Saab Archives - Page 5 of 12

Saab To Use H-Engine in 9-3 (eventually?)

I wrote a few weeks ago about Saabs and Production, tying together a story by Hilton Holloway in England and some stuff that I’d heard on the grapevine.

Some excerpts to give you perspective. The first is from Holloway:

Although this 9-3 pre-production car is powered by the same 2.0-litre turbocharged petrol engines used in the pre-collapse series production cars, this is just a stop-gap operation.

And my elaboration on that….

From what I’ve heard, NEVS bought around 2,000 of these (GM) engines from the bankruptcy estate so they’re what’s going in the car to start with.

The ramp-up to production is going to be pretty slow so those engines should last a little while. There shouldn’t be any real hassles with GM, either, as it’s old technology bought from the Saab estate, not sourced from GM.

Of course, NEVS are going to have to insert an engine of their own sooner or later.

Overnight, I heard a little bit more about what that replacement engine might be.

As with my last piece, I have to stress that this isn’t bona-fide Djup Strupe material i.e. direct to me from inside the company. As with last time, this is from a friend in the Trollhattan area who is very likely connected to people inside the company. This is third-party information, in other words. I’m mentioning it here because it’s information that I’ve heard from several different third parties, now.

As per the headline to this story, that information is that NEVS/Saab plan to use Saab’s old H-Engine in their petrol powered Saab 9-3.

For those who are unfamiliar, the H-engine powered Saabs for years, last seeing service in the Saab 9-5 in 2009 prior to the second generation Saab 9-5 being released as a 2010 model with a range of GM engines. The H-engine also powered the first generation of the Saab 9-3 before GM Ecotec engines were introduced in the Sport Sedan era. The origins of the H-engine actually go right back to the Saab 99, but that’s a distant relative to the modern H-engine.

Saab sold the rights to the H-engine to BAIC when they had a cash-raising tech sale back in 2009. Given that no-one builds them in Sweden any more, it’s fair to assume that NEVS might intend to source their H-engines from BAIC for use in the 9-3.

So what does the use of the H-engine mean for Saab and it’s non-Chinese fan base?

Whether GM replaced the H-engine with the Ecotec because of efficiency, pollution, NVH or sheer business economics will vary depending on who you talk to. It remains to be seen whether or not any further efficiency can be squeezed out of the old powerplant. If anyone can do that, it’s Kjell AC Bergstrom.

Saab fans will rejoice because it’s more Saab DNA in the car. That’s true, but it’s widely known that the engine doesn’t meet modern emissions standards (not as used in the old Saab 9-5, at least. I refer you again to the paragraph above and whether or not Kjell AC Bergstrom can massage it a little). Saabs United reported last week that NEVS had the 9-3 in Holland for testing and the GM Direct Injection engine was in that car. That engine will undoubtedly achieve current Euro certification for emissions. The H-engine most likely would not.

Use of the H-engine would therefore lend credence to the theory that production in the short-medium term is all bound for China, where emissions regulations aren’t as demanding.

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There’s an interesting complication that arises from a scenario where Saab build a limited number of GM-engined cars followed by H-engine cars. That complication revolves around the engine bay.

NEVS are building the Saab 9-3 (series 440), which never came with a H-engine under the hood. From what I can tell, that means a whole bunch of engineering and comprehensive safety testing before this engine/chassis combination could hit a western market. Then there’s the NVH testing that would need to be done to make sure the car’s refined enough for a western market.

It’s not impossible, but it’s a definite complication. Saab fans are rightly excited that a Saab car might be coming off the line next week, but in order to really justify the excitement, the car’s got to be competitive and that means safe, well equipped and refined.

—

Add this to the list of questions that I hope someone asks NEVS next Monday, when they show their working production line to the motoring press.

It’ll be interesting to see how things unfold, that’s for sure. For now, it looks like the Chinese market is going to get familiar with the term “DI Cassette” 🙂

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Saab Will Build A Car On Monday

Some more good news has come out of Trollhattan today.

Here’s the invitation:

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National Electric Vehicle Sweden AB has started the production of the Saab 9-3 Aero Sedan with a petrol engine and would like to invite media to a presentation:

Time and date: Monday December 2, 13.00.
Venue: Main gate, Saabvägen 5, Trollhättan.

