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by Swade

Saturday Snippets – ‘Saab 92′ is everywhere

May 29, 2010 in Saabology

With over 800 votes lodged in last night’s poll about how future Saabs should be named, the clear winner is retaining Saab’s current nomenclature.

The judges decision is final (because you are the judges) and no further discussions will be entered into. Thanks to all who voted.

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On the day of the official launch of the Saab 9-5, it seems it’s a prospective Saab 92 that’s stealing the show.

Bloomberg BusinessWeek wrote the main story in the latest crop, but it’s being picked up absolutely everywhere now, in both English and Swedish.

That Ny Teknik report, incidentally, states that the prospective smaller Saab would quite possibly not be built in Trollhattan, but on an already developed architecture elsewhere. It makes sense from one perspective, but I’d love to see it coming out of Trollhattan.

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I like this idea, from Subaru.

Not that I’d like to see it on a Saab, but I just think it’s clever and suits their demographic, in a grown up boy scouts type of way.

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From comments, another 9-5 image from today’s launch event:

There’s a larger version here. I’m not sure who took the image, but well done.

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Also from comments, there’s some video from SVT (in Swedish). The video is mainly interviews with the various government and union people who attended today. I had the pleasure of meeting a few of them back in Stockholm in February, when the deal was done, so it’s great that they’ve had this opportunity to see the fruits of all the work that was done back then.

Imagine if it hadn’t worked out. That factory would be a ghost town.

It’s nice to see Peter Backstrom in the background with a few vehicles from the Saab Museum, too. I imagine he was keeping a very close eye on the Aero-X :-)

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by Swade

Cadillac SRX Turbos recalled: blessing in disguise?

May 29, 2010 in News

Stories are hitting the interwebs today about the recall that’s been issued for the Cadillac SRX – sister model to the Saab 9-4x – fitted with the 2.8T engine.

Earlier this year, one of our automotive colleagues, Saab owner and future film star Gunnar Heinrich, blew up a Cadillac SRX during a test drive. He accidentally filled the car up with regular fuel when it’s designed to run on premium. That was seen as a one-off, but now multiple owners of the SRX have done the same and a recall has been issued so that all owners can have their software recalibrated.

Apparently, the engineers dialled up the boost on the SRX’s engine software, probably so that it was capable of hauling around the bloated SRX’s huge weight. In order to do so, they slapped a “Premium Fuel Only” sticker on it that a number of customers have ignored, leading to them grenading the engine when running it on regular fuel.

This is the same engine that’s been running in the Saab 9-3 for several years without similar incident, but at 280hp rather than 300hp like in the SRX. It’s also the same engine that’s slated as being the Aero engine for the Saab 9-4x, which is why this could be a blessing in disguise.

We’ve all gone through the hand-wringing associated with the delayed release of the 9-4x but this episode with the SRX means that delay might turn out to be a good thing. Hopefully Saab can go to school on this and take actions to avoid similar problems when the 9-4x is launched in April next year.

Weight reduction? Better software?

Whatever the answer is, Saab have a chance to learn from it now and avoid the problems associated with a recall later on.

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by Swade

Saab Festival program now online

May 29, 2010 in Saabology

Who’s coming to the Saab Festival this year?

It’s going to be a great one this year with a real feeling of celebration in the air. It’s been timed to coincide with some other fantastic activities in Trollhattan, too, so there will be no shortage of things to do and see.

The Saab Festival website has just published a program of events to give people some idea as to what will be going on on different days. I imagine there’s still a few more details to come (such as what seminars will be on, and where) but this is a great start.

Thanks to Justyn for the tip. And please, if you can make it there, do it. Personally speaking, it’s the best motoring experience I’ve ever had and I wouldn’t miss it for the world.

Check out all the details at the Saab Festival website.

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The Festival kicks off
The Saab Festival kicks off with a variety of activities already on Thursday. A good starting point för the Festival is the Saab Car Museum, the hub around which most of the Festival revolves. And of course the Saab Car Museum will be open all week. And most possibly there will be one or two surprises for the visitors in the exhibition.

The Midnight Sun Rally (Thu-Fri)
During Thursday and Friday the Midnight Sun Rally passes thru Trollhättan. The cars will come to Trollhättan on Thursday afternoon for an overnight stop. Park Fermé will be at the Saab Car Museum. If you want to see and hear more than 20 Saabs together will 150 other historic cars in full action this is something you just don’t want to miss. (The Midnight Sun Rally was originally arranged between 1950 and 1964. The rally was re-established in 2006 as a historical rally, and participating cars must not be newer than 1981. Find out more about the rally thru their website via the link below.

