This weeks SAAB Of The Week is no real surprise to anyone who follows us on Facebook. Harald Willumsen Østbø from Norway sent us a photo of his 9-4X and 9-5 Combi both of which were bought at the KVD Auction. When this photo was posted, we saw it almost become viral with 419 likes, 34 people shared the photo in other groups and 39 comments. It’s safe to say that many of us would love to be in Haralds position and own these two fabulous SAABs but this is not all of his collection and he has promised to take a group shop of all five of his special SAABs together, including a Sonett III closer to the summer. Thank for sharing with us Harald and I look forward to the group photo. As always, keep the photos coming to [email protected].
Stunning
The Dream Team!!
Is this the lower fron splitter Saab was planning for the 9-5?
Yes it is from what Tim told me. I like it but more than anything, I really love that colour.
My favorite. The Glacier silver Aero.
Why the ….. couldn’t the Swedish Government offer their iconic car manufacturer a helping hand to get over the second year hump? Bridge loan, EIB loan restructuring, stepping in as a temporary shareholder, buying out Spyker, FGS anything.
The first year losses were not so great that one could declare the post-GM era doomed. They just lacked working capital, big time.
The MY12 9-5 SC (and probably the 9-4X too) would have sold like crazy.
+ 1 !
I don’t know if the 9-4x had much hope of getting big sales numbers by the time it arrived in the US. 🙁 That segment is hyper competitive in the US and I doubt that Saab would have had the funding to stay current.
In 2013, the SRX is still a top 5 seller in the US (in the small to mid-sized SUV and crossover vehicles category) but its numbers are closer to the bottom than the top.
Lexus RS 7053, Acura RDX 4088, Cadillac SRX 3478, BMW X5 3444, Mercedes M-Class 3280
The Lexus was new for 2010 and it still selling better than the rest by a large margin, despite its age. The Acura RDX is new for 2014 with a new (for it) V6 that is a big step up in fuel economy and refinement. The Cadillac got a new engine in 2012 which upped its MPG and refinement to remain competitive. The BMW X5 is due for replacement in 2014. The Mercedes was also new for 2011 and gets a new 7 speed transmission and better diesel options for 2014 to improve its fuel economy.
That’s stiff competition. Could Saab have afforded to enter? I am kinda glad that they didn’t get many out in the wild. Maybe they are better off as a collectible rarity, and as such, they don’t have to suffer the automotive press and their endless head to head comparison tests.
That said, I am still genuinely sad for everyone who is out of work at Saab (even though I doubt the factory making the 9-4x had any related layoffs).
The 9-5 SC is a whole different story. I think it would have sold well in the wagon segment, but that is a small segment in the US. In its home market it probably would have done fantastic. It is a real shame it didn’t get the chance.
I would have loved to buy the 9-4X 2.8T !
No EVs for me, so now its probably gonna be th XC60 T6…
Not bad either….
We had an XC60 on the lot here a while back and it may just be me but when driving, it felt…. I don’t know of a better way to describe other than heavy. Nice looking vehicles though, I liked it more than the XC90 though. Also like that the hatch is one piece rather than the split that the 90 has. I really think that we would have done really well with the 9-4X, North America is all about sport utility vehicles and cross over vehicles and the 9-4X never really had a chance as everything fell apart just as it hit the US.
Absolutely stunning cars. I think they’d both have done very well over here, if priced right. That 9-5 looks amazing with that paint. Wow. Very, very sad they didn’t make it here.
I love the NG9-5 SC! People should be in jail from not allowing it to come to market. However, I wonder how successful it would have been in the US market? Saab had a few things working against it:
(1) IIRC, it was coming to the US in Aero XWD trim only (which was good) with the 2.0T motor. The problem with the “rightsized” 2.0T is it only achieved 1-MPG better than the V6 2.8T with 80 less HP. Maybe they could have bumped the HP/torque numbers up to the Caddy ATS level (272 hp/260 ft -lbs)?
(2) the other hurdle was going to be price (I’m talking US market here) – again, IIRC it was going to start around 50K, IMO starting around 43K would be more realistic (and would probably be closer to reality). In Oct 2010, I purchased my loaded NG9-5 Aero/XWD for about 45K, about 9K lower that MSRP (I know, some folks paid half of what I paid).
The closest thing available (worldwide) currently is the Jaguar XF wagon which of course is not available in the US!
Very, very nice cars indeed! Nice to hear that he managed to get both of them street legal as well! 🙂
Well, My 9-5 is not an SC, but I’m proud to say I have these very cars. If you’ve ever seen the inside of an 9-4x Aero, you might agree that many of the refinements coming to the 9-5 in 2012 were already in place. Interiors are the same, but the 9-4x has some upgraded stuff.
The 9-4X is a decent looking car. The 9-5 is one odd sexy beast of a car and the Combi adds even more oddness to this. It’s a tragedy.