P.F. 2012

Dear readers,

despite of the all possible efforts, this year wasn't very good for Saab. But as in normal life there are ups and downs and most of us believe it will be better after a time. So let it be also in this case. A small and shy light of hope is still there. I still somehow believe it's not over.

We all love the good old days and drowning in all the nostalgia. But this time we need to believe in a better future. For Saab it is the PhoeniX. The only chance for our much more than just a cars.

Pour Féliciter 2012

If your're going through hell, keep going. (Winston Churchill)

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Lawyers

These are Anne-Marie Pouteaux and Hans L Bergqvist, currently the receivers of Saab, from the Delphi law firm.

They are now pulling the stitches on what will happen with Saab. Are they ? Let's hope yes. There are too many parties behind the scenes.

They look fine, aren't they ? I'm sure they are aware, how many people are waiting for the results of their work.


In my professional career I had several encounters with lawyers. Some of them were complete assholes. My experience in a global corporation was absolutely clean : the higher level / multiregion, the bigger asshole and the lower chance to find any kind of mutual interest or motivation to move things forward. The guy responsible for us was farting in his chair somewhere in South Africa and needed several calls to do something for a multimillion dollar deal. A Martian.

On the lower level the situation was different. Our regional lawyer was ok. Sometimes extremely slow but I couldn't blame him, the corners of the law are sometimes very foggy. But this guy understood what is going on and if there was a need for him, he was there.

The guy from the small local law firm was the best. He helped me, when I was leading an office with 30 people, where he could. He charged a lot, but did his job for it.

These two guys on the photo are not coming from any of this hyperglobal lawfirms and consulting superheroes where you are only one of thousands of clients and they charge you 5 digit numbers in € for worthless papers. These two seems to come from a smaller agency which is good.

And they even show a bit of emotions, which doesn't happen often !

“We have ourselves looked into the future product lineup and seen the new 9-3 model and the new technology. And we now really understand, in a whole new way, why Victor Muller is so committed and continues working to find a solution. What we have seen has really moved us.” says Anne-Marie Pouteaux.

Their image of Victor Muller that had been formed by the media has changed.

“I have complete respect for him, he has proven himself helpful because he really wants this to work” says Bergqvist.

Let's hope, they tell the truth here and they can help Saab. 

Anne-Marie & Hans, a lot of people rely on you !

source : TTela.se

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How to save the Saab Museum

The wonderful Saab Museum is a part of the package which the receivers of Saab Hans L Bergqvist & Anne-Marie Pouteaux are trying to sell, but in this moment no investor is approved and no agreement is signed.

Therefore there are ongoing efforts and initiatives to save the Saab Museum. The largest is on Saabsunited proposing this to start an association "Club" where all who wants to contribute, has to become a member paying a fee, which looks to be around €50 per year. A reasonable business plan must be in place as well as a temporary management group. Makes sense. The whole proposal can be read here.  Also there is also an e-mail adress, where you can declare your intention to help and so join the effort. I did.

Informations about Saab Museum are saying that annual running costs of the museum are about €650.000 and income from tickets is only a fraction of covering the costs.

Another wonderful fan effort supporting the Saabsunited initiative is the Save Saab Museum blog. It collects all informations around the topic as well as pictures and links. The guy running this blog Rudy Snaidero living in The Netherlands, has a black 9-3 convertible, the next facelift after mine, the great 9-3 sedan aero and an extremely nice Saab 95. A longer term facebook friend.

There is also a Save Saab Museum facebook fanpage collecting fans from all over the world.

So how to help ?
If you are interested to help, the best place to start is to read the Saabsunited post, look at the Save Saab Museum blog and most important write an e-mail to the organisators of the effort. The Saab Museum is worth it.


Btw. you can see my pictures from the Saab Museum from October 2011 here and here.

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A shy light of hope continues ...

Interesting things are going on now at the bankrupted Saab.

Some days ago, there was a turkish delegation in Trollhattan reported, interested in Saab. I don't know who exactly is it. According to wikipedia Turkey produced 1,124,982 motor vehicles in 2010, ranking as the 7th largest automotive producer in Europe [source]. There could be interest in some kind of joint venture like f.e. Otosan is.