Read the rest of this entry →

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by Swade

Saab 9-5 launch event begins today, May 28

May 28, 2010 in Saabology

There aren’t any reports through from the Saab 9-5 launch event held today for government and union officials, but someone did sneak this nice little image through via carrier pigeon.

Nice. Click.

I hope it was a great day. I’ve sent a request in for press releases (if there are any) but it’s bedtime here so they may have to wait until morning.

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by Swade

Video: SUHRT gets a Maptun upgrade

May 28, 2010 in sponsors

This one came as a pleasant surprise in my inbox today.

Jorgen from the Saabs United Historic Rally Team called in to Maptun and got a little work done to his summer car. Just like my mate John here in Hobart, he’s had his car tuned with the new Maptuner portable tuning device.

Cue the videos:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIRoqeMpDrY

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httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieZsPcC4fYI

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The special discount offer they were talking about is fully outlined here.

Short and sweet: Maptun are offering a 15% discount on all software upgrades and free shipping on your entire purchase (not just the software).

To claim the discount:

Head over to the Maptun website and check out the right tuning guide for your car. When you place an order, include the promotion code SU2010 in the order form. Your discount will be applied to the tuning software component of your order and your order will be placed.

The offer closes at the end of this month, so get in quick.

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Note: I’m told there have been some difficulties processing some credit card orders. This was due to a setting on Maptun’s electronic processing system (it was set up as a fraud protection). That setting has been adjusted and those credit card transactions should now go through OK.

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by Swade

Friday Night Snippets: Eurovision edition!

May 28, 2010 in Saabology

I love the last weekend in May. It’s Eurovision time!

Unfortunately, Sweden were dumped at the semi-final stage, so I’ll have to find someone else to cheer for this year. My all-time faves are at the bottom of this post.

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There’s a good article for all you wannabe motoring writers over at Edmunds Inside Line today. It’s simply titled “How To Become an Automotive Journalist” and whilst there’s a number of talents one can have that’ll help you get there, the basic skill that you must have, not surprisingly, is the ability to write.

Staff members of magazines and Web sites need to aggressively pursue stories where no one else is looking. They need to meet deadlines, even if it means working through the night. They need to want to write stories about cars not just because they’re getting paid to do it, but because they love to do it and strive to do it well.

I’m still practicing, but it’s an encouraging read.

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Speaking of great writing, and a great story…..

Here’s the best automotive reading you’ll probably do all weekend. Gunnar Heinrich from Automobiles Deluxe interviews David Crafoord, the designer of the original Koenigsegg CC.

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Will we see any signs saying Save Mercury at a series of Mercury Support Convoys?

I don’t think so.

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My favourite Eurovision performances over the last 10 years:

We are the winners, from 2008

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z75mLlg4uO0

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Hard Rock Hallelujah, from around 2006, I think.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5ZfQMOHB5k

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And my all-time favourite, Wadde Hadde Dudde Da. I can’t believe this was 10 years ago!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuXLcXn4l2k

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by Swade

Poll: naming future Saabs

May 28, 2010 in Saabology

UPDATE: OK, let’s try again.

Don’t say I never listen. New poll with the requested options below.

——

It was suggested in comments to the Car and Driver post that we should have a poll on who prefers the idea of an old tear-drop style vehicle to the idea of building a car like the 9-X BioHybrid.

I’m not going to do that, primarily because we don’t have a concrete car design to pit against the 9-X. It’s judging an existing concept against thin air.

What I can do a poll about, however, is the possible naming convention for such a car – or any Saab cars that come in the near-medium term. There has been some talk about using something like a Saab 92 name for a small Saab, talk of resurrecting the classic Saab 900 name and of course, there’s always the continuation of the current convention and using 9-2, 9-3, 9-4x, 9-5 etc etc.

So, with the new functionality that this blog platform change affords me, here is the poll. Fire away.

What is your preferred naming convention for Saab's future?

View Results

Loading ... Loading ...

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by Swade

Attention Car and Driver Readers: this is not the Saab 9-5 wagon

May 28, 2010 in Saabology

Car and Driver have published a Saab article this month. I heard about the print version earlier this week and the online version appeared to have just been made available today.

To be honest, it’s not overly interesting and I wouldn’t have spent much time on it. There’s the usual “loss making brand” type laziness (same as the laziness I’m now exhibiting towards C&D, actually) but I guess we can take it as a positive that they’re covering Saab at all without referring to a notion that they’re dead. However……..

I did need to cover this article, however, because there’s an image published with it and I know I’ll get a reasonable number of emails about if I don’t write something here first.