Program

13.00 Presentation of NEVS

NEVS founder and owner Kai Johan Jiang
President Mattias Bergman
Q & A session
13.25 First car rolls of the assembly line
Photo session
Interview session

—

You’ll note that Saab has already started production with some pre-prod cars rolling off the line this month. It seems that this event is therefore largely ceremonial. They’ve got things sorted out on the production line and now the time is right to get the press in and show that things are rolling.

All well and good.

And a genuine cause for celebration, I might add.

BUT – and you knew there’d be a ‘but’ in there, didn’t you? – I am slightly more interested in the Q&A and interview sessions that will follow. Will anyone ask the harder questions and most importantly, will NEVS have any answers to them?

Here’s my starting position. You can disagree if you like, but I’d be interested to know your reasoning.

Right now, as a Saab enthusiast, I’m interested in what NEVS is doing because they’re doing it with Saab-badged cars and they’re doing it in a town that I love – Trollhattan. Eventually, NEVS is going to have to do what Saab did, however, and make a car that’s compelling. Building a 9-3 is all well and good but people have been driving the 9-3 since late in 2002. It’s no longer compelling to the average punter. Right now, the re-start of the factory is very interesting, but more compelling would be what NEVS might do to improve the 9-3 and what the company plans to do to sell the 9-3. More compelling still is what NEVS might do with the Phoenix platform.

I know we’re going to get very little in the way of Phoenix-related information. That’s to be expected. But NEVS’s plans for the initial 9-3 are now fair game because they’re building it and they’re asking the world to come and see it.

Building the 9-3 from the smoking ruins of Saab Automobile is one hell of an achievement and I don’t want to trivialise that for a minute. But in the overall scheme of running a car company on the world stage, it only puts a few credits in the bank. Building a car is the bare minimum for running a car company. There’s GOT to be a bigger picture in play here.

The questions I’d like to see asked and answered next Monday:

Assuming these cars are being made with the GM petrol engine, how many are going to be made in this configuration and what engine will take the GM engine’s place?
Where are these cars going to go once they’re built? Are they destined for individual customers? For testing? For fleet use in China? For sale outside of China? If it’s going to be sold outside of China, what modifications are being made to improve its safety ratings and how far along is testing for these changes?
Now that NEVS is building cars, how and where do they plan to sell them?
Again, assuming these cars are being made with the GM engine, will the change to a more regular engine supplier in the future mark the next generation (i.e. the full NEVS facelift) of the Saab 9-3?
Are there plans to sell that car outside of China, and if so, to which markets? In what timeframe?

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Why ask these questions?

It’s not about exposing a story that NEVS might want to keep close to their chest. Well, not just for the sake of it, at least.

It’s about whether or not the thousands of Saab fans around the world actually have a reason to keep watching the story. Is there an end in sight that sees a new, worthwhile Saab in people’s driveways? And how long will that take?

I’m very keen to see what NEVS do with Saab but building a car is just the beginning. You’ve got build a car that people want and you’ve got to get it to them in a timeframe that maintains their interest.

I hope someone asks these questions and moreover, I hope NEVS has answers for them. If so, Saab fans will have a real reason to break out the fireworks and the marching bands.

NEVS building a few cars is a good landmark and a wonderful occasion for Trollhattan. I just hope it translates into a story that gives Saab fans all over the world a genuine reason to hope for a compelling car that’ll be available at a dealership in their country.

I want to believe that there is a genuine reason for Saab fans to get excited about what Saab is doing. But if that reason doesn’t involve a genuinely interesting car and the chance to drive it – even if that interesting car is two, three or five years away – then we’re all kidding ourselves a little bit, simply cheering for cheering’s sake.

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Saab 99Turbo Dreams Realised

This is my kind of entry. Great car, good feelings, plenty of text, and I didn’t have to write a word of it (beyond this introduction).

Ed K, as you’ll plainly see, is a Saab nut and he’s just acquired one of the Saabs of his dreams.

This is his story.

