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Video: Saab 9-5 SportCombi crash test

There’s nothing at Saab that’s treated more seriously than the safety of our customers. It’s one of our core values and part of the Swedish philosophy that’s incorporated into every car that we design and build.

Our next vehicle release is the much awaited Saab 9-5 SportCombi and earlier this week (not even two days ago as I write this), Saab did a frontal offset crash test on the 9-5 SportCombi. The test was done at 65km/h and was performed to EuroNCAP standards, with four ‘occupants’ in the car.

I was fortunate enough to get along to the crash lab and record this video of the test. Many of you might have seen videos from the IIHS or EuroNCAP before, which tend to be slo-mo and soundless. This video doesn’t have the same angle they use because there are safety concerns governing where I could stand with the video camera, but it’s 100% live and you’ll get the same visual and aural experience that I had.

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Note the intact cabin and A-pillar in the post-crash photos because the front of the car absorbed the impact. All airbags deployed as they should have to protect our valuable passengers. One detail that I found interesting….. if you look closely at the still shots, you’ll see that even the turn signals on the mirrors are still working.

We’ll have some more video in the next few weeks showing you some more background material from the crash lab and how various aspects of it work. It’s very interesting and impressive stuff and I’m looking forward to sharing it here on Inside Saab.

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Living in Trollhattan – Wednesday night at the locks

If you’re familiar with summertime in Trollhattan then you’ll already know what this story is all about. If not, then here’s another little snapshot of life in Trollywood.

If you ever come to Trollhattan in the summertime, try to include a Wednesday night in your stay here. Why?

I’m not sure exactly who organises it, but vintage and veteran vehicle owners from the Trestad area (i.e. three cities – Trollhattan, Vanersborg, Uddevalla) hold an informal car show at the locks in Trollhattan on Wednesday nights. Today was the first day of June, the first day of summer, and a Wednesday, so the lads and ladies had their cars ready to show.

I’ll start this entry with what was the end of the car show for me – the more Continental section of the show, where the Saabs were loosely congregated amongst other European makes. Here’s a fine Saab Sonett II to start with (there were no Sonett III’s at the show, nor any original Sonetts, which have actually been there in the past, both a genuine Saab 94 and a very good copy)

This was the third time I’d seen this 99 today in Trollhattan……

There are heaps more photos after the jump…….

Continue reading Living in Trollhattan – Wednesday night at the locks

Saab 9-5 SportCombi – what a model!

I love it when Saab fans come up with creative ways to enjoy their love of the vehicles we make.

Rolic is a Saab owner from Latvia and he recently posted a series of photos showing what he hopes to be his next car – a Saab 9-5 SportCombi – which he made from LEGO(tm)

In Rolic’s own words…..

This is a custom made LEGO SAAB 9-5 Wagon model. After creating my wifes one of the favorite cars in LEGO interpretation, I thought it is time to build a model of my favourite car. As some of you may already know, I am a fan of SAABs. I drive one currenty (9000 CS) and I wish my next car to be a SAAB too.. particulary this one – 9-5 Wagon.

I love the creativity and the execution.

My thanks to Rolic for permitting me to share it here on Inside Saab.

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Press Release: Pang Da Advances EUR 15 Million Order For Saab Vehicles By 17 Days

Trollhättan, Sweden – Spyker Cars N.V. (Spyker) and Saab Automobile AB (Saab Automobile) today announced that Pang Da Automobile (Pang Da) has placed an additional order for 630 Saab vehicles. The order is valued at EUR 15 million and follows the successful visit to Saab Automobile’s facilities in Trollhättan last week by a number of senior Pang Da representatives, headed by Chairman and CEO Mr. Pang Qinghua.

The order comes on top of the 1,300 cars that Pang Da ordered for EUR 30 million and both orders are part of the broader tentative agreement between Spyker and Pang Da which was signed on May 16. As with the EUR 30 million order, Pang Da will pay the additional order up front and Saab Automobile expects to receive the funds this week. Delivery of the vehicles will start in the fall of this year.

Victor Muller, CEO of Spyker and Saab Automobile, said: “I am delighted that Pang Da, as previously planned, has ordered an additional 630 Saab vehicles. This not only shows the potential for the Saab brand in the Chinese market, but also that in Pang Da, we have found the right partner. I look forward to the next step in our business relationship when we set up joint ventures for distribution and, at a later stage, production in China together with a still-to-be-named manufacturing partner.”

Mr. Pang Qinghua, CEO and Chairman of Pang Da, added: “Our visit to Trollhättan last week has further strengthened our belief that we made the right decision in entering a partnership with Spyker and Saab Automobile. This additional order is the result of my firm conviction that Saab has the right product program for the Chinese market and our large distribution network will be an important asset in unlocking the potential of the brand.”

How long have you owned a Saab? One man's story….