So let me say this striaght out: This is NOT an official image of a Saab 9-5 wagon. It’s little more than a stab in the dark from Car and Driver. The real Saab 9-5 wagon doesn’t look that slab-like or detached at the back, and the roof-line and door-lines aren’t correct in this rendering, either.

So please, temper your reactions, coz this ain’t the real thing. They don’t claim that it is, but then they don’t state it’s an artist’s rendering, either.

You can read the Car and Driver article here.

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by Swade

Bloomberg report on Saab 92, Stockholm stock listing

May 28, 2010 in News

Ola Kinnander has just filed a report with Bloomberg Business Week covering a few topics discussed with Victor Muller today, on his way to the first official launch event for the new Saab 9-5.

First, Muller confirmed that he’s in talks with people/companies about development of the a new, small Saab. This is the one that’s been dubbed as a Saab 92, taking after the original production Saab from the 1950s.

This vehicle is outside of the Saab business plan, so Muller would need to attract both investors and development partners for the vehicle.

The second piece of notable news there is the likelihood of a listing on the Swedish Stock Exhange. Spyker Cars NV is currently listed in Amsterdam, but given that Saab is now 99% of Spyker’s business, Muller says it makes sense to bring the listing closer to where Saab is. London had also been considered, most likely for the sheer size of its capital market, but it seems they’re settling on Stockholm.

And finally, as covered here at SU a few days ago, Victor Muller also reiterated that there has been no agreement reached with Beijing Automotive for distribution of Saab cars in China.

More great stuff from Ola. Please do check it out.

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by Swade

Saab in McDonalds and Burger King advertising

May 28, 2010 in Saabology

It’s funny how things can flow in waves into your inbox.

I get occasional emails about Saabs showing in films and/or advertising but it wouldn’t be accurate to say those come in frequently.

Today, I got two emails about Saabs being used in two different ads for two different fast food outlets. What are the odds?

First is this very attractive looking classic Saab 900 shown in a McDonalds advertisement in Switzerland. You can see the McDonalds ad here.

It’s not a particularly outstanding ad, but the car is definitely the star.

The second is just a screen grab. I haven’t been able to find a video clip yet, but it’s an ad from Burger King featuring pigs flying. You can see one of the airborne porkers taking out a pedestrian here, in front of what looks like a rather customised Saab 9-3.

Given the different front of that 9-3, it might be possible that someone knows the car. Not highly likely, but possible.

Anyway, thanks to Alexandre and Michael Z for the tips, and here’s to seeing some real Saab ads soon, linked to more healthy (and less Swade-like) lifestyles.

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by Swade

Vote for Saab in the Internet Auto Awards 2010

May 28, 2010 in Saabology

It’d be a nice little achievement if Saab could place well in the Auto Scout 2010 Internet Auto Awards.

Note: the front page is in German but there’s a language selector to the right.

Votes are cast in various categories, three of which feature Saabs. You can also vote for an over-all favourite from all categories (Saab 9-5 for me).

Here are the selections that I made (click):

There’s a little bit of information exchange involved, but I’ll likely unsubscribe from future emails received. A small price to pay to put Saab just a little more on the map in the eyes of a some award viewers.

Thanks to Michael J for the tip.

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by Swade

Saab vehicles from the GM Heritage Collection for sale

May 28, 2010 in Saabology

Chip Lamb is co-ordinating the sale of various Saab cars from the GM Heritage collection. It’s a rare opportunity to purchase some expertly restored Saabs (have a look at the restoration prices on some of these cars!)

The sale page is here.

Whilst I’ve shown many of these cars at different times over the last five years, I’ve not kept particularly good notes on exactly what’s in the collection, but Saabhistory has, so that’s probably the best place to go if you want more details and photos all in one place.

It seems Saab Cars North America are keeping some for themselves. The cars listed for sale, with some notes by Chip, are as follows:

  • 66 Monte Carlo 850, formerly mine (tentatively sold to a client, but not locked in yet)
  • 70 99, fully restored at a cost of $80k+ (possibly sold, ditto)
  • 72 95V4, formerly Frank Allocca’s, excellent original, seen at Carlisle, 2006 – his sale price is the purchase $.
  • 80 900T 5-door, fully restored at nearly $100k – perhaps their finest work
  • 83 900 Airport Runway Friction Tester, outrageous $80k+ restoration
  • 85 900 SPG, fully restored for the ’07 Boston Auto Show, $80k+ restoration
  • 99 9-3 Viggen, 10k or so original miles, as-new
  • 03 9-7X, as-new, very early production, negligible mileage
  • 05 9-2X Aero, as-new, very early production, negligible mileage
  • 06 9-3 Aero Convertible, first one built, negligible mileage

I hope these cars go to buyers who will preserve them well.

If, by chance, you happen to pick one of them up, please do let us know.