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Dear Swade,

Just wanted you to know that I purchased a Saab 99 Turbo yesterday largely thanks to your raving about these cars over the years.

I am an American living in Budapest, Hungary, and have been on the lookout for a Saab 900 T16S for quite some time now. In Hungary, there is an incredibly strong Saab following, but good examples are near impossible to come by (as Saabs were only first sold in Hungary in 1990).

About a week ago, an opportunity came up to purchase a Saab 99 Turbo which was too good to pass up, even though I had my heart set on a 900 T16S/Aero. This car has had a large amount spent on it over the last ten years, and has been the subject of two magazine articles in Hungary. Here is a link to one of the articles which was from last year, including a lot of nice pics of the car.

We cut the deal last Friday and signed the paper work this last Monday. I spent a good three hours with the car and the previous owner last Friday, and the following is the state of the car:

The paint, wheels, motor, turbo, suspension and interior have been rebuilt as new or refurbished to a very high standard. You will see from the pics that the car really did receive a proper re-spray (with all rot cut out and replaced with healthy metal from a donor vehicle).

The only parts on the car that let it down are the hard to find plastic and rubber perishables. If these were available NOS in replacement, this car would be in factory fresh condition. The previous owner has done his best to get these parts where he could. I have been trolling around Ebay and other websites, and man is it difficult to come by parts for this car!

The engine has 3000KMs on it, and was done to the highest standard by the top guy in Hungary for these types of things. It still needs to loosen up a good deal and felt a little tight. The tolerance of the rebuild was done to a higher standard than factory, and it needed to be “cold run in” (which I understand is a special way of breaking in engines which are rebuilt to very tight tolerances).

The interior finish was done to a very high standard. The color of the fabric and vinyl used are spot on. Unfortunately, the finish of the velour used is slightly off (I had a 1981 Saab 900, and the velour used by the factory had a much tighter weave, but this was the best they could do). That said, the interior was redone by the guy written up in local car magazines as being the best at this sort of thing, and the seats really are in as new condition. By the way, the heating filament and the metal spring/frame was changed in both front seats.

The history of the car is very interesting. In the early 90s, it was very fashionable for Hungarians to purchase used older cars abroad and bring them back to Hungary. Of course Hungarians, formerly stuck behind the Iron Curtain, were amazed that older Audis and Mercedes were within their financial grasp. If something went wrong, the car was often taken off the road for lack of spare parts in Hungary and lack of funds.

This is what happened with this car which was imported from Switzerland in 1991 by a young Hungarian gentlemen. The oil cooler leaked, and the local Hungarian mechanic simply deleted it from the cooling system due to a lack of parts and a lack of funds. Of course the turbo blew pretty soon thereafter and the car was taken off the road. It allegedly only had 133,000 KMs on it at the time. The guy I purchased the car from purchased it in the early 2000s after a ten year hiatus, during which it was in storage. Since buying it, he has put about 20,000kms on it, so it has about 155,000kms on it now.

I had very limited experience with Saab 99s until I drove this car. I am much more familiar with Saab 900s. What I consider to be my first car was a 1981 GL. As you may be aware from the comments I posted when you purchased your 9000 Aero, I own a 1997 Saab 9000 Aero which I have completely restored mechanically with Abbot Racing parts over the last year. I intend to treat it to a re-spray in the spring.

The following are my impressions of the 99 turbo:

I may be wrong, but the interior of the 99 feels a lot more cramped than a 900 (although this may also be partly as a result of my 10 -15 KG weight gain since I last drove a 900!)

The 8V is a marvel. What a sound. It sound more hairy chested than the 16V (although not as smooth).

The suspension is a work of wonder. I took it on some very bad roads and it soaked up the bumps incredibly. Much better than my 2006 9-3 SC. Yet road feel and control in the corners was excellent. I spoke to someone at Abbot Racing about what suspension mods are good to do to the 900, and they said none other than the replacement springs. Abbot Racing said that (i) Saab was constantly improving the suspension over the production run of the 99/900 and (ii) all the good engineers left Saab for GM units in the US in 1990, so the 9000 never had the development over its production life as the 99/900 had.