I posted a poll late last week asking people how long they’d been a Saab owner. I’ll get to the results of that poll tomorrow, but first I want to thank everyone for their input in comments. There were some wonderful Saab stories there.

I’ve picked out one in particular and contacted the writer seeking his permission to post here on the front page. It’s a wonderful story that I think a few people will relate to. An early connection, a hiatus, some classic Saabs and a new one as well. It caught my eye and I thought a few of you might enjoy it too.

The writer’s name is Xavier and I thank him for sharing his story on site.

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Hello from France,

I bought my first SAAB in Denmark, at Kobenhavn in 1990. It was a new white 900 T16 (175ch) 3-door combi. A few years later I bought a white 1990 convertible T16-S (185ch) at 90,000 km. I was so proud with my 2 white Saabs. Unfortunately, my wife had a accident with the coupé because of the cat in 1997 and I had a big accident with the convertible on the peripherique of Paris on a winter sliding morning in 2003. We also had a 900 T16 sedan for some time but I did not like it very much and sold it. So after this, I had no more Saabs, nor any cars at all. I bought a Peugeot 406 V6. Although it was good car, I could not get used to it for reasons I can’t explain with my poor English (you’re doing fine, your English is a gazillion times better than my French – SW). I sold it for a Mercedes C220, which I then sold for a Mercedes R280.

At this time, I did not like the new “products” of Saab. It was GM with a Saab logo. What I like in Saab is to drive a different car and GM was just making ordinary cars that were so similar to the other cars. With a 900, people are a fan or they hate it. There is no between!

I knew that I would buy a 900 one day and I heard that Saab was about to disappear, so I woke up and I bought a 900 T16-S convertible at the end of 2009. I sold the Mercedes and bought a 900 T16-S 3-door combi at the beginning of 2010. They are both dark grey and from 1991. Last summer, we went to Italy with the convertible. It was just great. The children, who are 12 & 10 years old, love the car!

And to finish, I bought the new Saab 9-5 Aero 220ch Biopower last November. Although this car is born under GM period, we can feel the Saab spirit blowing! The windshield and other details have the 900 as a reference. I really love the line and what a pleasure to be at the wheel!

So, now I have 3 Saabs. Maybe the beginning of a collection…

Xavier

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And here are Xavier’s Saabs. Definitely a collection, if you ask me, and a very fine collection, too. Click to enlarge.

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My car hunt is over….

As well as covering the corporate stuff on this website, I’ve also been covering a little of my personal journey as an Australian Saab fan relocating to Sweden and getting to grips with life at Saab.

One of my personal quests was to buy a Saab in Sweden so that I could proudly park it in the mothership’s car park, as well as taking in the beautiful surrounds in one of Scandinavia’s finest.

One of the criteria for this quest was to pick up something that I couldn’t easily get back home in Australia. I’d have to say that I’ve failed on that account and will have to keep it in mind for another acquisition in the future. I’d really hoped for a Saab 99 Turbo, but they come up for sale so infrequently here and the examples in good condition command prices that were beyond my budget.

A compromise was therefore in order, and what a delicious compromise it’s turned out to be.

Acquired last Sunday with the help of one of my colleagues at Saab (thanks Ingvar!), this is my new (to me) Saab 900 S turbo. It was built in 1991 and has a low pressure turbo 16-valve engine making 145hp and around 200Nm of torque. It has a cloth interior, no electric anythings and no sunroof. Quite the humble car, then.

What it does have is a great engine and gearbox and in this land of salted snowy winter roads, very little rust. There’s just one wheel arch to be cleaned of metal cancer and repainted.

Those who know me and my motoring history will know that my cars don’t necessarily remain in the same condition as when acquired for very long. I’ll be seeking to do the rust repairs fairly shortly and then I’ll quite possibly call on one of Sweden’s tuning houses to add a little bit of ‘personality’. It won’t be a red rocket, but hopefully it’ll have enough juice to put some steam in your strides.

As you can see, I’m one very happy camper.

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Skaters invade Saab for commercial shoot

This is nothing car related, but it’s interesting just to see the other things go on here from time to time.

If I asked you to guess the names of guys you’d find in the crash test building here at Saab, you’d probably answer Anders, or Fredrik, or similar names. Yesterday was a little different as the building was full of guys names Wes, Tyler, Brandon and the like.

Swedish online skating retailers Junkyard hired the Saab crash test facility to film an advertisement yesterday. It’s my understanding that the campaign will be online, at the least, and maybe for television here in Sweden as well. The company used a crew of skaters from the United States, who have been touring around Europe for competitions in recent months.

So why use the Saab crash test facility?

If you look at the photo above, you’ll see the guys are standing on the edge of a big pane of glass. Underneath that glass (which is around 10cm thick and optical quality in clarity) is a room with a high speed camera in it.

