Ion Pulse

I was horrified in when I heard that Saab would be rebadging the Subaru Impreza and Chevy Trailblazer, later to be known as the Saab 9-2X and 9-7X. These vehicles detract from Swedish marques originality. When you cosider all Saab's major advances in Turbocharging and safety, and its inspirational models such as the 9X concept and the historic 99Turbo. GM better do something quick or they will have another Oldsmobile on their hands.

MioCLK

This is the probably the last hope for Saab.
They have to come up with cars that are "profitable."
Like Porsche, they need a car that can bring profits to the company, so they woredk with VW and came out with an SUV. Now they have got the profit they want. (But the Cayenne has been hurting the quality of the Porsche brand)
GM is counting things on the U.S. market, which accounts for around 40% of Saab's worldwide sales. And the cheapest way to do this is by rebadging a vehicle thats already in the GM family. (Saab only posted two years with profits, since GM acquired it in 1990)

Ion Pulse

Suppose.

Anyway theres talk that Saab are updating their 9-5 and 9-3 ranges to resemble the the 9-X concept.

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Saab 9-2 Fan

The Subaru Impreza is a great car. Add some Saab suaveness to it, and I think it's gonna be top notch (when I can get my hands on one).

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Saab 9-2
I'm all about the 9-2

Ion Pulse

After seeing reviews on the 9-2X it does'nt look all that bad and still has some Saab individuallity about it(at the front-end). If the new 9-7X is to be like this I don't know yet. After all is said and done the 9-2X is still a Subaru Impreza at heart. As for the Impreza it is a excellent piece of rally-bred engineering but(in my opinion) lacks the innovative touches a traditional Saab would have.

So if this continues what other strange badge-engineered cars are GM going to create for Saab.

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Tomsriv

I think it looks better than the current WRX, but not as good as the bug eyed WRX. Anyways, I think Saab and Volvo ruined themselves when they switched to front-wheel drive. Before they were fuel efficient sport sedans without the snob appeal of a BMW. Now they are just another car.

Ion Pulse

Totally agree, although its not Saab and Volvo who have ruined themselves its GM and Ford!!!

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hybridnorthern

ha!, Im no GM supporter, but you guys know that saab wouldnt be a company today if it wasnt for GM and all their money. (Saab ruined itself years ago, they are just lucky GM helped them out)

and dont get me wrong, saab has been one of my favorite car companies since I can remember and I personally think that the 92x is a great step ahead for them. It would be my car of choice if I had the money at the moment.

Ion Pulse

Much to my disgust there is to be another joint venture between Saab and Subaru to produce the Saab 9-6X. This will be based on the Subaru Legacy Outback and will rival the likes of the Mitsubishi Outlander. Its not yet known if it will be American-only like the 9-2X.


Now this sounds better Saab will produce its own(totally in-house)9-5 replacment and it will come in Saloon,Estate and a Fastback(tipped to be a four door supercar) bodies and will be based on the same chassis as Opel's Insignia concept. Sadly it will probably come in rear-wheel drive form, after Saab has been long associated with front-wheel drive cars. It will go on sale in 2007.

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edonis

You guys do realize that Saab didn't just recently switch to FWD? This has excisted for a looong time! In the 70's, Saab salesmen compared FWD with horseracing when there is a carriage behind the horse, and how stupid it sounds if the jockey (?) and his carriage would sit in front of the horse. Although the driving dynamics (especially in the higher motorized versions) would be much improved by switching to RWD, I'm afraid this would affect their excellent ability to drive on snow and ice. The ultimate solution would be providing a four wheel drive version.

9-2X a great leap ahead for Saab? You've got to be joking! What about safety? The Impreza is as safe to be in a crash as a bicycle travelling at 80km/h. Furthermore, the interior is way outdated, and the seats are dreadful compared to original Saab seats.

hybridnorthern

As a company, the 92x is a great step ahead for Saab. They finally have a car that fits into a huge buying market which none of their other cars do. You guys dont think so because you are saab purists, but come on, saab is never going to be like the old days.

As far as saftey goes, an impreza is a pretty safe car. (however not as safe as the typical saab) Hey, it could be worse, GM could have done all the designing and then it wouldnt be much safer than driving a tin can.

Zodiac

No no no, you have it all wrong. GM is NOT destroying Saab, Saab almost destroyed itself decades ago and recovered slowly, but not good enough. Now GM owns part of Saab in a way that you could call "lending a helping hand". Saab still designs the cars incase you didnt know.

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Just the clean and sporty Miata.

Maserati_chic

GM is very good for SAAB . Saab have been financial bleeding for many years . Despite all the money thrown into Saab from GM, it looks very bad for Saab right now .
and there alott off rumour in sweden that they gone close the factory and move it to another country

Ion Pulse

I heard that GM could be selling Saab to Peugeot.

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Maserati_chic

Ion Pulse
i work at Saab or to be more exact Saab-BAe . and i have never heard abut Peugeot gone buy Saab. but GM want to move the factory to eastern Europe to save money .

but of course i can be wrongh

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Maserati shamal 1993
V8, 4-Cam, 32-valve Biturbo
240kW/326bhp @ 6000rpm