Our Swedish-English design friend from Vargön outside Trollhättan has updated his take on the 9-3. A design with cues from Saabs history combined with a modern design language.
Among the owners of Saab 9-5 NG at Facebook his design is very much liked.
Guess that is a good peer group to ask since they actually bought the very last Saab model made the 9-5 NG. They should be asked.
The have great taste and are just like people here at SaabsUnited truly an international crowd.
More and bigger pictures at the Grey Design website:
http://graydesign.se/2/index.php/saab-93
Obviously a very talented designer! The grille is not sufficiently Saab (it reminds me of a Chevrolet), but besides that, I have very few complaints. However, I am close to fed-up with the inverted taillights of late. It worked for the 9-5, but I much prefer the shape from the 99 through to the 9-3.
“The grille is not sufficiently Saab (it reminds me of a Chevrolet)”
+1
Argh, moderated comments when you put a web link in.
Try again without explicit link.
More and bigger pictures at the Grey Design website:
Just google “grey design saab”
Eduard is obviously a very talented guy … I like this 9-3 as much as I liked his old designs like the 9-1 Sixten …. sporty, elegant and practical …… well done!
From the Grey Design website on the new design:
“Elementary geometry and unbroken lines create a body that is at once instantly recognisable and desirable.”
Yup, that kind of sums up a Saab design for me.
Sorry Jason, this is much more like a Saab for me than the Phoenix designs.
Since we are considered the experts 🙂 some remarks:
– wheels are a notch too big
I really hate the trend of bigger and bigger wheels, doesn’t do the handling any good either
– front grille needs the Saab touch
it was already mentioned that it looks like a Chevy grille, I think it looks like a Kia grille
– this is really more like a sportsback (fastback, whatever) than a hatchback
is there enough headroom left in the back?
– back with the spoiler looks a bit like the Porsche Carrera
I love Porsches, but maybe you want your Saab a little bit more distinctive?
Does the spoiler come up when you go over 75mph? 🙂
Pretty much summed up all my thoughts on this GerritN! I hate to say it, but I prefer this design far more to Castriota’s. It simply looks like a Saab to me, for the most part. Then, my dream of dreams is a virtual exterior carbon-copy of a C900, with 2013 mechanical engineering and interior refinements.
Most definitely agree that the grill needs to broadcast ‘Saab’ a bit louder. And also concur that the roofline, towards the rear could stand to be taller and a bit chunkier methinks. I do love the hint of a speed-activated rear spoiler though!
Brilliant design here! I’d be itching to buy one, if it went into production.
Agree. I think it’s far superior to Jason’s attempt at being a distinctive Saab design. Saabize that grille a bit more and get some smaller wheels for a non-Aero version and it’s a hit. Would love to see if he has any interior ideas.
I like it very, very much. Showed it to no Saab drivers and the response was very good.
Stunning, beautiful design. Very, very well executed. Small details like the grille (as previously mentioned) and the non-utilitarian “sportback” design need a cleanup, but what a looker this one is already.
BTW – the name is GRAY Design with an A, not an E. 😉
Grey or gray; depends on which side of the Atlantic you are located.
😀 …I’m fairly certain Eduard Gray’s last name doesn’t change when he crosses the Atlantic. 😉
depends if he comes into the US by Ellis Island….could be anything after that ;/
Like Mr. Garry Edmond. 🙂
He knows about changing the grill so it looks less like a Chevrolet or Kia. He is very receptive to our criticism and NEVS would do themselves a favor by hiring him to help with the new 9-3.
+1
+1
This designer would feel at home with the design-team at Hyundai or Kia.
Seriously, this is 0% Saab.
+
Build it.
I´ll buy it.
Especially the Saab Sixten.
Ditto! Just noticed that Saab Sixteen design, at GerritN’s link to the design site above. And a blend of that Sixten design, along with this 93 design would likely leave me in a perpetual state of Saab lust.
Great design! Really something to move your mind. But for my family I need an estate. This guy knows what he’s doing.
I like it..no no, I LOVE IT!
Looks okay but doesn’t really spell ‘SAAB’ to me.
At this point I’m ready to take anything that drives like a new Saab and is practical like an old one, but seriously this car’s side profile is butt ugly compared to a NG 9-5. With virtually no headroom in the back also a tough sell to the families.
No thanks.
I’d rather buy a 900 than an UrSaab http://www.netcarshow.com/saab/1994-900/1280×960/wallpaper_04.htm
Most of what has been said above is right & my thoughts were to the hieght of the car when I first saw the picture.
Great as, the low profile design is, but where I agree with you is an estate/Hatchback needs some height, especially for us older drivers, who do not want to squat down so low [well actually probably could not get down that low easily]..
Saab design has always been new and fresh.
Compare 96 V4 with the 99. Same designer but not a single part the same on the two. Same goes with 900 OG and the 9000. Then 900 NG gets some 99 CC genes in mud 90ies. The NG 9-3 in 2003 was a really new design. New Saab DNA was created with a wedge shape.
Eduard’s design fits my taste. Aerodynamic, slick and sleek. Aim for class leading windresistance! Adaptive and active airflow control!
+1
Trued, but shouldn’t change also mean improvement?
That said the front -minus the grille- looks like a Padian design which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I wonder what a wagon back would do to the car? NG 9-5 SC 2.0 maybe.
An Audi TT, a Porsche Panamera got married and 9 months later they had this.
Honestly, JCs design is SAAB and the final version has not been revealed if I am correct.
Honestly?
The front has too much of the chevy camaro mixed with the current generation of subarus.
The side looks like a rip-off taken from the citroen C6.
Don’t like it. The wind tunnel test model looks way better.
They should follow the 9-5 NG clean, clinical, aircraft-like design.
It reminds me of the first version of passat CC and the new Mercedes CLA, only this one is a hatchback. Both are very well designed cars. It looks though like this design approach will become crowded in the future by a number of car companies/brands, which in term might mean that it will loose some of its originality and age fairly quickly. one might argue that this is a pure aerodynamic design and it would be true. Some versions of CLA achieve even Cw of 0,22. The downside of it being low roof and limited head room.
Bottom line: it’s a very nice design. Not quite as strong and distinctive as OG 900, but still.
Nice design! Would be nice to beat the CLA in terms of Cd!
Both this one, and the sketches of Padian’s proposal for a new 9-3 look better to me than the Phoenix and Castriota prototypes.
SAAB93MarkIIIAngle8Facelift looks like the volkswagen cc with saab face. The saab 93 lmark III looks nothing like a saab at all besides being black like the ursaab. silly. Just being able to handle 3D-software dont make you a designer
Good points: Nice to see another different take on Saab design. I like the quirky 92-ness of the profile. Also reminiscent of a C6, which is a good thing.
Bad points: The rest of it is awful. The nose and tail don’t mesh in any sense with the rest of the car, and even if they did it would still look rubbish. Sorry.
Actually I take back what I said about the tail.
But the front end is wrong. It bears a resemblance to the og9-5 and pre-facelift 9-3 sport saloon/combi (both of which I love) but in this interpretation it just looks rather ugly – and also square and boring – for some reason.
It’s like the delicate form of the 9-2 has been pummeled into the shape of a 1990s American muscle car.
But nice try. I look forward to seeing any other designs Gray come up with. I salute the designer for having a go. As already stated, there are a number of aspects I like and find interesting.