NG 9-5 beats Audi A6, Merc E, Jaguar XF, and just about tie with BMW 5

Slightly edited by Trued. Sorry RedJ just had to do it!

I worked for Swedish DOT for 5 years in Traffic safety, working there when we together with other european DOT´s started up the EuroNCAP. During this time the 9000 was the most shining “safety-car” in the world. Saab was on top from 1985-1998. US. Highway Data Loss Institute, Swe. insurer Folksam rated Saab no.1. Saab themselves crashed the same car in front side back you name it.
The big guys are always trying to catch up which is good because society wins as well as the individual. Saab is up there check out for Yourself and make comparisons at www.euroncap.com

We need to focus on Saabs competitors and see how well they do, compared to Audi A6, Mercedes E-Class, BMW 5 series Jaguar XF. So how good is the NG 9-5. Well compared to the Audi, Saab comes out 94% compared to 91% for front seats adult safety. Even better compared to Mercedes 86%. Saab is up with 8%, that is big news. BMW wins with a mere 1% over Saab with a 95% rating. Jaguar XF is not en interesting to compare with a 79% safety and bad whiplash and overall marginal safety.

Pedestrian safety 44% Saab, 41% Audi, but Mercedes is up to 59% good job. BMW has a nice soft bonnet and gets a winning 78%.
Overall Saab is a FIRST class safety automobile. Better or on par with the BIG guys.
The talk later on here of the Chevy Malibu and its ratings well should be on par with Saab and they might even have worked out some tweaks probably with the knowledge from Trollhättan.
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In the last test series EuroNCAP has tested different cars like the (global) Chevrolet Malibu based on the SWB Epsilon II platform. It has performed slightly better than the current Saab 9-5, but it isn’t that strange as the team in Rüsselsheim had the experience of the Insignia/Regal and did know the flaws of that car. This shows the high dependency of GM on their European branch, and that it does’t make sense for GM to close GM-Europe.

But more interesting than that is the fact, that two Chinese cars have reached acceptable values at this test.

The first of them is the Geely Emgrand EC7

There are some poor and weak results, but all in all the sum is quite acceptable. The adult occupant results are only slightly worse than the Seat Exeo, which is a last generation Audi A4. So if Geely has managed it on its own, then the step to a 5 star car with the help of Volvo is on a hands reach.

The second car is the SAIC MG6.

This car is somehow related to the Rover 75, a car that had quite acceptable crash values back in 2001, which explains the results of the MG6. Will SAIC be able to repeat this? Yes, and not only thanks to the help of GM. If the next Roewe/MG car is based on the Epsilon I platform, and SAIC gets some help from GM during the development of the car, SAIC will be able to build four till five star cars in the near future.

BTW, both cars perform better than any Dacia model ever tested, a car brand that sells good when the money is tight.

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And how is this related to Saab? Well, it is not, but it is related to one of it’s possible future owners, namely Youngman.

C(hina)-NCAP is active in China, and a safe car will be(is) an argument to sell cars in China, and a needed feature to sell them abroad. Other brands are moving fast, and Youngman has either the help of Saab or nothing to catch this train that is moving rather fast.