented well.

The Citroen DS was the funniest thing I’d ever seen when I first noticed it back in the 80′s and today it’s the head-turner to beat all head-turners.

In a similar vein, I’ve come to really appreciate the Dame Edna look on the Saab 9-5. Sure, the pictures Next Autos used weren’t particularly flattering….

But I’d challenge most fair-minded people to take a look at WillyD’s 9-5 in Hawaii and not get a charge of steam in your strides….

Similarly, Wulf’s new 9-5 wagon, peeking into the lens amidst the sparseness of the Bonneville salt flats is a beautiful sight:

It’s all about perspective, you see.

I guess if we want to get technical, the point of Next Autos’ article isn’t to say that the new model looks bad, but that the old one looked better. In the case of the Saab 9-5 the jury’s still out. I know I judged it harshly at first, though, and I have a feeling that time will treat the Dame Edna 9-5 much better then what many of us have for the last few years.

Simon Padian and the crew – allow me to take this opportunity to humbly apologise and tip my hat to an appreciating piece of work.

——

Thanks Gripen and Markac!!

–

General Motors is postponing nearly all of its spending on product development in 2009 and 2010 — a cost-cutting move that could delay the introduction of key vehicles such as the Chevrolet Cruze.

The automaker also is cutting spending on engineering, design and r&d, say sources familiar with GM’s plans. So far, nothing has been officially canceled, but nearly everything is delayed, the sources say.

“The 2009 stuff that’s too late to cancel is coming out, then everything else gets pushed out anywhere between three months and up to a year,” said one of the sources. “It’s not just capital budget; it’s also engineering, design … everything that would cause money to flow out in 2009.”

There’s nothing about Saab mentioned directly in the Automotive News story, but then we have this, which came through TS earlier today…..

Sorry to say this but on a meeting today i got the information that 9-5 is delayed. The number of try-out builds are also reduced but i dont know if or how that affect the geneva show.

Guys, this circus is going nowhere but down. I also got some other ‘what-the-heck-is-going-on-here” info…but i guess the 9-5 is enough of bad news for you..

…..and I can confirm from the information I’ve seen associated with that comment that the commenter knows what he’s talking about.

I imagine that Saab will still show the car in Geneva, though it seems that in this current climate, nothing is certain. What seems highly likely is that the 2010 Saab 9-5 won’t come out for sale late in 2009, as we assumed.

GM are going to proceed with vehicles that are near production already. Vehicles such as the Buick Lacrosse, Chevy Traverse and Cadillac CTS wagon will go ahead. Similarly, they’ll proceed with the Chevrolet Volt as that vehicle is seen as essential for the near-term future of the company.

Saab? Not so essential from the company point of view.

——

For those who haven’t been following it themselves, the GM/Chrysler merger story is still well and truly alive. In fact, multiple sources are now saying that the deal is all but done, with GM lobbying the US government for funds to complete the deal. The government cash would provide an equity stake in the merged company that I’m guessing the government would able to sell down the track.

This means that GM would have a whole lot of brand/people/dealer cutting to do. Where that would leave Saab, I don’t know.

Would GM use it as an opportunity?

I know they’ve committed to Saab etc etc, but that was before their entire world was turned on its head. I’ve got a feeling that the GM we’ll all be observing in 12 months from now will be quite different to what we’re seeing today.

I’m not trying to scaremonger here, but I am pretty sure that September-to-December 2008 is going to be seen as a defining time for GM, should they survive the next 12 months.

–

I’ve tried (in vain) to clear that one up a little so that we can tell a little more from it. It hasn’t worked that well, but I think it’s a little better.

Given that the dash seemed to fit so neatly into what we assume is a standard Insignia shell – it might be another toad for all we know – I thought it’d be interesting to try and do a direct comparison between the two.

So I took our photo above and tried as best I could to match it in size with this photo of the Insignia interior:

Next I dropped them both into Photoshop Elements and played with their respective opacities, trying to basically superimpose one upon the other. Again, I only had a marginal amount of success as the respective angles of the photos were different. And then there’s all that glare from the 9-5 shot.

Anyway, I think it still made for an interesting experiment. Here’s the graduated results:

What can we see here?

Well, thanks to all that glare, we can see nowhere near as much as we’d like to. But…..there’s still some definite Saab cues here as well as some points of similarity.

The 9-5 dash looks to be retaining that cockpit-like, driver-focused shape and direction. The angles of the photos are a little deceptive and make it look like the 9-5 dash is pushed in much more towards the driver. It won’t be so far to the driver’s side as these shots indicate, but it’ll still retain that distinctive Saab form.

The satnav screen is similarly positioned to a current 9-5 screen rather than up high as in the Insignia. The green lighting is another obvious point of difference.

One thing I’d be interested to know is whether this test mule is testing the dash only, or the full front interior of the car. The reason I’m wondering is that apart from what looks like a start button near the gearshift, that gearshift area looks almost identical between the two cars.

There’s not a whole lot we can tell based on the quality of the AMS photo, but it’s fun to try and really does whet the appetite for what’s going to possibly be Saab’s most important new model in a decade or so.

–