Thanks TedY for the tip.

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UPDATE: Here’s just a couple of TS links from the old days that I’ve been able to look up since posting….

The 1985 Saab 900 SPG, which was restored a few years ago in time for use at the Boston Auto Show as part of the Black Turbo theme for the Turbo X.

Saab 900 SPG

Saab 900 SPG

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The 1970 Saab 99 as phtographed for Saab’s 60th Anniversary.

1970Saab99-1.jpg

1970Saab99-5.jpg

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And many of the cars at this link aren’t in Chip’s “for sale” list above, which will give you an idea as to what they’re keeping.

Here’s a few more Heritage Collection photos.

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by Swade

Saab GB chief Jonathan Nash staying with Saab

May 27, 2010 in News

Good news in from Just Auto today, stating that experienced hand and man with a penchant for green, Jonathan Nash, will be staying on with Saab GB rather than taking the cushy option and sticking with GM.

He has just about finished his search for a new HQ (probably Milton Keynes) and is deep into hiring mode.

Funny, but he hasn’t called me yet…. (but I’ll be over in July if you’d like an interview)

Saab GB are being purchased by Spyker Cars as part of the Saab deal and all the employees there were apparently given the choice of staying or going. Nash said the vast majority are coming over, though some were only ever seconded to Saab anyway and didn’t have an option.

There are a number of Saab people in other jurisdictions in a similar boat to Mr Nash and I think it’s a great vote of confidence that they’re sticking with the company.

Thanks to gijzje for the link!

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by Swade

Automotive News interview US Saab boss Mike Colleran

May 27, 2010 in News

Automotive News have conducted a pretty good interview with Mike Colleran, head of Saab Cars North America.

Some of his answers raise good questions.

What else is Saab doing to rebuild the business?
……you have to do some other things. You’ve got to instill confidence in the consumers that they can buy these cars and not be concerned about buying the cars.

That raises the question as to what the warranty period is going to be for the new Saab 9-5, and the rest of the range, too.

We’ve previously heard Victor Muller say that their warranty costs so far are less than anticipated. I’m not suggesting they invite tragedy upon their own heads, but if those costs are down for good reason, then an attractive warranty on new Saabs will go a long way. If you’ve been watching the broader automotive market then you’ve seen what a good warranty (along with good product) has done for Hyundai in recent years.

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In terms of image, what else has to be fixed?
Awareness that we are here. I think there are a number of consumers who have the perception that Saab is gone.

That makes me wonder what we can do, as an enthusiast community, to help. Maybe some sort of viral video contest? All in good taste, of course. Maybe a make-your-own-print-ad campaign?

I’ve got my hands full writing all this stuff, but my ears are open to ideas I can co-ordinate.

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Are all Saab dealers using GMAC?
No. GMAC is our preferred partner. I would say roughly three quarters of the dealers use GMAC for wholesale. And then on the retail side, dealers are free to choose whomever they want.

For that retail transaction, go find the absolute best lease deal you can.

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It’s very good reading. There’s some good stuff there about sales targets and currency movements. In short, things are looking positive.

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Thanks to Vince for the link.

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by Swade

The Saab 9-5 launch, detailed by TTELA

May 27, 2010 in News

The new Saab 9-5 will launch on Friday 28th May and TTELA has produced an article this morning outlining the launch activities.

I love this quote from Eric Geers:

We are launching a new car, but it is also an opportunity to launch ‘new Saab’

Whilst the media program will see around 250-260 journalists drive the car in the next few weeks, a total of 2,000 or more people will get to see/drive the car in total. This includes dealers from around the world and various VIP customers.

The Googletrans:

On Monday, Saab will receive the first group of journalists. During the two weeks since a total of 250 journalists, from many different countries, coming to Trollhättan to test drive the car.

They all receive a two-day program, where the first day test drive the car from Landvetter to Trollhättan through Sollebrunn.

Once in Trollhättan, Saab will have a more detailed presentation of the car and the new Saab with Spyker Cars as [owners].

- We have built a launch center in the plant, which has an view of the production area,” says Geers.

Day two continues the test runs, including at Volvo’s test track in Hällered outside Borås.

That starts on Monday. But the pre-program will start this Friday with various union and government representatives driving the new car. I guess you could call this a thankyou for their part in the company being sold earlier this year.

As mentioned, the journalist program runs from next Monday for two weeks, and then on June 14, the program switches to dealers and VIPs.

First deliveries are scheduled for just before Midsummer and the priority markets, as expected, will be the USA, Sweden and the UK. These are Saab’s big three markets.

Another great piece of work by Magnus Nordberg at TTELA.

Thanks to Marco for the link!

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