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This will throw the cat amongst the pigeons. Not because of the prices, necessarily, but because of the model range that's mentioned in the brochure.

From Djup Strupe. Click to enlarge.

Wow.

TTiD, BioPower and the 1.6 litre.

Methinks the German market is being pursued quite aggressively. A good thing, but I'd be fascinated to know why some of these configurations haven't been mentioned in literature we've seen for the Swedish market.

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UPDATE - The fine print. Indeed, the models above with asterisks are for the 2011 model year so it's probably fair to assume they'll be made available for other European markets as well at that time.

Click to enlarge:

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The colors list looks the same, with 'Oak' noted as a 2011 color.

Saab Sweden have now placed the new Saab 9-5 product brochure online.

As mentioned earlier, the information posted both here and at Auto Motor and Sport was preliminary information and incomplete. This new brochure has more model pricing, as well as the full list of options available with the car.

As Rune's pointed out in comments, there's no BioPower model listing, which is a surprise as I drove a BioPower model when I was in Sweden in September last year. I'll fire off a question.

The price list is reproduced below (click to enlarge). You can download the full PDF here (right click, save as)

Thanks to Patrik for the tip, via comments.

The Saab 9-5 prices that I published a few days ago were taken from a PDF brochure that I received from Djup Strupe, via email.

I lifted only certain parts of that brochure for publication here as I figured a) they were the ones that would be of most interest, and b) the info was preliminary, so the less the better.

It seems my mates over at AMS have similar contacts as they've published some more of this info in a story over there, as well as providing a link to the complete PDF brochure (in Swedish).

The brochure lists pricing, as per my post the other day, as well options and packages available. As you can see at the AMS post, it also shows prospective additions to the color palette for 2011.

Please note that it's preliminary information intended for the Swedish market. It may change and it may not be complete.

Dagens Industri were one of several news services in Sweden that wrote about Saab right throughout 2009 and the early part of 2010 as if the company had some sort of corporate plague.

Everything was bad, bad, bad, dead, dead, dead. It must have really killed these people when the transaction with Spyker actually went through.

Today they've managed to make right Clarksonian cocks of themselves (pardon my Francais) with an article on their site that plain-and-simple infers that the Saab 9-5 costs too much because the top-line model is more expensive than a similar Volvo S80 or 'equivalent' Audi (and what's even more annoying is that they've referenced SU in their article).

They ask "Are customers willing to pay 55,900 kronor for the Saab 9-5 than for equivalent Volvo?" (Googletrans) and then point out a 42,800 SEK difference between the same 9-5 and an Audi (presumably an A6).

Of course, they don't mention that the 9-5 is a brand new car, with brand new technology and handling. They don't mention that the Volvo they're comparing it to is several years old now. And the Audi options list - want wheels to go with your car, sir? - no mention of that, either.

Thankfully, a large number of Swedes have chimed in and given them a good serve in comments to their article. Over 200 of them as I write this.

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So who's going to buy one of these new Saab 9-5's?

Well, this 24-year Mercedes veteran has just gone and bought two of them!!!

Stick that in your pipe and smoke it, Mr Daaaaagens Industri.

......Even though Thomas Karlström is used to correct expensive cars, it became love at first sight when he got to see and test drive the new Saab 9-5.

- Sure, I have always known that Saab could build cars. But this was something completely different. Saab has not built anything like this before. The feeling is fantastic - at least in the same class of car with a Mercedes Star in front, "says Thomas Karlström.

He did not confine themselves to a car - he ordered two pieces of the family business.

- I was away and test drove both the BMW and Mercedes new top models. But even though they are very expensive, they can not quite match the 9-5: an. It is simply a fantastic car, "says Thomas Karlström.

One might suggest that DI.se should just stop crapping on and casting aspersions at Saab and simply wait until they can drive the car for themselves and see how good it is. I know that doesn't sell papers, but it might stop them looking like a packet of noodles and give one of their nation's good companies a fighting chance.