Another interest came from India. Saabsunited reported, that there is an indian company, "based in India but acts on a world-wide basis with much more than 100’000 employees worldwide. They are a multi-billion dollar company, that work on multiple fields such as energy, logistics, real estate and of course within the aerospace and automotive industry.". After 24h it turned out, that it is Mahindra. Their strategy definitely is to play a role in the worldwide automotive industry. Their personal vehicles product portfolio doesn't look hi-tech at all, but exactly this would be the reason for interest in Saab.

Father of one of my friends drives a Mahindra Pick-up (together with Suzuki Samurai) in the forests and hills of northern Slovakia, in some places an untouched area. It's saying very basic but it does exactly what it should do. It's reliable, goes through terrain and is easy to fix.

The Mahindra story is confirmed by Bloomberg and I've seen basically the same content on the czech news tv channel CT24 (a good one).

At the end I'd like to cite Saabsunited again from this link, which says a claim from the receivers of Saab after bankruptcy Hans L Bergqvist & Anne-Marie Pouteaux :

” The contacts we have had has so far has been positive and gives good hope for alternatives and also combinations of solutions that could result in a continued operation to some degree. Leading to a purposeful dismantling of the bankruptcy operation.” 

Disregard how careful this statement sounds, the whole thing is very serious and they would never state this without having a reasonable agreements or data on the background.

Therefore the shy light of a hope still glows ... not only for me and all the fans around the globe but mainly for the city of Trollhattan which in case of total end of Saab would suffer extremely ...

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Merry Christmas and all the best in 2012

This year the Christmas gift for all Saab fans wasn't very nice. It looks like Saab is dead, we will see how the situation will evolves in the next days. Although one slovak wording is saying "Nothing lasts forever", this was a hard hit.

I'm not too much afraid about servicing my Saab. Saab Parts, as a separate company runs fine and is profitable. Spare part delivery times will be longer. I dont plan to buy something in advance, mainly because I don't know what. Hot topic were keys : i have two and both in very good condition.

Where a bit fear comes is the service work. But still there are many Saabs around and the people servicing them don't dissapear, as well as the Saab specific tools, like Tech 2. Let's see, what authorised service will mean.

I've read feelings from people whining "what I have bought". I admit, first day after the bankruptcy declaration I had simillar feelings. But afterwards everything came to normal. I really love the car, continue to going driving just for fun and relax. The soul is there and will remain. Maybe even I will upgrade the baby to make it even more attractive for me. Thinking about Hirsch interior stuff. Will Hirsch survive ? Hopely. Best wishes to St.Gallen.

Finally I've found a new job. It will be a challenging one but for a very good company and a job I did before, so I will not have to start on a green field. Hopely I learn new stuff. The only thing which is sad, that I will choose a new company car, hoped for 9-5 SC but unfortunately this will stay only a dream. Most probably a Volvo. Less soul but still nice and reliable.

Well, last year wasn't very good, therefore it is good possible the next will be much better. I wish all the best to all Saab fans, readers, friends, everybody. And of course enjoy the rest of the Christmas.

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Sad but true ...

source : facebook

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Saab worldwide meetings 14. - 15. January 2012

In a very similar spirit as the Save Saab convoys, there will be Saab enthusiasts meetings around the world. Organised at Saab fanclubs all around. They will take place on 14. and 15. January, which is Saturday and Sunday.


There was a website created especially for this event. You can find under http://www.outside-saab.com. The site will be constantly updated with places of the events.

There is also a facebook event, a twitter account, a possibility to download posters : A4 and A3. [pdf] as well as possibility to buy stickers @ saabsunited. 

Why ? The organisers are writing on their website :

As we all know, the current owner of Saab had to stop the voluntary reconstruction and file for bankruptcy. This news did hit those working for the company very hard. For them Saab is their daily bread, for us, it is a brand we all love and support.

 

And that is the reason why we are urging you all to yet again show your support for the brand. Saab may be in very deep and murky waters, there is still an odd chance for it to survive. 