The turbo of the 99 has a character of its own – it’s all about keeping the turbine spooled between gear changes. It is interesting how if you change gears quickly, you can make use of the pressure built up in the last gear if you time things right. The turbo of the 9000 Aero spools down right away after acceleration in changing gears in contrast to the 99.

This car feels incredibly mechanical – almost as if as a driver, you are merely a cog in a bigger machine full of cogs. There is something incredibly visceral about driving this car.

I love the 70s Swedish design. In its own way, perhaps even more pure (and eccentric) than the 900. Very angular, but also very interesting to look at with a solid sensible layout.

Those lobster claw seat belt clasps are awesome. I thought they would be difficult to use, but in some ways it was easier. I really found them endearing.

The trunk of this thing is beyond belief! Amazing how the low loading lip and flat folding seats would be considered a thing of wonder today – in the 70s it was in a class of its own.

You get the sense that this car is a bit of a patchwork of parts that work very well together as a whole. Almost as if this car was a test bed rather than a production car. As if things were bolted on as part of later development, rather than part of the original design. This is probably true, as I understand this car had a very limited life (one year in the US?) and could be viewed as a development mule for the Saab 900 turbo. The car is more than the sum of its parts – that’s for sure!

The gear shift is the dog’s breakfast. They always sucked on the 900 as well, but I recall the gear shift on the 900 being better than this. The previous owner said he felt that this gear shift on my 99 was better than most 99s he experienced (which I found surprising, although I believe him). Shifting in the 99 is like handling a wooden spoon in a vat of molasses with a bunch of loose metal parts in it. I will do some research as to what can be done to improve this.

The silhouette of this car is breath taking. Pictures do not do it justice. This may be the most beautiful car Saab ever built. If not the most beautiful, at least the second most beautiful. In my view, it competes with the 1986 900 T16S in silver – the model you owned. (I’ll place my vote with the 99 Turbo. The shorter nose gives it better proportions IMHO – SW)

The previous owner was a typical Saab person. In selling the car, selling to the right person was more important to him than the purchase price. I honestly feel honored to have been considered worthy of this car. I feel like I am inheriting a legacy and taking on a responsibility more than just buying a car. As part of the deal, I promised the previous owner that I would give him the right to make a first offer if I ever chose to sell. He acknowledged that I probably will never sell this car, which I think is right. He was selling for personal reasons which I understand and respect.

Over the last two weeks, I have been doing a lot of research on the 99 Turbo, and have found a smaller but tighter knit community on the Internet than with respect to other Saab models. I have always followed the 9000 and C900 scene, but never the 99 scene till now. The 99 turbo Internet community have already been an enormous help. According to certain sources, there are approximately 250 of these cars left on the road, which sounds to me incredibly low given that 10,000 of these were manufactured in total. (Sounds low to me, too – SW)

As to next steps, I am putting the car into winter hibernation. The roads will start to be salted in Hungary in the next couple of weeks. During the winter months, I am planning to source US style headlights. I love the car with the euro headlights, but feel that with the four headlamp US lights the 99 Turbo it is the cat’s meow. I’m also thinking of sourcing repros of the Turbo sticker which was installed from factory on the bottoms of the doors along the side of the car. I asked the previous owner’s permission to do these things – this is the kind of responsibility which goes with buying a car of this type.

Also, it seems that the car needs a new radiator. While it was being restored, thieves broke into the mechanic’s garage and stole the original turbo radiator (I wonder if they even knew what they were stealing), and a regular 99 radiator was installed which is smaller. Or maybe I will just settle back and enjoy the car in the condition it is now for a period.

I’m totally over the moon about the purchase. I was speaking to my wife about it and I feel like I own the first and the last of an important era in motoring. Saab launched into the premium segment with the 99 Turbo and it set the tone of the next two generations of cars for Saab. This was the ultimate golden era in Saab’s history which started with the 99 Turbo in 1978, and ended (in my humble opinion) with the last 9000 Aero officially produced in 1997. I own both the first and the last of this golden age, and feel very privileged to do so.

It makes me all the sadder that the Saab that we all know and love no longer exists. At least we have models of this company’s illustrious past which we can still enjoy today….

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Positive: Stig Nodin Returns To Saab

Update: translation corrected (the perils of working with Google).

