Swade

Saabosphere – Saab links we liked this week

Inside Saab now has a video page where you can watch all the groovy videos we produce.

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Saab participated in a fuel economy challenge in Spain just over a week ago and ended up winning a comparative test during the event.

The ALD Ecomotion Tour was hosted by ALD Automotive Company, a group dedicated to leasing and fleet management. The test involved nine different manufacturers. Vehicles were assessed according to their manufacturers fuel economy ratings and were driven to see how far below the stated fuel economy the driver could achieve.

It’s not stated in the reports that I’ve seen, but I’m told that the Saab 9-5 participating in the test was a Saab 9-5 2.0 TiD 160cv Vector Auto. The car was driven by a journalist accompanied by a member of the team from Saab Spain. Driving the 9-5 along the 350km course, they managed to achieve a 17% reduction from the fuel economy rating stated on the vehicle sales sheet – the biggest reduction achieved by any of the manufacturers participating.

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The 2011 Saab 9-5 Aero Sedan has been driven and reviewed by Motor Authority:

We’re glad we finally got the chance to get a first drive and spend some quality time with the 2011 Saab 9-5 sedan, as it’s quite possibly one of the best new efforts of the model year, with a cohesive design that takes a different direction than the main luxury sport-sedan current; an excellent, spacious interior; and a great mix of supreme isolation, driver involvement, and uniquely Saab character throughout.

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It looks like Motorexpo in London was a success, with a record 410,000 visitors attending the event at Canary Wharf. The Saab 9-5 SportCombi was in attendance and if you went to MotorExpo then I hope you enjoyed seeing the next addition to Saab’s lineup.

There’s some related good news in this for Saab fans in eastern Canada.

MotorExpo is expanding and will be on in Toronto from the 20th to the 24th June. That’s just a few days away from now and yes, Saab will be at the show. I’m not sure what range of vehicles will be there for visitors to see in Canada (it’s not the same vehicles as were seen in London) but it’s great to see Saab at this show.

Motorexpo will also be on in New York later this year.

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It’s nice to see the Saab 9-5’s IIHS Top Safety Pick award for the 9-5 Sedan getting some coverage on the web.

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For a bit of deeper reading, try out James May’s assessment of the role and function of the cup holder.

He has an opinion on the Saab cupholder, of course, and unfortunately it’s not a favourable one. That’s OK, as the cupholder had a two-fold purpose – to hold drinks and to make people go “wow”. It does both quite well, even if it doesn’t win big scores in James’ pedantry tests.

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Have a great weekend!

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Poll: If you could change one thing about today’s Saabs, what would it be?

A few weeks ago we gave you a magic wand and asked what Saab from the past you’d recreate today, brand new from the factory, if you had the chance. The Saab 900 was the overwhelming winner.

Today we’re asking you what particular area of today’s Saab vehicles would you improve if you could break out the magic wand once again. You can only choose one area, so pick carefully.

Yes, we could theoretically have an interior lined with the fur of bear cubs who are certified 100% happy to give their skins for Saab motorists, but then someone would have to pay for the bear psychologist, the certification program, the bear farm and the costs of fighting the various court challenges that would arise from such a program. That’s a rather extreme example, but the purpose is to illustrate that anything’s possible, at the right price.

At Saab, we take all the steps we reasonably can to produce a total vehicle package that will satisfy all of our customers needs and expectations, one that will fulfill the requirements of our brand pillars at the expected price range.

We always look for ways to improve, though. This is an opportunity for you to indicate which would be the first priority for you. The poll is open.

[poll id=”7″]

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Saab ANA Win journalists’ Green Award for Tri-Fuel Saab 9-3

On Monday, a group called Gröna Bilister (Swedish Association of Green Motorists) presented a list of the 41 cars that reached the final of their Best Environmental Car award.

A satisfied Joachim Lind from ANA, the Saab dealership in Trollhattan, is seen at right posing with the car that was the first choice amongst a jury of journalists involved with the award.

There were four separate juries involved in the awards – automotive journalists, environmental managers, families and retirees. These groups tested the cars on the STCC Göteborg City Racetrack in Gothenburg. The idea of having juries is that they represent different customer requirements in the Swedish market. Each group nominated a class winner. The motor journalist’s choice was a biogas variant of the Saab 9-3, called Trifuel, which also turned out to be the environmental managers’ third choice.

