SAABSUNITED

Saab Advanced Concept Center is a place that a lot of people have driven by without knowing that it was there, unless you have very sharp eyes. Located about 500 meter north of the Saab Museum, on the other side of the town from the Saab factory, in a row of 100 year old brick buildings you’ll find one of Saab’s most secret buildings.

This gate was always closed, a few days ago I drove by and noticed that it suddenly was open so I just had to go inside to have a look. I’ve read about this place before and also talked to people who used to work there, although they didn’t say what they were working on until the end of Saab on 19th of december 2011, they did talk about some of the work they did before. The building was renovated in 1998 and completed in 1999. This space was occupied from 1999 until 2003 when the work here was moved to Pixbo in Gothenburg. When Saab entered into reconstruction in 2009 the designers were moved back to Trollhättan as the Gothenburg facilities were closed down due to the cost reduction program. In 2008 some of the design work for Saab was also done at the GM Europe central design center in Germany.

The main word describing the work in there is concept and design language. In which direction did Saab want to go. A typical word for that is minimalistic which normally is the word used for describing Scandinavian design. IKEA uses it extensively as well as both Saab and Volvo. The doors used to be covered with white grain making it impossible to see inside even though it would let a fair bit of the light inside. Everything inside is white, the floors, roof, walls which according to some people who worked there gave a very good working environment when working with lines and curves. It also provided you with what they describe as a Scandinavian winter feeling. This was also featured somewhat in a book I read a long time ago called Nordic by Nature.

The frist thing you used to see was a reception and a display area which was totally covered for anyone trying to look inside. Behind yet another wall was the workshop area’s and office. Only a handful of people worked at this facility and secrecy was kept very high.

Being inside this building is interesting, the light is pretty amazing with roof windows and the whiteness everywhere. Some rare photos that I have seen (but didn’t manage to get a copy of) from this place made me recognize this place instantly, it was nice to be able to compare the mental image of those photos I had of it with actually being there.

A fact that is both sad and interesting is that the area today has been converted into an art gallery and is open to the public. It is another result of Saab going bankrupt. Many other Saab buildings are today the workplace of other people and other companies. I’ll try to cover it in more detail in later articles.

Here is an interesting little thing that I’ve been working on for a while. It’s a brief description of what is what at Saab. I’ll continue this series for a while showing you what was done where at Saab in Trollhättan. Saab actually had many facilities all over the city, I’ve got some great material that I’ll show you throughout the week. This picture will become more explained in detail as well once I get more data. But I think this is a good start…

Everytime I drive to work at Gothenburg International airport I pass by the sign below, its kind of ironic regarding the text written on it but the photo is just beautiful! I’m happy that they haven’t taken the advertisement down yet, it’s cheering me up every time I pass by it! =)

I fear that the next thing that will happen is that all the Saab websites will be closed down, now its the museum, is soon going to happen to the websites so I urge everyone to download as many photos as you can from these websites and save as much materials as possible before its gone.!

You can if you want, upload these photos to the SU photo library.

This is a rim that I have known about since it first showed up as an add-on rim for the 9-3 Sportsedan back in 2003 but in all honesty I have never seen it mounted on a single car. I would consider the rim very rare!

The opinions about the rim, whether its a nice one or not is very divided among people I’ve asked, some hate it and some think its cool but very few would buy it if they choose between this one and the others Saab has produced. I’ve got a complete set on hold for me at the dealership ANA in Trollhättan. What do you guys think about it?

Today I have spent the better part of the day to discuss and write a CV together with my father. He has worked at SAAB for 35,5 years and has not really had the need to write one. Last time I used a CV was about 3,5 years ago when I applied to the airline that I currently work for so naturally I helped out in any way I can.

About 4000 CV’s are currently being written at different locations in Trollhättan right now and I think that there are many well educated people here on SaabsUnited who could help out with this task.

Here is the basic concept I have used:
1. First impression – Name, title, contact details and of course a photo
2. Ambitions – What do you want to work with.
3. Experience – What kind of experience do you have that enables you to work with number 2.
4. References – What kind of people can confirm that you are able to work with number 2.

It is a simple basic layout which can be built upon. Of course experience should also include education and work experience. Having a reference is extremely important.

What kind of advice do you readers have for the employees when they are going to write a cv, here is your chance to help out!

More information at the Saab Insolvency website:

Check here: http://www.delphi.se/saabenglish

Just a small correction to one of our previous articles. I found out today that in fact nobody at Saab has been laid off. Everyone has just been suspended from work, however everyone still has a duty to show up for work if called upon!…

According to sources to SaabsUnited a number of things are happening at the factory right now. The administrators are being briefed on the factory, inventory and capabilities. Employees are being informed about situation, and the government is working very hard to make sure the employees are paid before christmas. The administrative staff working on such matters have been tripled in order to cope with this task.

At the factory there are a number of cars on the production line, these cars no longer has any customers waiting for them. All orders have been canceled and all purchases stopped. Assets are in such frozen. But the cars on the line will most probably be built rather than scrapped since their value will be much higher. On the line there are about 7-9 convertibles a number of 9-5′s and 9-3′s. These cars are most probably some of the most valued Saab’s ever to be built since they would be the last ones for a significant amount of time. However no 9-5 SportCombi as far as we have been informed.

9-5 SC’s are not yet certified for road use, the ones that were built are only certified as prototypes, which means that if these cars are no longer registered as Saab Automobile owned cars, they would lose their permission to be used on public roads an in such can not be sold to private citizens. The same thing applies to the prototype cars at the Museum such as the Aero X.

Tomorrow morning a production test was scheduled, about 7-10 cars were supposed to be built. Some parts were still missing such as generators, convertible roofs etc but these cars can be completed up to a status where they are only missing very few parts. These parts can be mounted afterwards.

As the year of 2011 is shortly coming to an end I’d like us all to think back of the year in a positive way, regardless of hard that might be. I’d like for you to consider the year from a product point of view and please let us know what the best thing about 2011 was!

Perhaps the Phoenix launch, or the 9-4x or something less grand but oh so important? Perhaps an advertisement that you really liked?

Perhaps the Hirsch 9-3 SuperSport article that we published a few days ago? It could be anything at all as long as it has to do with Saab Cars! =)

What do you think was the best thing for Saab in 2011, please let us know!