I couldn’t help but notice a recent report in Trollhattan’s daily newspaper, TTELA, stating that Stig Nodin has returned to Saab to be the company’s Technical Director.

Stig Nodin worked at Saab for two-and-a-half decades and is universally respected for his engineering knowledge. He left Saab around 2007-08 to go and work for Iveco. I remember the time because it was just after I met him at the Saab Festival in Trollhattan, in 2007. We were both admiring a display of Saab Sonett II’s at the festival when we got chatting.

That Stig Nodin has returned to Saab is of particular interest to me because there must have been a compelling reason for him to go back to work there.

There are a number of “greybeards” at Saab already. It’s wise of NEVS to hire them as they know the product and they know the factory. Men like Saab’s powertrain chief, Kjell AC Bergstrom and the manufacturing chief, Stig Runesson. For those guys, however, it was almost a matter of natural momentum to keep going at Saab. They were there, they had a hiccup in their time there, and then they were back. There was a natural progression.

What’s curious about Stig Nodin returning is that he’s been away for six years. Even if his time at Iveco was up and he just wanted to come home, it makes for a very interesting outcome that he’s back working at Saab.

If I were him, if I had his record of accomplishment and respect in the industry, I’d want to know that I was coming back to something that was real, something that was viable. From the article in TTELA, he seems to think the same way:

What was your view of Nevs before?

– With the knowledge I have of this industry, I saw it as a really difficult challenge for Nevs.

But they convinced you?

– They didn’t try to convince me in any way. They told me about their plans and what they want to accomplish, and I liked what I heard, says Nodin.

This leads me back to the thing that’s most frustrating about NEVS. What Stig Nodin was alluding to in that quote – a really difficult challenge for NEVS – was that their business case (as we know it) makes very little sense. He knows enough about the industry to know this. And yet they convinced him.

So….. they’ve got plans that are compelling enough to convince a wise, hardened industry veteran like Stig Nodin and yet they don’t have a single story to engage the public with?

I cannot believe that a guy like Stig Nodin is returning to Saab simply to fatten up his pension. He could be forgiven for doing so – the work is there to be done, after all – but I wouldn’t believe it for a second. If it’s interesting enough to engage a mind like his, then surely there’s a story to be told.

I can tell you there are plenty of people waiting to hear what the story is, wanting it to be a good one. The appointment of Stig Nodin is an encouraging sign, but NEVS actually having something to say and saying it would make the company look like something other than an entity that’s not really sure where it’s going.

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On Saabs and Production

I’ve been meaning to write this for three or four days but never got around to it. Today’s news that NEVS have tied up the last of their suppliers makes it more poignant than ever, though, so here we go.

What I’d like to do is tie last week’s Saab news in with and earlier report as well as some whispers that have come through from Trollhattan.

Now, I should mention at the outset that this is not your normal Djup Strupery. In fact, it’s not Djup Strupery at all. The bits and pieces that I’ve heard are from people in the area and not directly involved with Saab/NEVS. It’s stuff they’ve heard around town, quite possibly from contacts who are involved with Saab/NEVS but that’s not known to me. Therefore, I don’t know the original sources but I do know the people who have mentioned it to me and they’re people that I trust.

I hope that all makes sense. Bottom line: the minor bits I’ll add to the narrative here are unconfirmed but fit the story quite well.

To our contextual sources for this story, then, the patches that will make up this Sino-Scandinavian quilt.

First, there’s my post from last week, suggesting that NEVS are about to run vehicles down the production line that will be test vehicles at first, before any vehicles are made for sale.

Second, there’s an article from Autocar, written by Hilton Holloway, that also talks about Saab’s manufacturing plans. The article was written way back in September, but rings true. Holloway, by the way, has a mind like a steel trap and is very good at what he does. You can take note of anything he writes because he is very well connected. My thanks to Terry9000K for linking to it in comments.

Third, there’s SU’s report from today saying that suppliers are in order as well as recent reports in the local paper about NEVS hiring more production workers.

Finally, there are the few very small whispers I’ve heard here and there since writing my last Saab article.

