Jalopnik Interviews JC (Right before me)

April 2, 2013 by Jeff

I wanted to direct people’s attention to friend of SU Patrick George’s interview with Jason Castriota over at Jalopnik. It covers a lot of what we’ve already talked about in the past here, which conveniently leaves lots of blanks to fill in which he did in my interview for SU which will be posted later this week.

He also showed me the production Sonett and 9-1 designs, suffice it to say they all complement each other very well, and play off of old Saab design traits very well. We’re working with him on getting more images of the 9-3 released, and we’ll hopefully be seeing some interior designs for the 9-3 soon.

Member

maanders

Sigh…..I was planning to buy one of these to replace my 2000 9-3.

Member

zippy

Lets hope the interior bares a passing resemblance to a Saab.

Member

Red J

To which Saab?
92, 99, 9000, 9.3 (I) 9.3 (II), 9.5(II)

From what I know, the interior feels quite driver centric, which has been normal for a Saab since the 900, but nowadays even the boooooooooooooooooring Golf VII has a driver oriented IP.

Member

Red, but that’s the thing, they all resemble each other greatly. I wouldn’t want to find myself suddenly sitting in a Saab cabin that is inspired by American, German, Japanese or Italian design cues. BTW No offense to any of them. The “flashier” and more cluttered the instrumentation/dash is, the more stressful driving becomes in the long run and especially under compromised lighting conditions. Throw out the wonderful ergonomics (no need to re-invent the wheel here) and we have a car I wouldn’t buy it even with the biggest hatch in the world. PS. When Jeremy Clarkson said the Nightpanel… Read more »

Member

Baver

Night Panel in the NG 9-5 leaves too much illuminated. Wish they could’ve taken the interior in the earlier 9-5s and placed it in the NG 9-5.

Member

Daniel B

No way! I love the interior of my NG 9-5.

Night Panel pressed alla I see is the HUD (which I can turn off) and the speedometer.
Love it!

Member

Belfast_Saab

Sadly having made so much of driver centric interiors since the 900, they added little and became victims of more buttons/dials and lights=better 🙁

Member

zippy

I actually liked the 2002-2006 9-3SS interior with all of its buttons. It was very intuitive once you got used to it even though there were a gazillion buttons. What replaced it was a downmarket interior that belonged to a car half the price of the 9-3 which is why I wont be looking at a 9-3 that was built after 2006.

Member

Baver

Same with the later 9-5s (up to 2009). Ruined a beautiful interior.

Member

dcpattie

these images are so clear you can almost make out parts of the interior.

Member

tcastaldi

So is NEVS going to build the JC 9-3 replacement, or not? I’m confused, I thought NEVS was going to build the new 9-3 in China, but several times your articles mention that “this car will probably never be built?” Please enlighten me SU fam!

Author

Jeff

Here’s the simple version: -The first car NEVS will sell will be a redesigned version of the current car. Jason isn’t designing this refresh, but we know the team who is. I’m very curious to see what they do. -The second car NEVS will sell isn’t going into production until the first is already on sale for a bit. There are a range of options available to Saab, and Jason’s is based on the new flexible Phoenix platform, which for all intents and purposes is almost ready to go with more resources dedicated to development. Since NEVS is focusing its… Read more »

Member

Carlo A

Hi Jeff, Simon Padian @ Hareide Design? 🙂

Member

lol

Hi Jeff,
Is it confidential the who is working on the redesign of the current 93? If yes when Will we know more?
Tanks

Member

Romac

NEVS own the rights to the new “Phoenix” platform (think: chassis etc) but not the rights to JC’s 9-3 body design. The eventual replacement for the 93 could well be based on the Phoenix platform, but unless they negotiate with JC, it will not be the JC 93. That’s why we say “this car will probably never be built”.