In order to be a finalist, it was required that the car should emit less than 120 g km CO2 life-cycle emissions, must have received five stars in EuroNCAP’s crash tests (four stars for electric vehicles) and must be available for delivery no later than August 31. Finalists ranged from small cars to family cars.

The Saab 9-3 Trifuel can run on either compressed natural gas, E85 ethanol fuel or regular gasoline. The vehicle is built by ANA Trollhättan from vehicles supplied by Saab as there is a local demand for biogas-powered cars within the municipality and Västra Götaland. Saab Sweden have been working with ANA on this project for some time because they see opportunities for biogas car outside Trollhättan.

The head of Saab Sweden, Magnus Hansson:

-We believe that ANA’s conversion of Saab cars for biogas cars is an interesting project and see a role for us to support the distribution outside Trollhättan. We have had a co-operation since the fall of 2010 and this will be assessed to see if and how we can move on.

An awards ceremony was held this week at Gustav Adolf’s Square. The award for the Best Environmental Car 2011 went to the car with the most total points from the different groups, namely, the VW Passat TSI EcoFuel, which run on gas and petrol.

The Saab 9-3 Trifuel ended up in third place in the overall standings. Second place was another Volkswagen, namely gas car VW Touran TSI EcoFuel. ANA’s President, Joachim Lind was on hand to receive the automotive journalists’ prize won by the Saab 9-3 Trifuel.

Press Release: Saab 9-5 Sedan earns Top Safety Pick 2011

The Saab 9-5 Sedan has earned the highest rating for crashworthiness in the United States. The “Top Safety Pick” is awarded by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS, www.iihs.org), a research and communications organization funded by auto insurers in the US.

IIHS performs full tests for front impact (offset) and side impact crashes. Seat/head restraints also undergo a simulated rear impact conducted on a sled to assess protection against whiplash injuries and the roof structure tested to assess vehicle rollover protection.

Vehicles are rated as “Good”, “Acceptable”, “Marginal” or “Poor” in the various categories. To receive the “Top Safety Pick” award, cars must achieve the highest rating in all four categories and should also be fitted with ESP®.

“We are very pleased with the 9-5’s performance. IIHS is an independent body and the results of their tests are easily accessible and objective information for car buyers. It is therefore important for us to achieve good results in this type of testing,” says Per Lenhoff, Head of Safety Development at Saab Automobile.

“Our main priority, however, will always be to protect real people in real accidents, not just to do well in crash tests. It’s the core of our Real-Life Safety philosophy,” continues Per Lenhoff.

Saab’s Real-Life Safety philosophy is based on the fact that no collision is ever the same. Saab safety engineers continuously study how Saab cars behave in real collisions on public roads. The results of these studies are the basis for continued development of both design and safety solutions in cars as well as of Saab’s in-house crash testing methods.

The Saab 9-5 Sedan has already received the highest rating, five stars, in the crash tests conducted by the European New Car Assessment Programme, EuroNCAP

Saab Engineering Services now online

This is more likely a post for industry, but it’s also an interesting thing for Saab enthusiasts who enjoy knowing some of the wider aspects of the business.

Saab has a great deal of expertise in many areas and a new operation, Saab Engineering Services, is seeking to offer that expertise to clients around the world. Saab, of course, is uniquely positioned to do this because we’re all in one fairly compact place. Clients can visit and they don’t have to travel to different countries in order to see both engineering and design, for example. This is a full-service automotive engineering and design business that’s being offered here, and the only other manufacturer with a similar level of competence all in one place is Porsche.

In recent times under our previous owner, Saab was the global center of excellence within General Motors for structural design, electronic management systems, engine turbocharging, transmissions and electric drivelines, chassis development and safety systems. Saab are now looking to combine that expertise with a new entrepreneurial spirit in the form of Saab Engineering Services.

SES is now offering up Saab’s expertise in vehicle integration, electronics, powertrain development, sheet metal, interior design, vehicle testing, analysis, thermal solutions, special vehicle development, prototyping and production engineering (Saab’s prototyping facility was one of the largest in the GM group).

That’s a lot of experience we’ve got to share and it makes good business sense to do so.

The man behind Saab Engineering Services is Per Lindberg. He was there when the whole enterprise started in 2009. Saab were looking to seperate from GM, which they knew would lead to some seasonal surplus engineering capacity in Trollhattan from time to time. Why not perform this work for others in need of that sort of expertise when our excess capacity allows?

