The loyalty bonuses being offered now on the Saab USA site are available to people with any GM vehicle made in 1999 or later!

The bonus seems to be $1,000 in loyalty cash but you can combine it with the discounts that are already available. The customer cash available amounts to $1,500 on 2009 models making for a total incentive of $2,500.

If you’re comfortable with a 2008 vehicle, that’s where the bonuses really start to stack up. The smallest cash incentive is $4,000 on the 2008 Saab 9-3 range (yep, convertible, too!) and goes right up to $8,500 on the 2008 Saab 9-7x.

Add the loyalty bonus and you’re getting between $5,000 and $9,500 off a 2008 Saab.

Thanks Mike!

We know him as the guy who assisted Michael Mauer with Saab concept vehicles earlier this decade and more prominently as the designer who led the team responsible for the Saab Aero-X.

He’s done some other recent Saab stuff, too, but as you’ll see below, the Aero-X really does take the cake. Nowadays he’s doing more melLo stuff for Opel (soon to be renamed Lo-pel) and I’m left here hoping that such a mundane brief won’t Lo-wer his skill set too much. If Saab split from GM then we want him back as a Local in Sweden again, not hanging out with those interLopers in Germany.

Here he is giving Auto Motor and Sport’s Par Brandt the “Lo-down” on the Saab 9-4x in Detroit last year.

Car Design News have interviewed Anthony Lo and the article appears in their latest members-only section. Luckily, one of the CDN members has seen fit to pass the interview along, so I’ve reproduced the Saaby bits here because hardly anyone else here is a member either and we’d never get to know this stuff:

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Anthony Lo, Advanced Design Director at GM Europe, has had a wealth of experience working for automotive manufacturers the world over since he graduated from the MA Automotive Design program at the RCA. Lo studied industrial design in his native Hong Kong, before being accepted into the postgraduate program and, gaining a position at Lotus upon graduation, began his automotive design career. In a recent interview, Lo opened up to Car Design News, telling us about the paths he took and the future he is designing for….

…..CDN: So you went from working with a British company, to two German companies, to working for a Swedish company that had been acquired by GM. How was that?

“Saab operated fully independently; at that time it had its own advanced design group that I was leading and Mike Mauer was the Design Director. We had a sub-brand design team, which was very different. It was a similar situation to Lotus - the group was quite small and there was no hierarchy. In Sweden everybody is equal so we were on a first name basis with the CEO, the Managing Director, and it was all very personal, which I enjoyed very much. And we would get quick feedback, there was the CEO [Peter Augustsson] and Michael and myself sitting in a room saying; ‘Let’s do that this way or that way’. From a work-flow point of view it’s easier, but from a financial point of view the company needed some help to become a more profitable business. The world has changed and in the end it made good sense to integrate all the functions. Structural costs are everything in the car industry, and you have to balance that with the business.”

CDN: So in 2004 when GM integrated Saab into GM Europe you became responsible for Opel as well?

“Yes, when we consolidated the two design offices, I was running GM Europe Advanced Design for Opel and Saab as well as trucks and commercial vehicles; everything we need to look at. It’s a mixture of creating a vision for each brand and looking at future architectures - what kinds of cars are going on these architectures and are we able to create enough bandwidth within that to make cars that look different? You can’t get more different than Saab and Opel from an exterior styling perspective, and we needed to ensure we were able to do that. Overnight my workload increased four times. It was a big challenge.”

CDN: You really defined the future direction of Opel with the GTC, which gave way to the Insignia. What will we see as a unique visual identifier in the future for Saab?

“We started working on that vision when I started at the end of 2000. The first step was to identify the type of products we should do for the brand and have a good design vision. For example, we identified in the first 9-X concept car that the wraparound windscreen is something that is fitting for the brand. It’s aircraft inspired but not retro, [even though] the 900 and other models already had that. It was very obvious that we should do that. At that time the curvature of all Saab windscreens - production 9-3 and 9-5 - was something that we didn’t see in mass-produced cars. That already gives it a slightly unique proportion, with the A-pillars quite far back. We’d like to see that further developed.

“The biggest interpretation was on the Aero-X concept car shown two years ago, which was very well received. It’s no doubt fitting to the brand. This was a pure vision show car, not one we intended to do in the future and people understood that. But it’s a car that combines the Scandanavian heritage and the aircraft heritage. We continue to build on that. Some of the features of the Aero-X are living in the proportions of the car, so you cannot just copy and paste these directly onto another car. So the next step was: ‘How can we take the essence of this car and turn it into a variation of products’, which I think we’ve been doing for some time. On the 9-X BioHybrid, which shows how it can be done in a compact format, you can see the connection but it’s not a replica of the Aero X. That’s the key to creating a strong vision – now we need to apply that vision to reality. What you see on the Aero X and the 9-X BioHybrid is a sign of things to come for the Saab brand. The 9-4X also shows the similar cues of the Aero X but in a different format altogether, using the crossover body style.”