Let’s start with the first section of Holloway’s report in Autocar, which is the relevant part of his report for the purposes of this story.

The first new Saabs have been built since the Trollhättan production line ground to a halt in June 2011.

Two 9-3 saloons left the line around 15 months after the assets of Saab and the Swedish Trollhättan factory were acquired by the newly created – and Chinese-backed – National Electric Vehicle Sweden.

Although this 9-3 pre-production car is powered by the same 2.0-litre turbocharged petrol engines used in the pre-collapse series production cars, this is just a stop-gap operation.

Let’s stop there, briefly.

Yes, the 9-3s have 2-litre turbo petrol engines in them. In fact, from what I hear, at least the first couple of thousand new 9-3s will have turbocharged 2.litre engines as used in the Saab 9-3 before bankruptcy.

From what I’ve heard, NEVS bought around 2,000 of these engines from the bankruptcy estate so they’re what’s going in the car to start with.

The ramp-up to production is going to be pretty slow so those engines should last a little while. There shouldn’t be any real hassles with GM, either, as it’s old technology bought from the Saab estate, not sourced from GM.

Of course, NEVS are going to have to insert an engine of their own sooner or later. Nobody knows where that’s going to come from but I’ve seen the same hopeful comments saying “BMW”. I have two words – not likely. The 1.6 engines that Saab were going to buy from BMW were super expensive. They would have been suitable for a new, premium release like the Phoenix Saab 9-3 that Saab were going to build, but they’re far too costly for a re-hashed Epsilon-based Saab 9-3 that’s going to be very close to being a teenager before it’s even built.

Back to Holloway….

According to senior sources at Trollhättan, NEVS will build a batch of petrol-powered 9-3s in order to de-bug the production and build process, before the company switches to building the promised all-electric version of the 9-3. The initial 9-3 production run has been pre-sold to three Chinese government agencies.

So those cars are the ones I was talking about last week – test vehicles to establish the production line and test the car.

The news that the old 2.0 litre engine is being used means a bit less testing is required, but any new parts will still need proving IMHO (well, let’s just say you wouldn’t want to buy them unproven, would you?)

The bit about selling these early cars to the Chinese gels with what I’ve heard, too. I don’t know how accurate it is, but one friend in Trolltown has actually mentioned that they’re intended for use as Taxis in China.

So what do I think this all means?

It’s good news that NEVS have their suppliers sorted. In fact, that’s probably the most prominent news here because nothing happens if you haven’t got reliable parts supply in place.
NEVS will start regular small scale production later this month. The first vehicles should be test vehicles both to validate the factory and the cars themselves.
The first vehicles to be built for sale will, in all likelihood, be shipped to China where they’ve been bought by the government to be used for purposes less noble than a keen Saab fan would like to see.
There’s still no word on what engine a more consumer-oriented Saab 9-3 from NEVS will be built with and that’s an important part of the puzzle. There’s no word on where it will be sold, or when. Holloway’s article seems to indicate that NEVS will get an electric 9-3 out (based on the old platform, I assume) by the end of 2014. My guess is that that might be the first car with the Saab name on it that someone might be able to buy outside of China.
But that’s just a guess.

Again, I make no claims of accuracy in all this. I’m just tying up some loose ends in a bid to temper people’s expectations. I don’t think you’ll be able to buy a new Saab 9-3 Aero any time soon, people.

I’d still like to hear more of what they’re doing, though. If the story’s worth telling, then tell it.

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Spyker appeal GM case dismissal

I missed this story when I was on holiday but thanks to Victor himself dropping in on our comments section yesterday, I had reason to go searching for the story.

Bottom line: On October 1st, Spyker appealed the judge’s dismissal of their case.

Source: Law 360. Click that link to read the story in full.

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Dutch carmaker Spyker NV urged the Sixth Circuit on Tuesday to revive its $3 billion lawsuit alleging General Motors Co. pushed Saab Automobile AB into bankruptcy by interfering with Spyker’s bid to sell the Swedish automaker to Chinese investors, claiming a district court judge erred in tossing the suit.