The focus is on long term relationships that can benefit both parties in a true win/win situation. Clients will get a full service engineering and design solution that can take them from conception to industrialisation. From Saab’s point of view, it may be possible to not just earn income through providing engineering services. They can also potentially share purchasing with some engineering customers, thereby driving down parts costs considerably.

Achievements of the Saab engineering team – just over the last few years since the decision to separate from GM – include the following:

Complete development of a working EV framework, electric motor and gearbox, control software, battery control and storage technology. The test fleet is now in production.
Development of the Phoenix platform which is scalable for different segments from C to E segment, including new fuel tank technology which will be lighter and cheaper than existing plastic tanks, eXWD system and an all-new bespoke climate control system.
Development of the IQon entertainment system.

Don’t let a 3-point list trick you into thinking it’s small. The items listed there are huge in automotive terms and generally require a great deal of time and money to develop. Saab Engineering has proven its efficiency in bringing these about in minimal time and all are destined for either testing (EV framework) or production (Phoenix and IQon) in the next few years.

The engineering business formally got underway last year (?) and already there’s a good number of clients in the books and a few more waiting in the wings. Some of them are household names in the automotive business, too, and very good potential customers and partners for Saab.

This is just another way that Saab is looking to expand its business and put its in-house knowledge base to good use.

Saab safety – Film and Photo

It’s time for video #2 in our special “Inside Saab” series of videos.

A few weeks ago we brought you a ‘live’ crash test of a Saab 9-5 SportCombi. You got to see and hear what a crash test looks like without all the slo-mo images and with full sound, which is a pretty rare insight. Last week you got to meet one of our crash test dummies. It was a special look at what is a much more sophisticated piece of equipment than many people realise. Today, we tie these together and take a look at the film and lighting systems used for crash test videos.

Light is a key element of any form of photography or videography. When you’re filming at 1,000 frames per second, adequate lighting is crucial in order to ensure that the impact of the test can be properly assessed after the event.

As you’ll see below, Saab’s crash test facility has a lighting system that was built in consultation with experts in the field from Hollywood. It’s a system that is unique to Saab and we like to make best use of it.

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Swedish Automobile NV website now live

Our parent company’s name change from Spyker Cars NV to Swedish Automobile NV becomes official today and they’ve launched a new corporate website to suit.

The website is now live. I know there are some people interested in the whole company and not just the cars we make. Now is your opportunity to check the new site out.

Visit: Swedish Automobile NV.

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Two Saabs and 2,000 kilometers in two days

As mentioned the other night, I was up in northern Sweden for a few hours over the weekend, a town called Skellefteå, just over 1,000kms from Trollhattan. I was there with a couple of friends, Rune and Anna. We drove up there on Sunday and drove back on Monday.

The reason? Well, it all started back in the Swedish winter with an icy road, a bend, and a telegraph pole…..

This photo was taken in the dark with a cell phone, so it’s a little blurry, but here’s a look at some of the damage. This sort of damage isn’t something you could repair overnight, but it’s not impossible. Usually googling ‘auto repair shop Lynchburg‘ or something similar could help you find reliable mechanics. For our car, the work needed was extensive, so it took some time.

After the repair was complete, the first opportunity to pick up the car was last weekend. I came along to share the driving responsibilities so this story is part vehicle comparison, part road trip, and part lessons learned (more on that later).

Continue reading Two Saabs and 2,000 kilometers in two days

Saab 96 crash test – 1967

I found some still images of some early crash tests back in April and published them here on Inside Saab at that time.

Last week, we found the film from one of these tests. It’s from August 1967, and involves a frontal impact test performed on a Saab 96 at a speed of 50 km/h. It’s enjoyable both from a technical point of view, as well as being a window back in time into how things looked and worked back in the late 1960’s. The track they use today for crash testing at Saab is still in the same location, though it’s now much more sophisticated – and indoors 🙂

There is no audio.

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I’m not sure I would have wanted to be the crash test dummy used in that test – both seat and seatbelt technology has come a long way since that time. I have to say, however, that the passenger compartment of the 96 help up remarkably well from the impact, much better than many other cars from this earlier era would have done.

