After writing about seeing a black Aero-X scale model yesterday, Martin T got to work with photoshop and whipped up a quick variation on the standard snow silver we’re used to seeing on the Aero-X.
Firstly, the black alternative. Click to enlarge.
Martin also tried a few other standard Saab colors but concluded that the car looked way better in either black or a light color such as it is in real life.
One of the alternatives he did like enough to pass on was a light yellow. Personaly, I’ll still take the black one, but it’s always interesting to see the car in alternative variations.
Thanks Martin!!
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UPDATE:
Two more Aero-X’s. These ones are from Engström and were posted via comments.
These photos are around two months old now, but as I flicked through my email and rediscovered them tonight, I was totally awestruck once again by how amazing a car the Saab Aero X really is. There’s truly nothing else like it.
The Aero-X was recently on display in Hungary, and Z and Ivan both hooked me up with some photos of the exhibition. Their enthusiasm upon seeing this car was a joy to behold. I saw it around six months after it was first shown in Geneva back in 2006, and I felt exactly the same way.
You can’t look upon the Aero X for the first time without it bringing a smile to your face and an increase to your heart rate. If you don’t experience a connection to this car when you see it in the flesh, chances are you’re a robot of some sort.
This is possibly the most emotive vehicle ever to wear a Saab badge. Period. And next year, we’ll see the first car we can buy that’s been designed from the ground up with this as the reference point.
Photo by Z
When you read interviews with Saab executives and they talk about GM’s real involvement with, and commitment to Saab starting in 2005, this is the car they’re talking about. The Saab Aero X made its world debut at the Geneva motor show in late February 2006. I took them 12 months from early 2005 to design and build the car from scratch.
It feels kind of nice to know that this car was conceived right around the time this blog started – in February 2005. Kind of like kindred spirits, if I may be so bold. If I only knew what was coming down the pipeline…..
Photo by Z
The Aero-X won the Best-in-Show award at the Geneva motor show in 2006 and it’s not hard to see why. It’s absolutely stunning in photos and even better in person. It’s got more presence than Brangelina in a mud hut and looks faster than Lewis Hamilton on speed. And all of that’s before you hit the controls and raise the roof, at which time this car confirms itself as truly being from another world.
Photo by Z
It’s a shame that they won’t build it and it’s taken far too long to build something brand new baased on its design language, but the 9-5 that we’ll see next year will probably be as close as we get to an Aero X that we can buy.
It’ll be an all-new and improved drive and a vehicle design that unlike the 9-3 – which was supposedly the first vehicle to take on the Aero X design language – the next Saab 9-5 won’t have any legacy design from a previous generation to hold it back.
GM’s ‘commitment’ to Saab started almost five years ago. That’s a heck of a long time to take developing a new model and now that it’s almost upon us, we have to hope and pray that the gaps will be smaller in the future. But I can’t help but look at these images and think to myself that the 9-5 we’ll see next year is going to be a ballpark-busting home run of a motor car.
With a parent like this, how could it be anything else?
This is an excellent video produced by General Motors Europe, and packaged and posted online by theautochannel.com (boy, and if you ever wondered about the Michigan accent, take a listen to the woman in the AutoChannel spots at the beginning and end of the clip. “Daaaaht Caaahm“).
I take the following points from this little window into the design process:
- These guys are pros. Mr. Lo, your folks are on the right track.
- Using a spoiler to significantly change aerodynamics on a small car is something of a lost art, but I’m glad to see the Saab is there, making a great leap forward. In the case of the Saab 9-1x, the spoiler makes an even larger difference than with many other cars simply because it helps to avoid the pitfalls of the blunt rear shape (blunt-end causes drag due to flow separation). I’m happy to see this type of attention to detail.
- Concept cars used to be mostly about fanciful ideas that weren’t truly ready for technical execution. In this round, Saab has proven that many or most of the technical details are worked out while the car is built as a concept, and this video shows us a few more of those examples. I like that, because it means that the Saab 9-1x can be built more directly from the concept.
Question: Do all designers wear black suits and white shirts to work everyday? It’s becoming a trend, methinks.
Here’s a shot I hadn’t seen in a long time and I’m sure many of you may not have seen it at all.
It’s the Aero-X in a rare moment with the hood up. If only the lens could see around corners. I’d love to know what’s under there once and for all
You know, I’m not sure I’d ever seen a cooler car before this, and I’m quite sure I haven’t seen a cooler car since. This could well be the coolest car of all time.
Pull this and a Bugatti Veyron up at a beach somewhere – which one is going to get more looks? OK, if the Aero-X didn’t have the canopy, maybe the Veyron would because of it’s known capabilities. But it’d be close…..
I hope someone at Saab with the power to make a decision is thinking, even if it’s just in the back of their mind, that this would make one hack of a halo car. It couldn’t be that hard to re-design with conventional doors, could it?
I chose not to go nuts on video footage in Detroit, opting for recorded interviews that I’ll be presenting here in the near future in text form.
Ryan, at Saabhistory, did go nuts with video and there’s a whole bunch of recorded interviews with key Saab personnel for you to peruse.
I’ve just been watching the interview with Eric Geers, where I noted that the Saab Aero-X is soon to feature in a movie after talks with producers etc., were held at least partly in Detroit.
The Saab Aero-X put a whole new spotlight on Saab back in 2006. If the film it’s going to appear in is a major new release, and a successful one, then it could well kick off a whole new round of momentum. Assuming the film comes along in 18 months or so then it’s also possible that this momentum would coincide with some new vehicles from Saab, too.
The only thing left is to speculate as to what sort of film it might be.
Transformers II – I’ve heard previously that it was sought, but declined, for the first Transformers film.
A Bond film – it’s about time James Bond got back into a Saab.
It’s a new year, I’ve been on vacation, and I’ve finally gotten through that slug of work that’s stacked up in my e-mail inbox over the holidays and into this week.
For that reason, I apologize that I’ve got little in the way of new Saab news or clever Saab verbiage. But I do have a few interesting photos from Flickr!
One of them is well worth the wait, believe me. But you’ll have to wait until after the break.
First up, we have another Saab recently purchased by our resident Frenchman, Golfhunter. It seems that Jeff can’t keep his checkbook in his pocket whenever vintage Saabs are around. I’ve completely lost count, but it was just over two months ago when I congratulated him on his last purchase. I’m sure that it will look better when he’s through with it, but it already looks pretty good — and those appear to be genuine TRX wheels! Now, if you could only find tires to fit…
Next, a fine example of a Saab 99 Turbo 2-door in original condition. Our brother-in-arms, Thorstensson, found an unbelievably well-preserved 99 and has obviously maintained it well. Take a look at the Incas. I love Incas. They are a unique part of Saab heritage.
On the road again tonight, and I caught the last half of an episode of Future Car. Apparently, according to the website, I saw the third of four parts of this series of documentary-style automotive entertainment programs — the one on ‘future fuel’. The Saab Aero X, being a high-output E85 hybrid (wink) was featured as “Europe’s most advanced supercar”. Both Anthony Lo and Brian Nesbitt were featured with appropriate soundbites.
Perhaps Saab should create a high-output bio-diesel plug-in hybrid for the 9-5 send off? That should create a few of the same waves, hmmm???