CDN: When you’re creating the future of these brands, what creative stimuli do you value?

“These days we have an overload of information on the Internet. We are constantly observing trends around us, not only in the car industry but outside the industry as well, in architecture and product design for example. Product design has a very strong link to the car industry. We started working on environmentally-conscious concepts such as the Flextreme three years ago. That project existed as an internal study for some time. And these real-life issues are what affect us. We need to come up with the right solutions. We need inspiration. We need to understand the needs of the consumer. These are things we get through research, but also from observing and participating in the green revolution going on right now. It’s given us a lot of opportunities to create things we would not have thought about a few years ago.

CDN: Over the span of your career you’ve had the opportunity to design a multitude of different vehicles. If you had to pick one, what would you say has been your greatest achievement?

“For me it’s fairly easy. If I look simply at the concept cars, the Aero X was particularly successful. It’s a concept that’s so simple and, like every good design, as a designer you say ‘I wish I would have designed that’. A lot of designers came to me and said ‘this is like a dream car for the designers’, yet nobody had designed it. I led the team that designed that car, so this was particularly satisfying, to actually achieve that. I spent my whole life always looking at other people’s work in the product world and saying ‘I wish I had done this or I wish I would have designed that coffee maker, the functionality is so great’. And it’s so simple. The few lines that define that car you can just draw from memory. This is the great thing about it. It’s not relying on multiple features and lines and so on; that’s what makes it most memorable for me.”

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Is this the best hot hatch of all time?

OK, maybe the Saab 99 Turbo is a little big to be considered a true hot hatch as the term’s come to be understood today. But it sure as heck deserves better than the showing that it’s got right now!!

CAR Magazine are conducting a poll to find the best hot hatch of all time. It’s a pretty long list being led by some strong contenders, but the Saab is in there and needs your support.

As I’m posting this, the 99T has a paltry 26 votes, way behind the 515 votes acquired by both the VW Golf and Lancia Delta Integrale - and that’s not good enough. The 99T deserves more respect.

So, if you’ve got a heart and a minute to cast your vote, join with me and George from Turbonines in giving the Saab 99 Turbo a more suitable vote tally.

Click here to cast your vote.

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When I bought the Monte Carlo, I knew that it would need new tyres prior to the car being inspected for registration here in Tasmania. I was umming an erring about what to do. On one hand, I needed to get tyres, but on the other hand, I was hesitant to spend on new tyres when I didn’t like the wheels on the car.

I knew that I wanted to replace the wheels eventually so I could have bought tyres to fit the current rims and restrict myself to a choice of 16 inch wheels offered by Saab (or aftermarket).

OR…..I could do as I advised back in May 07:

Here’s a wheel tip for you, and another reason why it’d be a good idea to make good friends with your local Saab dealer.

If someone buys a Saab and opts for a wheel upgrade, the car still ships with the original wheels, which the dealer then swaps for the upgraded wheels. The dealer can then sell the original wheels, making a little more on the car.

If you’ve got an older Saab with a set of 15″ or 16″ wheels, it may well look better with some more modern wheels. Even my Viggen looked OK with a set of 16s from a new 9-3 while I was getting my wheels painted.

Get to know your dealer well and maybe a set of these wheels might come your way. You may not get them for nothing, but you could get a decent discount on buying them new. They’ll still be Saab originals, and you get an updated look.

Grins all round.

I’m grinning

This is the car as it looked when I bought it last week. As you can see it’s got the 16-inch 5-spoke wheel that used to be standard on the Saab 9-5. They look better in person than they do in this picture, but the wheels were scuffed and I don’t think they suited the sporting intentions of the car.

Those wheels are now gone and in their place……

According to EduSaab’s list, these are ALU45’s.

They’re 17-inch wheels, which I believe were fitted as standard to the 9-3 Vector here in Australia at some point.

As you can see, they look a whole lot better than the 9-5 wheels that were on there. They fill out the arches a lot more and just suit the car and my image of it a whole lot better.

The wheels are brand new, having been removed from a delivered vehicle as per my story at the start of this post. They’d been sitting in a storage area at the dealership, probably for around two years.

What about the tyres? I hear you say.

They came as part of the deal . They’re the same Continental SportContact2 tyres that would have been delivered on the 9-3.