Here’s a look to the room down below…..

The high speed camera is on the tripod. It’s pretty small, but very powerful. It records 1,000 frames per second and each of those frames is around 3 megabytes in size, so the 2.6 seconds of time taken to record a stunt by one of the skaters takes a fair bit longer than 2.6 seconds to download on to the computer.

Above the glass is a bank of lights, so everything was completely lit up when Wes did the jump shown below…..

And here’s how it looks from down where the camera is…..

It’ll be more effective in super slo-mo, I’m sure, but you get the picture.

It’s an unusual use for Saab’s crash test facility, but an enjoyable one. The guys were all great and had a lot of fun recording the spot. We’ll keep an eye out for the film version when it comes online and post it as a follow up to this story.

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Saabosphere – Saab links we liked last week

I’m going to start this week’s Saabosphere with a link from this very same website. I’ll do that because it’s important for those who didn’t all the commotion on Friday to know that Saab has indeed re-started production after a 6-week layover.

There was a press release about it and I also shot some video of the first cars coming off the line just after 10am Friday morning. The article on this subject that you might find a bit more entertaining is my Notes on the re-start of production, which includes a few behind-the-scenes observations from the day.

I can further confirm that today, Monday, we were back making cars again, with 145 built when I walked past the production line just after lunchtime (we built just 100 or so last Friday on the first day back).

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Franca Devonport from The Telegrgaph, in England, has an excellent article covering the value of the Mille Miglia, which Saab competed in a few weeks ago for the second consecutive year.

The article examines the value to companies who take part in the event, the way it can link a company’s past to its present and how companies can use the event to make a prolonged statement about themselves and their vehicles.

“The Saab is a strong character,” says Peter Bäckström, manager of the Saab Museum, and Fägerhag’s co-driver. “It simply cannot be mainstream and Saab drivers simply cannot be categorised, apart from as individuals. Participating in events like the Mille Miglia encapsulates what Saab is all about.”

Well, that’s one drawcard, along with the Italian food 🙂

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We’ve been covering the Saab Convertible’s 25th Anniversary here on Inside Saab (more to come soon) and if you do the math, that will tell you that the first Saab Convertibles were sold to the public as 1985 vehicles.

How then, does one get a 1981 Saab Convertible?

The short story is over at Saablog-in.

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Those of you in England might want to mark down the dates for MotorExpo in your calendar.

The 2011 event at Canary Wharf will once again include Saab as an exhibitor.

Motorexpo is open daily between 10.00am and 6.00pm from Monday 6 to Saturday 11 June, and between 11.00am and 5.00pm on Sunday 12 June. Entry is free.

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This story is not online (yet), but Jerry Seinfeld is coming to Sweden to do a few shows. In a publicity article in Goteborg’s Posten, Jerry lists three of his favourite things about Sweden:

Lasse Hallstrom – “I love him. I loved ‘My Life as a Dog’. ‘Gilbert Grape’ was also good. It was he who did it? “
Erik Carlsson – “That is a ‘60s reference. He was rally driver for Saab. He drove a Saab 96, no wait, it was actually a Saab 92”.
Saab – “I love Saab. In my TV show, I drove a Saab.”

With reference to #2, it was both (as well as a few others), though he’s more known for the 96. It seems like Jerry’s Saab knowledge might run more than show-deep. But then he is a car guy, reported to own a fleet of Porsches.

Black Saab Rules!

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Saab 9-5 Combis of different colors

Hey all.

I’ve spent the morning having my mind blown to pieces looking at some electrical integration setups that are used for testing cars, and testing changes to cars (from the electronics point of view). More on that later.

Whilst exiting the building, I was confronted by a number of Saab 9-5 SportCombis in different colors, a few of which I hadn’t personally seen before. I thought you might like to see them as well.

This is Carbon Grey…..

Many of you would have seen Laser Red already. This one’s a Linear model…..

And here’s Java Brown Metallic, in Aero Trim…..

The tailgate differences between the US and Europe should hopefully be visible in this image…..

And a simple, nice, face to face…..

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Poll: How long have you been a Saab owner?

In this week’s poll, I’m interested to find out whether you’re new to Saab, or if you’ve owned Saabs for a long time. We know that we have a lot of passionate long-term Saab fans out there, but it would be interesting to know the spread amongst the readers here at Inside Saab.

UPDATE – There’s been some talk in comments on how to interpret the question. The intention when I wrote it was based on “when did you get your first Saab” and calculating the time from then until now. Of course, if you bought your first one in the 1970’s and had non-Saabs for 20 year between then and now, you may want to take off the non-Saab years from the total. In that case, you might want to fill out the story in comments (as some have already done.

Please click away, and if you’d like to share more about your ownership experience (e.g. the number of Saabs you’ve owned, the models, your first Saab) then the comments section is open.

[poll id=”4″]

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