Yes, some people will have issues with 9-5 pricing. Somewhere in the world there's someone who has issues with Hyundai pricing, with Dacia pricing. Right now, there's probably someone who can't quite put together enough rupees for a Tata Nano.

There are always people on the fringe of being able to buy and they'll always have issues.

The real question here is whether or not Saab will sell enough of them. I bet they will. Di.se doesn't need to cast aspersions or make poor comparisons in order to ask the same question. They just need to ask it and then ask if the car's impressive enough for people to pay.

Swedish news service, TTELA, are reporting today that Jan-Ake Jonsson will the recipient of a business award in May.

Johan H has been kind enough to send in a translation:

Jan Åke Jonsson gets award from the Chamber of Commerce

Saab's CEO Jan Åke Jonsson has been assigned an award of the first magnitude from the West Swedish Chamber of Commerce and Industry for decisive action for the western Swedish industry.

The motivation is as follows:

"During the past year, the discussions about Saab Automobile's future has been hot and public. During the whole process, Jan Åke Jonsson stood up for the company in a vigorous, sustained and professional manner. Jan Åke's hard work and ability to handle the many different stakeholders - existing owners, potential buyers and representatives from both the media and the politics - has reinforced the image of him as a highly respected leader inside the factory gates in Stallbacka and as a role model for others in the western Swedish business community."

Jan Åke Jonsson will be assigned the award during the Chamber of Commerce and Industry's day the 3rd of May at the Swedish Exhibition Center in Göteborg (Gothenburg), Sweden. In connection to the dividend, Jan Åke Jonsson and Spyker Cars' CEO Victor Muller participates in a conversation about the change of the company, the future and the leadership.

As you know, I was fortunate enough to be there when Saab were sold to Spyker and one of the events that happened on that day was Saab's exit from liquidation, meaning that Jan-Ake Jonsson was back at the helm of the company he'd led so admirably through the sale process.

Jan-Ake's a man with a fairly serious disposition, but at that moment in time you couldn't find a bigger smile in the room.

This is a well deserved honour and hopefully the first of a few from the Swedish business community.

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From Anders (tack!), the past winners of this award:

2009 - Per-Ingvar Brånemark, the inventor of the titanium screw
2008 - Olle Blomqvist, founder Ellos
2007 - Håkan Lans, innovator
2006 - Ivan Östholm, one of the people behind Losec
2005 - Dan Sten Olsson, Stena owner-sphere
2004 - Pelle Petterson, the designer
2003 - Arvid Carlsson, Nobel Prize in Medicine
2002 - Pehr G Gyllenhammar, former CEO of Volvo
2001 - Ingvar Kamprad, IKEA
2000 - Percy Barnevik, former CEO Asea, ABB, etc.

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I've had a few concurring emails about this overnight.....

Swedish Saab dealers now appear to have pricing available for the new Saab 9-5 and I'm told they can now enter orders into their systems for customers. Check with your local dealer on that one.

To the pricing, then.....

For those who like to do direct comparative pricing, the base model Linear comes in at around USD45,000 or GBP29,000 or EUR32,000 or AUD47,000. Of course, such comparisons are pointless because of various taxes and ridiculously low US prices, but still.....

It seems the move from production at Russelsheim to Trolhattan has limited the color palette for 2010, with Fjord Blue being the only color available that isn't a type of silver, grey or black. It's my understanding, however, that there is a bit more variety in store for 2011.

There appear to be a number of wheels varying from standard 17-inch (18-inch for Aero) through to 19-inch options. There are also a larger number of trim options than I'm used to seeing, including both cloth and leather trim.

Swedes, it seems your 9-5s are ready to go.

A few days ago, a story appeared on the Swedish Radio website that hinted at a possibility that Saab could be producing electric cars for consumers by the end of this year.

SR quoted Saab's technical director, Mats Fägerhag, saying that Saab had been lagging behind in terms of this technology and wanted to be at the forefront by the end of the year.