If I were to get new tyres to fit on my old 16-inch rims, I could have quite reasonably expected to pay around A$800 or so. I got these brand new 17-inch rims plus the four Contis for the princely sum of $1,000.

Yep.

1 grand. 1 gorilla.

The wheels are no longer gathering dust in a holding pen. The dealer’s got some extra cashflow this month and I solved my wheel and tyre problems in one fell swoop.

Like I said back in 2007 - smiles all round!

Now I’ve just got to look for bigger brakes……

Anyone want a set of slightly used 16-inch Saab 9-5 wheels?

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Get this:

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Toyota - yes, that Toyota - is going to shut plants for 11 days in February and another 11 days in March to keep inventories at an acceptable level due to low sales. These breaks come on top of a three day shutdown this month

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GM ended up struggling in China, which is a real worry.

Over all, GM sales in China were up, but not at the same pace as industry growth in 2008. Their commercial vehicle sales rose by 17%.

But it’s got to be troubling them that sales of GM’s flagship SAIC joint venture were actually down by 8.3% for the year. Chevrolet did OK for SAIC, but the much-vaunted Buick brand was somewhat abandoned (down 10%) by the Chinese.

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The good news in that story from our perspective is that Saab sales in China were actually 35% more in 2008 than in 2007, though I imgaine that’s on a pretty low base. Still, we’ll take all the good news we can get at the moment.

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The UAW and the Detroit carmakers are now around the table trying to hammer out further concessions to be made by union workers but the progress may be slowed down by the confusing language in the bridge oan documents, and importantly, by the fact that the “Car Czar” who is supposed to oversee progress by the Detroit automakers hasn’t been appointed yet. I’d have thought that all the seriousness shown by Congress and the White House would imply that that appointment would be made post haste.

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And further on the subject of the bridge loans, GM have received approval for another $5.4billion in mid-January.

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GM sources are saying that provided sales don’t drop much further than 2008 levels, they should be OK and not need to apply for any more money that what they’ve already been allocated:

He said how well the money holds out will depend on sales volume this year. He said he is hopeful that sales will not dip more than 1 million units below 2008’s depressed 13.1 million.

The $13.4 billion earmarked for GM may be sufficient, said a source close to the company.

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And on sales, analysts are predicting around 12.4 million vehicle sales in the US in 2009. There were 13.2 million in 2008. Apparently the first half of the year is going to be comatose, with things picking up in the second half.

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Pete De Lorenzo forecasts a lot more pain to come, primarily because there’s no way that the Detroit guys can realistically and effectively fulfill the requirements imposed by the White House by the deadline provided.

The 90 days given to GM and Chrysler to allegedly get their acts together reinforced how little Washington knows about the car business and the industry in general. The thread that Chrysler LLC is hanging by is on its last tendril, and the loans that the company received may only allow it to get out from under the debts owed to key suppliers. I said at the end of last year that I didn’t see a future for Chrysler beyond the first quarter, and nothing I’ve seen has given me a reason to change my mind. As for GM, they can rearrange their brands, deemphasize their brands, ice some brands or shelve some brands altogether, but that will have little or no effect on the company over the next three months, no matter how much foot stomping and hand-wringing goes on in Washington. Short of a complete cessation of state dealer franchise laws and a wholesale shift of corporate emphasis to just two divisions - Cadillac and Chevrolet - GM’s future will remain murky, at best, and well beyond the 90-day “window” too.

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Pontiac have killed off the G8 Sport Truck, which is going to be quite a blow to the Australian car industry as it was going to be manufactured here. They say it’s part of the review of the Pontiac brand, which they’re going to turn into a niche performance brand (therefore, utes don’t count).

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If you need something to lighten your mood after all that, I’d recommend heading over to look at Jalopnik’s funniest street signs.

Or, you could just admire the innovative Saab trailer, below, which was spotted on Facebook today.

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I’m was chuffed to hear just last night that my good mate Richo’s Viggen has just passed into some very good hands. When I wrote a few weeks ago about it being for sale but out of my reach, a reader here contacted me seeking Richo’s details as his daughter was living in Sydney and loved the idea of getting hold of the car.

Last night, she did just that and I’m pleased as punch, both for her and for Richo.

She’s picked up what is most likely the best Viggen in Australia, sparkling clean and with only 3,000 kms on it’s brand new B235R engine. I drove it back in August and it certainly put some steam in my strides!

It’s sad to see it leave the garage of someone I know, but she’s got Saabs in the family and was very keen, so I’m sure the car’s passed into good hands.

Note: Richo is now completely Saabless, driving a BMW and consequently, is a tosser.

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Whilst considering my purchase options, I also looked into a black 5-door Viggen in Sydney.