Spyker and Saab’s suit alleged that GM public announcements scuttled the deal on the eve of its signing, but a district court tossed the lone claim of tortious interference with economic expectancy, ruling that they had no anticipated business relationship because the unsigned framework agreement merely outlined a further set of agreements that still needed to be arranged and approved in short order.

In a brief filed with the Sixth Circuit, Spyker and Saab claimed the lower court committed “three critical errors” in dismissing their suit, the first being the conclusion that the failed deal left the automakers without a valid expectation of a business deal.

“Far from wishful thinking, Saab stood to gain an immediate cash investment of €10 million on signing the framework agreement,” according to the brief.

Spyker and Saab claimed the lower court erred further by incorrectly interpreting GM’s rights under existing contracts and then using that misreading to find that GM had not acted maliciously in speaking out against the deal.

“Consequently, this court should reverse the judgment of the district court and remand the case for further proceedings,” the brief said.

Spyker filed the suit in August 2012, claiming that Saab was forced into liquidation in Swedish court in December 2011 after GM doomed a proposed 2 million sale of Saab to Chinese automaker Zhejiang Youngman Lotus Automobile Co. by making public statements in December 2011 that it would cut off crucial technology licensing deals if Spyker went ahead with a the proposed deal.

The Dutch company contended that GM’s alleged tortuous interference cost it at least $3 billion.

GM moved to dismiss the suit, asserting that its own deal with Spyker put limits on the future use of GM technology in Saab cars and gave the U.S. automaker consent rights regarding any future sale of the Swedish company.

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Again, you can read the full story at Law 360.

And if you want more background on the case from a SWadeology point of view, click here. The official Spyker release about the case when it was first launched is here.

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I have to say I don’t feel optimistic about Spyker’s chances with this case. That’s not because I don’t believe in it, because I do. I’d love to see GM held accountable for its lack of stewardship of Saab and the disadvantaged position they placed the company in. I simply think it’s going to be hard to convince a judge in GM’s own backyard that they should be held accountable. I’d love to believe that Lady Justice is blind, but I don’t.

I do wish Spyker and Saab well with this suit, though. GM could have taken measures to protect their interests and still allowed Saab a future until such a time as Saab’s cars became GM-free. They killed it because they could.

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The Real Saab

There’s been some terrible, terrible news coming out of Sweden this week. Swedish tax authorities had three former Saab executives arrested, kept in cells overnight, and all because they wanted to ask them some questions? Sounds like jackboot jante law to me.

They were kept separate, as if somehow three people could establish a credible cover story for elaborate tax fraud whilst indulging in a little officer-supervised fika.

What an absurd situation.

I can’t speak for Saab’s former financial controller because I never met the man, but anyone who’d had anything to do with either Kristina Geers or Jan-Ake Jonsson (and I’m not JAJ’s biggest fan, by the way) will have a hard time believing accusations of their deliberate involvement in manipulating the books or creating convoluted business relationships designed to hoodwink the state’s pinheads. With everything Saab went through from 2009 to 2011, I can barely believe they’d have the time, let alone the intention.

All this mud got me thinking about The Real Saab. The Saab that caught my eye in the first place. The Saab that had a brief chance to live again before its final demise in December 2011.

The Real Saab was a company that did things different, not to be different for the sake of it, but because they had conviction based on experience and an engineering and design ethos based on local necessity.

The Real Saab started with simple, tough, but lightweight cars that met a harsh market. The company implemented new technologies and surprised the market time and again with turbochargers, convertibles and safety technology long before any substantial safety regulations ever existed (conviction, again).

The Real Saab did things that were so crazy that they ended up making sense.

They entered their tiny motorsport team into a Monte Carlo rally and nearly took a podium spot – with a 2-stroke, 2-door, 7-seater station wagon. I still find it amazing that they actually made a 2-door, 7-seat station wagon but they did, for nearly 20 years.

The Real Saab made a small fibreglass 2-seater that had no real performance credentials, a freewheel transmission and no real place in their lineup. It’s quite possibly my personal most-desired Saab right now.

The Real Saab engineered a sub-120g emission vehicle that their former parent company – with all its global wisdom and resources – said was impossible. And they were on the cusp of delivering even more in that respect, too.