Several news agencies read this as meaning production vehicles, however I've heard from Saab in the last 24 hours, suggesting (as suspected) that SR were referring to the trial program that's being run with Innovatum, ElectroEngine, Boston Power, etc, which will see 100 test vehicles leased to various business and municipal agencies by the end of the year.

Thanks to the people at Saab for the update.

Sacré bleu!!

From Car Design News:

According to our industry contacts, Lo resigned as Director of Advanced Design at General Motors Europe, handing in his papers yesterday morning. He is now set be become Vice President of Exterior Design at Renault, working under recently appointed Design Director Laurens van den Acker.

I guess those who, like me, were hoping that Anthony might come back to Saab will be disappointed.

Anthony Lo worked under Michael Mauer at Saab before heading up the design team for the Saab Aero-X concept car. As such, he's one of the fathers of Saab's modern design DNA that you've herd Victor Muller talking about so much recently.

After the Aero-X, Anthony went to Russelsheim where he was named Director of Advanced Design. I interviewed Anthony in Detroit back in 2008, when he was presenting the Saab 9-4x concept vehicle and caught up with him again briefly in Frankfurt last year. He mentioned at that time that he was weighing up his options (Saab were still being sold to Koenigsegg at that time) so a move was always a possibility. It's just a shame it didn't mean a move back to Sweden. He's a fantastic designer and more than that, a fantastic guy, too.

Good luck with those fiesty Frenchmen, Anthony.

Anthony spills the beans to Par Brandt from Auto Motor and Sport.

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Thanks to Chris for the link!

Hey all,

It's a long weekend here this weekend. And it's a hot one here in Tassie.

Whilst we've been baking under blue skies, Melbourne - just a few hundred kilometers north of us - has had storms like you wouldn't believe. One of our regulars, Mike900, works not far from a big BMW dealership in the city. He went down to take a look at their forecourt last night and everything there was hail damaged (10cm diameter hailstones, too).

Ouch.

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I guess I better get this on site as I've got a lot of email about it.

Saab's head of Tech Development has been talking with Swedish Radio about electric cars. Specifically, about electric Saabs. If the Googletrans is correct, then Saab could be aiming to have electric technology available by the end of the year (?!)

Must be in the forefront of electric cars

Saab has come so far with its plans to manufacture a car that runs on electricity that it will start selling electric cars in one year.

- You will see hele-electric Saabs go out to the customer in December, "said Mats Fägerhag is technical director at Saab in Trollhattan.

Car manufacturers around the world focusing really hard to get the full electric cars. At the Geneva Motor Show, many brands and other companies that showed up their electric cars they were planning to launch within a few years.

But Saab is thus at once to get the electric cars already at the end of the year, although it remains to be done:

- We are lagging behind, I have known for a long time, "says Mats Fägerhag, but we are very fast so within a year we will be in the forefront.

But the foundation has been in the electric vehicle architecture driven by Innovatum in Trollhattan Saab, but that had more fingers in the pie than previously wanted to tell you:

- The elsaaben we were all very much behind But while we were out-owned GM, we had to be careful to tell us what we should invest in because it would be in line with the company's other strategies. Going to a different degree of electrification we believe is a necessity, but since it is the question of how to do it, "says Mats Fägerhag.

I might have to send some emails out about this. When he says they'll go out to customers in December, does that mean they'll be available for sale, or they'll send a bunch out to selected customers for field trials?

It'd certainly be another rabbit out of a hat if they could go electric so quickly. There has, of course, been the True Electric joint venture, but I didn't think that was so close to being ready for public consumption. They were planning on producing 100 cars that would be distributed to corporate and municipal lessees in Sweden (with maybe a few in the US).

It'll be interesting to see how this turns out.

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I've spent a good part of this evening wading through all the styling variables for the SU Forum. There are a lot of them!

Click that link and scroll down to the bottom. There you should see a drop down box with "Default Style" written there. Click the drop down and there should be an option for "SU Laser Red".

It's my first attempt at Forum theming, so be gentle. I know it needs a new header, but that'll come in time.

The soft launch continues.....