We need to show our support for the brand, we need to show everybody in the world the brand is alive and well. 

 

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A shy light of hope ... GM's licensed technolgy in Saab

This might sound too enthusiastic and close to naive, but even after declared and approved bankruptcy of Saab, there is a very small chance that "things" are not finished yet.

Rachel Pang, the CEO of Youngman, the hottest prospect in buying Saab is today in Trollhattan and is trying to solve the situation.


What would mean if Youngman would buy Saab ? The biggest hurdle is GM which protects it's copyrights / technology licences. One option is to try to go without them in the race for prosperity. So where are they and what for are they ?

- they are in the new 9-5. That would mean a full stop.
- the same applies for 9-4X
- for some (for me unknown) reasons it doesn't apply for 9-3 (sedan, combi) and 9-3X
- it doesn't apply for the new PhoeniX platform or the 10% of technologies can be replaced by others

So that would mean "only" 9-3 and development of PhoeniX into a finished product, which sources say would take 1-2 years. That wouldn't be a bad start !

One very interesting text came in discussions on saabsunited.com coming from a french forum. It describes where the GM technologies are in Saab. It's rather a sad reading by finding out, that many of them were developed in Saab, but registered as GMs intellectual property :

1) The 9-4X is the basis of the Cadillac SRX, and not vice versa. The platform was developed by an engineer at Saab, the well known Peter Dörrich. The patents are owned by GM. Regarding the 9-5, most of the technical innovations also used in the Opel Insignia, and in some Chevrolet and Cadillac, are the result of work of engineers and Mat, Fägerhag and Stefan Rundquist, researchers at Saab.
2) The drive system (XWD) is a collaboration between the Swedish Haldex (which is to sell its transmission to the U.S. BorgWarner) and Saab, the patent is owned by GM.
3) Technology Biopower (flexfuel) is also an invention of Saab Powertrain, the brilliant engineer Kjell Bergström from Saab. Patents (including Trionic, Direct Ignition, etc.). Unfortunately owned by GM.
4) The developing hybrid powertrains are also the result of Saabs brains, including Tommy Lindholm. Patents owned by GM.
5) The Ecotec engine that equips some Saab, Cadillac, Chevrolet and Opel is the result of collaboration between a research department Saab, and GM Europe design office, which include Opel. Patents owned by GM.
6) The design of internal parts and body come from the office of Saab design, by Simon Padian, Anthony Lo (now Renault), etc.. Patents owned by GM.
This list is not complete.

Sad reading, isn't it ? This seems to be just a part of the things developed by Saab, owned by GM and one of the main reasons, why Saab is now bankrupt. 

Let's see what happens.

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Change of traffic rules in Austria : emergency corridor on the highway

This is a heads-up for everyone driving to Austria. After 1.1.2012 there is a change in austrian traffic rules.

In principle it says, that if you are on a highway and see, that a traffic jam will come, you have to create an emergency corridor (Rettungsgasse) for rescue cars immediately.

Until now, the corridor was in the parking/emergency lane, but this was often jammed through cars with failure or around arrival/departure lanes. This is the main reason for the change.

The fines for not respecting this are pretty high, from 726€ up.

There is a multilanguage document [pdf, 2.5MB] explaining the new rule. Download it here.

The picture and video below explaining the system :

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Saab files for bankruptcy ...

The newest press release of Saab is very sad. Today Saab filed for bankruptcy with the District Court in Vänersborg, Sweden. The court will decide very shortly.

This happened after several attempts to configure a deal with the chinese companies Pang Da and Youngman as well as other bodies, which would fund a restart of Saab in exchange of ownership rights in Saab. All attempts were vetoed by GM, which holds copyrights and patents for many technologies used in the current Saab models.

The saga lasts since april 2011, when Saab was forced to stop production and on the road were many ups and downs. Now we are in the same situation than 2 years ago, when GM, the former owner of Saab, decided to close the brand.

But it wasn't closed, so there is still a very small chance, that this is a part of the plan. Very very small. More a desire. The costs to re-run Saab are astronomical, but even in that position there were possibilities to do that. All of them were smashed down by GMs veto, which clearly protects its interest on the chinese market.

