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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SaabsUnited Oktoberfest 2011 Trollhattan in pictures

My first and hopely not last large Saab event. In the previous post are immediate feelings written deep in the night still in the hotel in Trollhattan. So this is part 2 of the post, mainly pictures.

Before one experience with the ANA service. Through the day before leaving Trollhattan, the ashtray in my Saab broke down. Although a small thing, for a smoker who leaves for a 1500 km drive without the ashtray a very disturbing thing. So early in the morning I went to ANA with a big ask for fix / change it. They understood and the problem was fixed within an hour for a reasonable price. Respect. And thanks a lot.

The pictures :

Many Saabs. Of course mine in front :)

The evening before the main event. SUHRT rally cars in front of the hotel.

Saab 9-5 SC : 

I want. It would be a great combination of a family car, a day-to-day car and using it as a company car.

On the photo below is the american version (as far as i know). A bit different mainly from the rear side. Imho nicer, but with this meaning I was somehow alone around.

The 9-4X

A small wet dream. In Aero please. That was a really nice piece. I've met on the roads around Trollhattan another white one several times. Alltogether I've seen 2 whites and this grey. The video of the presentation from the photo above is located here.

My favorite Saab cabriolets seen around

This 9-3 II in grey with probably custom roof a and very minimalistic look'n'feel. Hirsched. Grey inside. Even the ice-cube rear lights are now in a context, where I like them. Wow.

Around this 9-3 I Viggen cabrio I was daily walking in the garage and had to stop for a moment each time. Looks in great condition, Hirsch wheels (probably ECU as well). Ehm ... P0rn.

Update : with 99%, it's this one. Different license plate, but the one in the link was sold. 

And some more :

"Steampunk" edition

 The red 9-5 was very nice as well. I liked the red-black rearview mirror detail.

Combination of 80ies and probably some uncommon medication :) Nice !

We had this 9-5 for 30 minutes test-drive. Three drivers, 2.0 Turbo 4, Vector. Positive surprise.
 

This is another car p0rn. A hirsched 9-5 2.8V6 Aero, software, 19" wheels, exterior as well as interior parts. Ahhhh ....

Some more pictures will appear in the future. You can also find the first part here.

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