TROLLHÄTTAN, Sweden — Saab is working on a new concept car — believed to be a new small model — that will "define the new Saab," says Director of Global Operations Knut Simonsson. "It's going to be very important and will indicate what the Saab message is going to be."
The concept, which will appear within the next 12 months, will take Saab into a segment in which it is not currently present, although Simonsson would not be drawn out on what that would be. However, it is thought that the company is once again considering a smaller model, positioned beneath its aging 9-3.
But a new small Saab is a long way off right now, as the company regroups following its yet-to-be finalized breakaway from General Motors. More pressing, in product terms, is the need to replace the 9-3, although that's a good three years away. Between then and next spring's 9-5 launch, we will see a Combi version of the 9-5 with a tailgate and the Mexican built 9-4X SUV launched.
The 9-3 replacement, which was originally to have been built on a shortened version of the GM Epsilon platform that the 9-5 rides on, may be built on a Saab-derived platform that uses the front-end structure of the Alfa Romeo 159, which at one time Saab worked on with the Italian company as part of a failed cooperative venture.
In the near future, Saab is busy consolidating its activities around its Trollhättan factory. The production line for the 9-5 is currently being lifted and shifted from Opel's Rüsselsheim factory in Germany, where it was originally to have been built, an exercise requiring the movement of 56 truckloads of machinery, says Simonsson.
He adds that the split from GM has delayed the launch of the 9-5, "which we really had to fight for," by six months.
The company is also transferring production of the 9-3 Cabrio, currently made by Magna in Graz, Austria, to Trollhättan as well. Further out, Simonsson talks enthusiastically about what he calls the "electrification of the turbo," which can be interpreted as the development of a hybrid model using bespoke Saab technology.
Inside Line says: Much ado at Saab. — Richard Bremner, Correspondent
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