Saab news, video and reviews

Video Interview with Spyker CEO Victor Muller and SAAB CEO Jan Ake Jonsson

As you probably have already heard by now, SAAB was rescued on the 11th-hour on Tuesday when General Motors agreed to sell the struggling Swedish brand to Dutch sports car maker Spyker Cars N.V.

The deal is still subject to a European Commission approval of a €400 million loan from the European Investment Bank, but GM expects that the sale will be completed in mid-February.

Shortly after the two companies agreed on the terms of the sale, GM's European unit released a video with interviews with Jan Ake Jonsson, CEO of Saab Automobile and Victor Muller, CEO of Spyker Cars.

The two men talk about the deal and their hopes for the future of Saab. Watch it after the jump.

Source [...]

Spyker's Deadline for Saab Extended - further deal details surface

In the latest turn of events, Spyker has extended their offer to purchase Saab.

As we reported earlier, Spyker stated their 11-point proposal was only valid until 5:00 p.m. EST on Monday, December 21st [...]

Saab may have three potential new buyers

Reports out of Sweden this morning suggest Saab may have as many as three independent groups interested in purchasing the brand.

After Koenigsegg’s negotiations to acquire Saab ended last week, Chinese automaker Beijing Automotive Industry Corporation, which was set to become a minority investor in Koenigsegg, is said to have been the first candidate to contact GM about purchasing the Swedish manufacturer.

Credible reports also indicate that two American investment groups, billionaire investor Ira Rennert’s Renco and Wyoming-based Merbanco, are also actively pursuing the brand.

Merbanco president Christopher Johnston told Bloomberg yesterday that Merbanco would be willing to acquire a majority stake in Saab.
“I do not believe that the company should be closed,” Mr Johnston said. “Whoever buys Saab, or if GM keeps Saab, there’s a lot of work ahead but I believe that the company should survive.”
Although no formal written offers have yet been submitted, a Saab spokesperson confirmed that the company has been speaking to outside parties.
“We have a close dialogue and close contact with several who have expressed interest in buying Saab Automobile,” said Saab spokesperson Gunilla Gustavs.
Swedish enterprise minister Maud Oloffson said the government is not participating in the search for a buyer for Saab.

Source [...]

Saab 9-5 video on design

After the gallery of new Saab 9-5 pics, here is the first video presented by Simon Padian on the design of the new Saab 9-5 sedan. It’s more of a promo video than anything, on the advanced “Scandinavian simplicity” of Saab, and only shows a three-quarter view of the 9-5 [...]

Tags: Saloon, Saab, Design, 9-5

2010 SAAB 9-5 Sedan Spied on Film

It won't be long before we see official shots of the all-new Saab 9-5 Sedan that is scheduled to make its global debut at this autumn's Frankfurt Motor Show. But until then, we'll have to be content with whatever spy material we get our hands on [...]

Saab Performance Team practicing with new models

This latest video of the Saab Performance Team is just as depressing as it is cool (additional helpings here and here). The cool part is obvious: when's the last time you saw a guy put a yellow convertible on two wheels across a frozen lake and drive it with one hand on the wheel? Depressing because it reminds you of how cool Saab is, which leads to remembering that Saab is bankrupt [...]

Saab 9X Air BioHybrid

The Saab 9X Air BioHybrid said hello to the world on a pedestal full of disco lights at the Paris Motor Show. It did not, however, move [...]

2010 Saab 9-5? Opel Insignia Test Mule Spied with Saab Interior

The next-generation Saab 9-5 sports sedan has been an on-off project for quite a while now and even though the vehicle is supposed to be in showrooms by 2009, we have yet to see any decent prototype models on the road. Instead, for the past few years Saab's engineers have been fiddling around with Opel Vectra and now, Opel Insignia test mules [...]

OFFICIAL: Saab 9-X Air Concept Details & Photos Released

Saab has just released a brief overview and hi-res images of the 9-X Air Concept which is set to debut in Paris early next month. As earlier reported, the 9-X Air Concept foreshadows the Saab 9-3 convertible successor in 2011.

The 9-X Air concept breaks the mould of conventional convertible design with a unique patent-pending ‘Canopy Top’ [...]

Saab Models Will Get Smaller in Size, 4-cylinder Turbo Engines

GM is looking to make future Saab models more compact than it had originally planned. The next-generation Saab 9-3 was planned to use GM’s global upper-medium Ypsilon-2 platform, but executives at GM of Europe have decided to move it to the more compact lower-medium Delta architecture.
With that, the upcoming Saab 9-1 will move from the originally planned Delta architecture to GM’s small Gamma architecture [...]

Saab 9-4X Hits the Ring

The serious business has begun for the development of the new Saab 9-4X after it was caught entering the Nurburgring circuit in Germany by the good folks at Bridgetogantry.com presumably to do a bit of high speed testing on the new SUV.

The base for the new model will be General Motors' mid-size SUV Theta platform which is currently used for the Saturn Vue and Opel Antara, but it will be heavily revised to a more premium level and will be shared with the Cadillac BRX/SRX.

Sources have claimed this particular prototype has a 284 horsepower V6 engine under the hood mated to an automatic gear box. The dimensions of the model stand at a length 495cm and 192cm wide bringing an estimated kerb weight to around 2180kg.

Styling follows the same theme as the 9-4X BioPower Concept with the aggressive half oval grille remaining intact, but obviously the overall profile of the vehicle had to be heavily toned down for production.

It should makes its world debut at next year's Detroit Motor Show before production commences at the GM factory in Mexico.

Source: Worldcarfans and Bridgetogantry [...]

Geneva 08: Saab 9-1x teaser image

Although we know next to nothing about it and a second-hand sketch from a few days ago is the only idea we have as to its appearance aside from the vague outline in the picture above, the Saab 9-1x is coming to Geneva. Presumably a competitor to the likes of Volvo’s C30 hatchback and the BMW 1-series (as it exists in Europe), the 9-1x will likely remain a mystery until next month’s debut.

Of course, embargoes do break, and when they do, it’s often with gratuitous press shots and complete information [...]

Leaked: Saab 9-4X BioPower Concept Ahead of NAIAS Debut

Again an embargo break, this time the Saab 9-4X BioPower Concept falls victim to the ever-more cut-throat automotive industry. The Dutch AutoTelegraaf have either found these (low res) images on the net or have themselves broken the embargo.
The 9-4X BioPower concept looks production ready, and the newspaper claims that the Saab 9-4X BioPower will go into production this year at GM's plant in Mexico and should go on sale in the USA not much later, Europe will follow in the following months.
The 9-4X will have four-wheel-drive (hence the X) and the concept is powered by a 2.0 liter 4 cylinder turbocharged engine producing 245 hp and 353 Nm torque [...]