Press Release: Saab Automobile, Spyker, Pang Da And Youngman Enter Into MOU On Distribution/Manufacturing Partnership For China And Equity Participation

Trollhättan, Sweden: Spyker Cars N.V. (Spyker) announces today that Spyker, Saab Automobile AB (Saab Automobile), Pang Da Automobile Trade Co., Ltd (Pang Da) and Zhejiang Youngman Lotus Automobile Co., Ltd. (Youngman) signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding (MOU). The MOU includes an equity participation in the total aggregate amount of about EUR 245 million as well as a strategic alliance consisting of a three partite distribution joint venture and a tripartite manufacturing joint venture for Saab-branded and child brand vehicles in China.

On 16 May 2011 Spyker and Saab Automobile signed a memorandum of understanding (the 16 May MOU) with Pang Da, China’s largest publicly traded automobile distributor with over 1,100 dealerships nationwide. That 16 May MOU included a strategic alliance consisting of a 50/50 distribution joint venture (DJV) and a manufacturing joint venture (MJV) for Saab branded vehicles as well as for an MJV owned brand (the so-called ‘child brand’) in China. It was agreed that Saab Automobile would have up to 50 percent in the MJV, with Pang Da and a to-be-selected manufacturing partner owning the remaining shares. Pang Da and Saab Automobile have now agreed with Youngman to become the manufacturing partner in the MJV (in which Youngman will take 45% of the shares, Saab 45% and Pang Da 10%) and the DJV in which Youngman will take 33% of the shares, Pang Da 34% and Saab Automobile 33%.

Under the May 16 MOU, Pang Da would take an equity stake in Spyker for a total amount of EUR 65 million, representing 24 percent of Spyker on a fully diluted basis. With Youngman entering as a new shareholder in Spyker, the equity stake of Pang Da in Spyker will remain at 24 % raising its investment to EUR 109 million. The share price remains at EUR 4.19 per share and Pang Da will have the right to nominate up to two members of the Supervisory Board of Spyker.

Youngman will take a 29.9 % interest in Spyker on a fully diluted basis investing EUR 136 million at EUR 4.19 per share. Youngman will have the right to nominate up to two members of the Supervisory Board of Spyker.

Spyker, Saab Automobile, Pang Da and Youngman will set up joint ventures with respect to the manufacturing of Saab branded and child branded vehicles and the distribution of Saab branded and child branded vehicles for the China market. Saab Automobile and Youngman will each have a 45% interest in the manufacturing JV and Pang Da will hold the remaining 10%. Saab Automobile and Youngman will each have a 33% interest in the distribution JV and Pang Da will hold 34%.

The MOU is non-binding and the transactions following the MOU are subject to agreement on definitive transaction documents and certain conditions, which include consents from certain governmental agencies and third parties.

Victor Muller, CEO of Spyker and Saab Automobile said: “Having entered the MOU on May 16 with Pang Da, we collectively immediately set out to identify the most suitable (manufacturing) partner to join Saab and our joint ventures. We are convinced that Youngman represents all the qualities required to make Saab and the joint ventures a success. This MOU not only shows the belief of Pang Da and Youngman in our products for the Chinese market, it also is a step that significantly strengthens Saab’s financial position and would secure the mid and long term financing of Saab Automobile. Both Pang Da and Youngman have demonstrated a similar entrepreneurial mindset as we have which we feel will be instrumental to establish Saab’s presence in China. I am very confident that based on their experience, proven skills, their ability to move quickly and their financial strength, we found the partners that are best suited to fully explore Saab’s potential in China.”

Mr. PANG Qinghua, CEO of Pang Da, said: “Since our visit to Saab Automobile in Sweden we are even more convinced of the potential of Saab in the global market and the Chinese market, the number one market in the world, in particular and we intend to fully explore it. Not only are we impressed with the current and future product line up that is very well suited to the needs of the Chinese market but we are particularly impressed by their design, engineering and manufacturing skills.”

Mr PANG Qingnian, CEO of Youngman said: “We have been in contact with Saab Automobile for quite some time and we are very pleased to have reached an agreement with both Pang Da and Saab. We feel that Saab as a premium European brand appeals strongly to the taste and preferences of the Chinese customer who is looking for top quality vehicles with the highest levels of safety, driving pleasure and comfort and an unmistakable design language. Youngman is an automobile industrial group that produces and sells Youngman branded motor cars, MAN brand heavy type trucks and automobile spare parts. Our Manufacturing facilities are state of the art and are exactly tailored to build Saab vehicles at the highest quality standards. We look forward to a long lasting and successful relationship with Saab Automobile and Pang Da both in China as well globally through our investment in Saab.”