The owner was away on holidays but the car was being shown and sold by a guy named John K. At the time he mentioned that the price wasn’t too negotiable as he was considering buying the car himself.

Unlike a number of people selling cars, he wasn’t bluffing. He purchased the car last week and left a note in comments to say how pleased he was with it.

My interest in that car was quite genuine as it was priced at a level that I could have stretched to much easier than Richo’s car. Consequently, I’d like to offer my heartiest congratulations to John on picking up a very tidy looking Viggen and very tidy price.

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So it looks like a few people are now starting out with new Viggen experiences - the more the merrier, I say!

My advice is to do what our Norwegian mate Olav does - take the long road home.

The agreement that Hirsch has with Saab is that any market that wants to promote Hirsch has to ensure that Hirsch products in the Saab range has to get the products tested to make sure that they meet safety standards, etc. Consequently, Hirsch products aren’t available in every market where Saabs are sold. They’re only available in markets where the Saab operation in that country has sought the appropriate certifications to sell them.

One of the markets where they’re not sold at the moment is the US market. I’ve argued long and hard for Hirsch to be promoted there as I think it’s a market that could really embrace the boosted image that Hirsch provides.

It seems there’s a strong likelihood that that might happen now.

One of our number here at TS recently made enquiries with Hirsch about product availability and was advised by return email as follows:

Please check our website regularly the following months. We might announce details about the availability of our products in the U.S.

That would indicate to me that the products are approved and ready to go. The “might” in that sentence could have something to do with the uncertainty around Saab’s ownership. It’s Saab USA that Hirsch have to deal with now to get the approvals necessary to sell there, but if Saab is sold and SaabUSA are folded then those arrangements might all be moot.

I received a similar note relating to Hirsch availability in Australia around the middle of last year, so it looks like the Hirsch guys have been actively trying to get more access. Congratulations to them on the decision and I hope it’s rewarded soon. Hirsch make some great stuff and it’d be a positive for all prospective Saab owners if their gear was more widely available.

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* For the people new to this site: Hirsch are Saab’s official tuning company and are based in St Gallen, Switzerland. Their tuning products and Saab accessories are all covered by Saab’s factory warranty.

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If you enjoyed them, then please consider making a donation. There’s absolutely no obligation and the suggestion donation amount is $5, which equates to 3.3 cents per entry.

You don’t need a Paypal account to donate, just a valid credit card will do. No details are passed on to me, only the $5.

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The most popular entries during December were as follows:

Q & A with Taras Czoryj - 20 comments

Trying to read the bailout tea leaves - 37 comments

Saab are officially under review - 57 comments

GM to sell Saab - my 0.02c - 37 comments

Jonsson and Geers on Saab’s review - 54 comments

Options - who will buy Saab? - 43 comments

Optioins II: More chat with Eric Geers from Saab Sweden - 42 comments

Detroit Free Press: Saab and Volvo aren’t going anywhere - 22 comments

Bones - 47 comments

A wheels question - 24 comments

Saab and Volvo merger - engineers want it - 27 comments

What color is your Saab? - 185 comments (results still processing)

Saab vs BMW - battle of the hatches? - 35 comments

I hope GM sell Saab - 35 comments

Saab want to bring the next-gen 9-5 home to Trollhattan - 36 comments

The Saab technology we didn’t get to see - 46 comments

Saab re-born: one guy’s view - 22 comments

GM to sell Saab Pikes Peak racer - 21 comments

US auto companies get bailout funds from Whitehouse - 31 comments

I Feel Dirty - 39 comments

Has the market spoken on the 2008 Saab 9-3 facelift? - 33 comments

In case you weren’t clear on what a ’strategic review’ means - 28 comments

Saab 9-5 Griffin Editioin announced - 26 comments

Merry Christmas from Trollhattan Saab - 29 comments

I bought a car! And you’re probably going to hate me…. - 46 comments

2009 - it’s 900 backwards (with a 2 on the end) - 32 comments

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That’s a difficult pill to swallow for a Saab enthusiast and an even harder pill to swallow for someone who spends several hours a day writing about these cars.

In truth, I think my enjoyment and enthusiasm for writing here suffered a little bit because of it. You’ve all seen the symptoms. The wandering eye. Buying an Alfa. Coveting Porsches. I think much of this was due to the fact that I didn’t have a Saab that I was truly passioinate about.

That’s changed.

I cannot explain enough about how good it feels to get back into a relatively modern Saab again. The 9-3 Monte Carlo I purchased last week has already paid me back in spades with enjoyment on several fronts.

I’ll do a fuller post on the car itself after a good cleanup and photo session next weekend, but indulge me a little on how this purchase has made me feel.