It seems, that they weren't ready to approve anything which could lead to a Saab restart in chinese hands.

Hate GM ? Not necessarily, but buy a car from them ? Not necessarily.

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Headlight bulbs change

I'm quiet in the saabism blog in the last weeks, unfortunately I have to solve important things for living, so not too much time and motivation left to write. Ups and downs.

One thing, best tagged as "practical" happened last week. One of my xenon headlights started to change color from white to pink/red and the light intensity got lower. That is usually a sign of soon death. But not always you can change it immediately for various reasons. (weekend, no time slot in the service, no bulbs on stock etc). In my case I noticed it one evening and the next day in the early morning I had to drive 330km to other city.

So how long it lasted ? From being absolutely sure the light changed from white to pink, it took around 5-6 hours of functioning / drive to the definitive end.

When I came to the service (in the other city - Prague) the headlamp lighted somehow. After restarting the engine for going into the service garage it was dead. Good timing.

The service work was about 30 minutes : changing for Philips D2S, setting up & calibration. It is recommended to change both headlights because they have to have the same color and intensity of the light. Life expectation : 2400 hours. It happened after 4 years and 85.000 km of the Saab 9-3 convertible.

So advice : if your xenon lights are changing color, go to change them as soon as possible. You don't have too much time.

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Ambulance car in action

It doesn't happen often, that I am able to see a 7 minutes long youtube video. This one nailed me to the chair for the whole time. And not only once.

It is a highly professional ride from an ambulance car driver. How does it feel from his steering place.The quietness inside the cabin through the ride is fascinating.

And to stay on topic of the blog, there were two Saabs spotted in it. At 5:48 is a white 9-3 and 6:31 a black one. Both on the left side.

The language in the video is hungarian.

Enjoy

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Music For Cabriolets : Freakpower Is A Beautiful Thing, Baby

Nostalgia for the summer evening rides. Opened roof, driving out of the city on some backroads. The In Dub: The Fried Funk Food bonus EP from Freak Power added to the regular album Drive-Thru Booty is something completely different than the cool funky album. Done by Norman Cook (aka Fatboy Slim).

The whole EP works great while driving. For shorter trips at the evenings.

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First pictures of future Saab 9-3

Many internet sources today showed the very first (in public) and very blurry sketch of a new Saab 9-3. It will be based on a PhoeniX platform and it should be finished and produced in 2013/2014 in the fastback and convertible chassis variants.

Both, the pictures as well as new informations appeared on todays meeting of Saab and their creditors, where the main topic was to show Saabs strategy for the future after the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding with two chinese investor companies PangDa and Youngman about their purchase of 100% shares of Saab for 100M€. The deal will be valid after approval of several governmental bodies, which are still not in place.

Sources : saabsunited, svd.se

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Music for cabriolets : Vinyl on the road

While vinyl record players are a technology long ago overtaken by many kinds of digital players, they are still not history. DJs use them as well as audiophiles. But once this was hi-tech, so it's only logical the manufacturers attempted to use them in cars :

When this photo was shot I was in some parallel universe, so I have no clue if the car audio worked. I assume it was for singles and EP's (5-inch, 7-inch and simillar), due to the size LP's probably not. The manufacturers had somehow to overcome skipping/jumping of the gramophone needle on the roadbumps, not only because of sound issues but also a probable damage of the vinyl itself.

But this analogue implementation of a car audio is just wonderful. It seems that they tried jukeboxes as well. You can find more in an this overview as well as in the two videos below. This is wonderful !

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Saab 9-3 convertible 2.0 T review

I found a rather older and nice review of the 9-3 cabrio 2.0 T by Motorvision. Good comments to the point and very true conclusion. Language : german.

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Victor Muller interview in text

The interview of Victor Muller, Saab’s Chairman and CEO, yesterday for the Swedish Radio answers some questions as well as bring a bit of the atmosphere of the last hours

You can listen to it here :






For those who cannot listen to it for whatever reason, below you will find the interview in text. Usable for Google Translator as well. It is a very slightly shortened :

SR : What do you say about this ?
VM : Well it's fantastic, because the future of the company is now secured.

