All Entries Tagged With: "saab 9-5"
Yes, Saab Does Still Make Cars. Here’s One They Made Recently
by Gunnar Heinrich ::: img ADLX ::: 2011 Saab 9-5
SAAB ain’t doin’ so hot lately. Lately, you say? What about the last two decades? Sure. But, really, you know our favorite little Svenska auto maker is having problems when people in Saab friendly New England, after watching yours drive up in a 2011 Saab 9-5, scratch their heads and ask, “Does Saab still make cars?”
For the moment, yes they do. And next week, I shall delve into the best fruit of their most recent labors.
End of an Era: Last Saab 9-5 Built.
By Gunnar Heinrich | IMG via SaabsUnited
YESTERDAY marked a bittersweet moment for many at the Saab factory in Trollhattan, Sweden.
According to SaabsUnited, the 483,593th Saab 9-5 – in wagon form – rolled off the assembly line and into the welcoming care of the Saab museum. The 9-5 series of sedans and wagons (more mainstream successors to Saab’s beloved if truly quirky 9000 five-doors) stood as Saab’s only link to its true, pre-GM-buyout soul.
A decade old, the 9-5 nonetheless maintained a high degree of safety and comfort through its tenure as Saab’s defacto flagship.
The automotive community can credit the 9-5 for several pioneering innovations: including active safety headrests that tilt forward in a collision to prevent occupant whiplash; and electrically fan-cooled seats, which Mercedes-Benz later implemented in the W220 S-Class in 2000.
The 9-5′s overdue replacement is set for launch later this year, allowing us to pause and give credit to the 9-5 for maintaining Saab’s Svenska authenticity in a decade that saw the 9-3 transformed into a generic, Opel platformed sedan, the 9-2X “Saabaru”, and that rat-bastard step-child 9-7X; a GMC Jimmy with a Saab badge and center console mounted key ignition.
It’s almost a shame that the 9-5′s assembly, tools, and trade-info were sold to the Chinese in a kind of garage sale last autumn. Still, Chinese consumers stand to benefit- for anything based on the 9-5 will stand up in the marketplace as a solid car.
Saab Saved. GM Sells Saab To Spyker
By Gunnar Heinrich
HALLELUJAH! Bloomberg’s reporting that GM will sell Saab to Dutch car master Spyker! Oh, that Bloomberg, I could just hug…
Jan. 26 (Bloomberg) — General Motors Co. agreed to sell its Saab unit to Dutch sports-car maker Spyker Cars NV in a deal that would save the 72-year-old Swedish brand that’s being wound down.
Spyker agreed to pay $74 million in cash and $326 million in preferred shares in the company that would emerge from the deal, according to the Dutch company. The transaction, subject to Sweden agreeing to guarantee a 400 million-euro ($563 million) European Investment Bank loan for Saab, is expected to close in February and Saab will exit an orderly wind-down process in line with the timetable.
The automotive world is a richer community with Saab selling cars. Bring on the 9-5! And, please, please, please, the 9-1. Saab needs a smart hatch!
Glimmers of Hope For Saab
- Saab future remains uncertain following Friday’s announcement
- Further purchase inquiries offer tenuous hope
- Waiting with baited breath
By Gunnar Heinrich | IMG GM
THE news on Friday was heartbreaking: GM would close Saab following multiple failed attempts to find a suitable buyer. But today, we have the further angst of not knowing the finality of Saab’s fate.
Hopes springs eternal.
GM Release on 12-20-2009
Following Friday’s announcement that GM will begin the orderly wind down of Saab, GM has received inquiries from several parties. We will evaluate each inquiry. We will not comment further until these evaluations have been completed.
Saab Sans Wedge?
Saab’s next 9-5 levels itself for a fight with Ze Germans.
By Gunnar Heinrich | IMG via CAR
SAAB hasn’t always produced slick Svenska cars with the side-long geometry of a right triangle. It’s just that in the last twenty years or so, Saab has produced slick Svenska cars with the side-long geometry of a right triangle.
Yes, for nearly two decades, Saab had done old Euclid proud. As have the rest of the automotive industry, it must be said. That aside, no other manufacturer has tied themselves as stylistically to the wedge as has Saab.
Be it the current Opel-based 9-3 sedan and Magna Steyr-sourced convertible, the predecessor five-door 9-3 (née 900), the current, mummified 9-5 and the old 9000, all of these models bow obsequiously low to the elements while permitting their rumps to rise high into the air.
The leaked photos of the above 9-5 sedan expose a timely exception to the rule. CAR‘s Tim Pollard noted (adroit as ever those crafty Brits) that the new sedan has hatch-like hindquarters; a rear windshield that descends smoothly into a low trunk culminating in a subtle design that resonates with that most iconic of Saabs – the original 900.
Importantly, the old Saab of Saabs only aspired to the wedge. The low bonnet line increases only subtly through the shoulder line and across the c-pillar to a high mounted, stubby spoiler. Without the spoiler, the car’s essentially a two-box fastback.
It was unorthodox. Its shape framed the concept of a car company so different from everything else on the road.
While we can’t assign the same description with the 2010 9-5, per se, the sedan’s nonetheless a design that has moved deftly on from Saab’s pat wedge theory.
Slick Svenska design never looked so promising. And, once again, different.