Redeemed

The Monte isn’t a Viggen, but it’s darn good nonetheless. A few years ago I had a Viggen that I absolutely loved and I killed it dead. A fleeting moment where the car got away from me and it was all over.

This car can’t undo that, but it gives me the chance to feel the same pride in a modern Saab that I felt in that Viggen. I never realised how much I missed that and I really look forward to all the stories that this car is going to provide over the coming months and years. I plan to learn a lot about Saabs and Saab performance from this car and I look forward to sharing my learning experience here on the site. I’ve really missed that, too.

Comfortable

I get the upright driving position of the 900 and the great vision that the car gives you. I love the switchgear and the way everything works.

For me, though, the driving position of the 9-3 feels a lot more comfortable. Given that it’s 14 years younger and based on a more modern design and made with more modern manufacturing methods, the car just feels a lot more solid, as well. I remember the appreciation I had for all this in my Viggen and buying the Monte Carlo has brought it all rushing back.

It’s quiet. It’s comfortable. It works. You can’t place too high a premium on these things. This is only the second time in 20 years of vehicle ownership that I’ve spent more than $5,000 on a car. I feel like an adult again!

Vulnerable

I may like the more modern nature of the 9-3, but I still like things to be fairly rudimentary on a certain level. As you know, the OG9-3 is made on a chassis that wasn’t really up to the job of coping with all the power that the engine was capable of delivering. That means you’ve still got to be engaged in the act of driving, lest things get away from you a little.

That fact was really noticeable with the Viggen, though less so with the Monte. The car is just brilliant at giving you feedback and making you feel like you’re the central player in the activity.

Happy

There’s something undeniably pleasing about owning this vibrant yellow car. It looks like a circus clown amongst all the shades of silver and grey out there - and that’s nothing against the silver and grey cars, which mostly look great.

It’s difficult to see this car and stop yourself from smiling, though, just from the external appearance. I find myself noticing yellow cars everywhere I go now, which never happened before.

The funny thing about this is that I’m the exact opposite of this car. I’m a blender. I don’t like to stand out in any way at all and yet here I am with two vehicles in my driveway, one of which is blood red and the other bright yellow.

And I love ‘em.

Aspirational

Link this to Vulnerable, above.

I’ve come to realise that one of the things that I loved about the Viggen was the fact that it was not only a great car in its own right, it was something that I could add to and make even better. It’s the same with this car.

I was scared to death of doing anything with the 900. It was too vulnerable in that if anything major broke on it, that probably meant the death of the car. Parts like C900 gearboxes are pretty hard to come by here in Australia.

I don’t intend to do anything that might break the Monte Carlo but I’ve got plenty of options for building up the car and getting it to run how I’d like. That’s something that really excites me. In fact, I might have some build-up news tomorrow (fingers crossed).

I think that in general, guys like to build things and this car is the perfect platform for someone of my limited skills and understanding to start with.

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In short, this car, this modern-ish Saab, has got me really excited about the future once again.

It’s a reminder to me of what a modern Saab is like. A reminder that I can drive every day. You can’t underestimate how important that is when you’re trying to do what I try to do here.

Two months ago - heck, three weeks ago - I was resigned to the fact that Saab might die in 2009 and I’d have to find something else to occupy my time. Today, I find it hard to resign myself to the fact that the engineers and designers that built the car in my driveway might be permanently employed making something other than a Saab.

That’s the sort of transformation that a new ride can bring for a car guy.

Rock on, 2009.

Here’s the email:

I am into car lighting and have recently installed an aftermarket HID kit in my MY07 9-3 SS 2.0T A.E. Apparently the Factory Saab Xenon HID package cannot be installed after-the-fact as I checked with 2 dealers techs.

The install went fairly well and the lights are definetly what I have been craving all this time (escpecially at the much higher rated 55W HID), BUT they only work when the engine is not running. If I turn on the engine, they lights go out after 3 seconds. I get the expected “Headlight/Foglight Failure” in the SID, but was wondering if there is anyway to bypass, reset the diagnostics, or fool the computer to keep them on so I can actually drive.

I’ll be checking with the supplier techs to see if the Warning Code eliminator really solves the problem or if its the quirkyness of the Saab electrical system.

Any help would be helpful as this kit would be a great X-mas present (to myself).

The lights that Ryan is trying to install are here. He got the 8000K DDM 55 Watt Slim Ballast HID KIT for the Lowbeams (H7) and Fog Lights (H3).

We’ve got a pretty good hit rate with tech questions here but this one could be tricky. If you can share some knowledge then I’m sure it’d be appreciated by Ryan and anyone else looking to do the same conversion.