SR : How does it feel for you, that you will no longer be the CEO of Saab ?
VM : I didn't wanted to be cEO of Saab in the first place. I only did this temporarily. So this will now be the way for new CEO, which we've been looking for  for a qiet some time. This is very good news. We will have now the stability and the funding to execute our business plan and atract good people, such as a new CEO.

SR : How has the negotiation been ?
VM : Exhausted.

SR : When did you reached the agreement ?
VM : Late last night (from 27. to 28. October 2011).

SR : What is the agreement about ? The partners are buying 100% ?
VM : Yes.

SR : And for how much ?
VM : 100 million €

SR : Now you have been working for Saab for 2 years, now it is over, what do you say about that ?
VM : Well, it's not over. Now it's actually only just beginning. And I think that this will secure all the plans that we have made for the company will now be executed. So that is let's say the best achievement and I am extremely relieved that the period of uncertainty will come very soon to an end, we can pay our creditors, we can start our production, we can launch new models and we can expand to China as we have originally intended. So I think this is very good news for Trollhattan and very good news for Saab.

SR : Do you think the production will still remain in Trollhattan ?
VM : Of course.

SR : Do you think that GM will confirm the new deal and Saab can still produce the same cars as now ?
VM : This is up for the buyers and for GM to agree and I am pretty confident that this will be achieved.

SR : What will you do now ?
VM : Continue to run the company until the new CEO comes and than will definitely remain involved in the future

SR : So you think you will be involved in the future. Are you and the Chinese totaly stick to the agreement ?
VM : Yes. Otherwise I wouldn't have signed it.

SR : You sound a little bit tired.
VM : That is very correct. I slept 3 hours in last 48 hours.

SR : What are your words to the employees at Saab now ?
VM : I would say, that our relentless efforts to secure the future of Saab are now starting to pay off and Saab will remain a car manufacturer in Sweden which will have a very bright future in China, the largest car market in the world. Our original intentions are to be fulfiled.

SR : When will the production start again ?
VM : It's way too early to say. On monday (31.October 2011) we have the creditors meeting, we will present our plans to the creditors. Certain conditions still have to be met such as the NDRC approval for this transaction, but we expect to have that very quick. Once the funding from Youngman and Pang Da starts to fly into the company, we can make a deal with all our suppliers. You would say, from that moment on 8 weeks. Following after the moment of full funding.

SR : How much money are the Chinese willing to invest in Saab ?
VM : More than a half a billion Euro overall.

SR : How much now they are planning to invest to make sure the reorganisation will be successful ?
VM : Exactly enough to make this happen. They have very deep pockets and they will make sure that everything we commit to will be execured.

SR : Are you happy now ?
VM : Tired and happy.

SR : Thank you very much Victor for this interview.
VM : My pleasure.

Sources : saabsunited.com, inside.saab.com, Swedish Radio

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Saab SOLD (?)

The Saab, Pang Da and Youngman saga continues and this time it looks to be final. Today Swedish Automobile N.V. (SWAN) announced, that it signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Pang Da and Youngman for the sale and purchase of 100% of the shares of Saab Automobile in considered value of 100M€.

It's still a MoU, because the deal has to be approved by several authorities (swedish and chinese), SWANs shareholders and other entities (GM?).

The MoU is valid until 15. November 2011.

An MoU between the same 3 parties was already here some months ago. It didn't worked, was cancelled and now signed under new conditions again. What is completely new is the 100% purchase attempt from the chinese side, which was probably a plan all the time. The 15.11. is within the timeframe given by the court for reconstruction.


Nothing else is known so far, but news will come very soon.

So if the deal goes through, Saab will end in chinese hands completely. It's simmilar case to Volvo and Geely relationsship. Shortly after the purchase of Volvo, Geely claimed that it will let Volvo operate independently besides making Volvo branded cars in China. I would desperately expect similar claim for Saab by Pang Da and Youngman. The brand stays, but what cars in which quality and where will be built under the new ownership is unknown yet. We will find out soon. This is the "somehow good" scenario. The bad scenario is pulling Saabs technologies, killing the niche brand and creating a new one.

Todays press release partially answers this : An important consideration for Swan to enter into the transaction is the commitment of Pang Da and Youngman to provide long term funding to Saab Automobile. Without any details yet. Well, let's see ...

So questionmarks :

• approvals of the authorities and shareholders (can destroy the whole deal)
• Saabs debts (is the 100M€ enough ?)
• how the reconstruction now continues
• renegotiations of new agreements with supplyers (some of them are not existing anymore)
• production in Trollhattan factory and future of all the employees in Trollhattan (after 1-2 years when production in China starts)
• future of Victor Muller in Saab
• business (sales) success after reconstruction and production restart

And how I feel now :



Lyrics (The Verve - Bitter Sweet Symphony)

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SAABs game with Pang Da and Youngman is over

The agreement between Swedish Automobile (SWAN), Pang Da and Youngman as well as the agreement to provide a brigde funding from 13.10.2011 is history. The reason described in Saabs press release is simple. Pang Da and Youngman "failed to confirm their commitment" to the agreement. The news came after an earlier news that Pang Da and Youngman offered 22M€ for 100% of Saab on Wednesday 19.10.2011, which is by far an undervalued offer.


Inthe middle of these turbulences Saab announced, that it got another commitment for funding from North Street Capital for 60M$. 


Saab has another roller coaster passage behind and for sure another coming very soon. Saab is still in the reconstruction phase, which is at the moment filed to be stopped by the administrator of the reconstruction Guy Lofalk. He describes in an recent interview what happened. Saab has a few days time to react and the court will decide until end of October. 

As the situation became more and more unclear. Sad. 

UPDATE : next part of the development can be found here

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Music for cabriolets : The Cure - A Forest

It's short after 6 o'clock in the morning. Rostock, Germany. I'm driving out of the Sweden - Germany overnight ferry, passing the apocalyptical power station tower. It's dark, only a few cars around on the highway. Hundreds of kilometers are waiting. So let's start them. Loud.




Btw. the strange drums used in this track are Remo Roto-Toms. They appeared in the 70s, differing from common used drums from that time by metal construction and easy tuning by rotating the drum body, therefore the name. It is possible to tune them in notes like any other instrument. Their sound characteristic was higher and flatter sound + afterwards quicker descending as wooden drums. They were used as toms in drumkits as well as additional percussions to drumkits.

They were used by wide range of prominent drummers. To name just a few of them : Bill Bruford (King Crimson), Roger Taylor (Duran Duran), Roger Taylor (Queen), Neil Peart (Rush), Phil Collins (Genesis), Stewart Copeland (The Police) or here Laurence Tolhurst from The Cure.

Due to their easier transportability and less place requirements they were often used also by drummers playing in bars and very small venues. The largest of them 22" (if I recall correctly) could be, when properly damped, used also as a kick drum. 

Later, in the 80s they were pushed out by the wave of electronic drums with more variable but also more artificial sound. They are still produced and sometimes appear on stages. From my former drummer period I have six of them somewhere :) There is also a wiki link explaining more.

But drummers remained to use wooden drums in waste majority. Wood is wood, the sound is more natural. So the Rototoms stayed as a curiosity.

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Saab Museum Trollhattan pictures part #2

Just a selection of pictures worth seeing...

You can see the first part of the pictures here. Part #3 is in higher resolution as well as part #4.

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Saab Museum Trollhattan pictures part #1

The first partis covering some of the convertibles in the Saab Museum in Trollhattan.

Click on the pictures for seeing them larger.

Saab 900TC Concept


The wonderful Saab 900 I Convertibles :



Saab 9-3 Convertible BioPower & Skeleton Editions


Saab 9-x Convertible Concept.


Other parts of the collection : part #2 here,  part #3 and part #4. 3 and 4 are clickable in higher resolutions.

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Cabrio ride hint : Trollhattan (Sweden) to west coast and back

If you ever go to Trollhattan, the Saab Mecca and stay for day or two, you will probably want to do a trip around. You'll have 2 possibilities - either go to the huge lake Vänern  or to the coast. Since I like to ocean, the choice was clear. Also someone on the Saabsunited forum advised the same.

The map :


Larger map

Depending on the time of the year, you may not start to soon in fall, because it's often foggy in the morning. In October, there was every morning fog until ~10-11:00. The picture below is from the night, but the morning wasn't different.

Trollhattan at night. Hotel room view.

Through the day, in Sweden you have to drive slowly. Even in October it was possible to take the roof down and drive a nice cabrioride. At least a part of the day.

Somewhere in Sweden

The first target is Uddevalla with a large and nice bay. Even without map somehow intuitive you can find a higher place over this bay for a stop. Than you will get this view :

Uddevalla

If you continue on the road 151 direction coast, you will have to cross a bay with a free ferry. It stops you for a moment, but for a stranger the stop is worth. It's a bit raw around, I don't know if I'd like to go this way in deep winter. And I'm sure, this wouldn't be a place for living some 300 years ago. Now it's a bit different. The countryside around would be a perfect place for an escape from the hectic cities and all the useless mess around.

One of the free ferries around

Then the hunger comes. A local hint says : "go to Hunnebostrand, restaurant Bella Gästis". Fine, why not. Hunnebostrand is a town at the coast, at that Sunday afternoon very sleepy. The restaurant was very good.

Hunnebostrand

Than the road continues as indicated on the map. Tha fall started, as I am writing  this a week after the trip, the colours must be much richer now. In Tanumshede is an entrance to E6 highway which leads back to Uddevalla and Trollhattan.

Direction back to Trollhattan

240 km, 5-6 hours incl. lunch stop. Strictly recommended.

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Saab 9-3 ePower dashboard indicators

Looks like a conventional Saab, but it isn't. The 9-3 ePower is a pure electrical vehicle (not a hybrid). It is a combi, has a range of ~200km, fairly swift acceleration and runs on lithium-ion batteries. We've seen more than one version. There are plans for making a 50-70 cars fleet for intensive testing. You can read more about Saab 9-3 ePower here.

Since I didn't find, what kind of information an electrical vehicle provides on the dashboard, I've made a picture last week in Trollhattan. Here it is :

D.T.E. is Distance to empty fuel tank (battery in this case), like on every Saab with SID (Saab Information Display). Now it has a dedicated indicator. Tachometer is clear. On the right side, the A is for Amperes, electric current and basically saying how much energy is milked by various systems from the battery. Instead of the turbo bar, there is Ecometer is telling you how economically you drive and when you loose energy. And the state of charge indication, the same as fuel level.

For a test drive of the electrical Saab, there is a video on SaabsUnited from such a drive and a lot of explanation.

edit : btw. André-Marie Ampére : 

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Saab recent nominations : Shortlist 2012 North American Truck of the Year and Car of the Year in Singapore

Two great news are recently rotating around the networked globe.

The Saab 9-4x found itself in the shortlist for 2012 North American Truck of the Year (TOTY), together with BMW X3, Honda CR-V, Land Rover Range Rover Evoque, Mercedes Benz M-Class, Mini Countryman and Nissan Quest. The jury of 50 journalists decides first for the top three finalists, which will be announced in December and the winner will be announced at the 2012 North American International Autoshow in Detroit, 9 - 22. January 2012.

The second news is fresh and even better. The new Saab 9-5 Sedan 2.8V6 Turbo has been named Car of the Year in Singapore by a prestigious Consumer Guide, published by Wheels Asia. The Saab 9-5 was favorably compared with Audi A6 and BMW 535i in the Executive Sedan class.

 

Given Saabs situation, these news are much better than expected. Last weekend I had the chance to drive the new 9-5 (Turbo 4, Vector, manual, FWD) and sit/explore the 9-4x. Both were very impressive.

Congratulations Saab !

Sources : Inside Saab, Saab Media, Saabs United

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Saab bits & pieces

Since I like old fonts and details, this was one of the targets for my camera through the Trollhattan trip. So here is a small selection of the captures. Some are from the Saab Museum, some from the SaabsUnited Oktoberfest cars. Enjoy.

You can see more from the SaabsUnited Oktoberfest 2011 here and here.

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