The Real Saab brought turbocharging to mass-market vehicles 30 years before the mass-market made it more normal than abnormal. They made a 9000 Turbo that could accelerate through overtaking speeds faster than a Ferrari and a 9000 Aero that might just be the best car they ever made.

“When you see it in your mirrors you know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, what is about to happen” – or words to that effect.

The Real Saab had an unbreakable and undeniable link to the region in which it was built. Saab was Trollhattan and Trollhattan was Saab. Saab took Sweden to the world in a way that few other companies or artists were able to do.

The Real Saab fought tooth and nail to stay alive in 2009, to the point of entering reconstruction in a move that surprised the parent company that was trying to wind it down. The Real Saab involved a spirit that was innovative, mischievous, full of integrity and purpose. It was a spirit that got things done when people thought those things were reserved for much bigger companies. It was a spirit that gave the cars a soul, a life force that owners connected with and loved.

That’s the Saab I came to adore. That’s the Saab that I truly believe had a chance to live again under Spyker’s ownership. I 100% believe that Victor Muller got it when it came to Saab and the company was doing innovative things once again. They just didn’t have the money to keep it going.

All this crap from the Swedish Government? It’ll blow over in good time.

The Spirit of Saab, the Real Saab, will remain long after the current crop of cretins in the Riksdag have left public life, long after their minions at the tax office have given up what I’m sure will be proven to be a puerile chase.

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My 2 Cents On The Jason Castriota Saab 9-3 And All That Seeing It Means

Pictures are out there, all over the place now. The world can see the basics of the Saab 9-3 replacement vehicle as designed by Jason Castriota. This isn’t just some guy’s idea of what a future Saab could look like – this is IT.

All images from the awesome gallery over at Auto Motor and Sport.

A personal, historical perspective…..

The most common questions I’ve been asked in the 15 months since Saab’s bankruptcy are “Did you see Jason’s new car? What did you think of it?” – the assumption, of course, is that I’d seen it while working at Saab. My response is that I hadn’t seen the car, so I had no opinion to offer.

That was 99% true.

I saw a rendering on Jason’s laptop in Los Angeles, in late 2010. That was a flat 2D rendering with no color or contour and it was difficult to form any sort of impression on that. In May or June 2011, when I was in Sweden, I saw another image as part of a corporate presentation. It was just a small icon-type image in the top quarter of a powerpoint presentation and I only noticed it just before the slides changed. It’s fair to say that I didn’t like the image that I saw at that time.

When I was working for Saab, I lived in a building next door to one of Saab’s design staff. He never showed me the car, but the things he told me (usually over some ribs at O’Leary’s) really encouraged me. I learned a long time ago to hold my reactions when seeing a new model for the first time and that practice, along with what I heard over a few dinners, gave me a lot of encouragement and hope for the future.

That’s one of the reasons I’m so glad that Jason Castriota has released these more complete renderings instead of just the basic images we saw early on. Having spent some time looking this car over from top to bottom, front to back, I think it looks absolutely sensational.

Here’s a couple of rules about new cars that you can take to the bank. Renderings never look as good as the real thing and the real thing never looks as good at a car show as it does out on the road. A car is a three dimensional object that’s made to be in motion, in natural surroundings. That’s the best way to see them. Saab’s PhoeniX concept never looked so good as when it was on the streets of New York.

The Look

I’m happy to have waited before passing comment on this design. The first images that surfaced a month or so ago included the early clay models and they weren’t stellar, it’s fair to say. Anyone who’s seen early clay models of other Saabs know that those models don’t always bear a true resemblance to the final product.

In this case, these new CGI renderings of what would best resemble the production-intent model look fantastic. It is, in my humble opinion, a respectful and progressive movement in Saab design. The car has presence. It looks solid. It’s as sporting as a five-door family car can be and it doesn’t look like it’s trying to be something that it’s not.

The reason I came to love Saab was because it offered the best combination of luxury, utility, safety, comfort and performance that I could find in an automobile. That reasoning was based on the Saabs of old – what Victor Muller first referred to as ‘Saab Saabs’. This car looks like it would have upheld that tradition, and I don’t think I could pay it any higher compliment than that.

The Car

We haven’t seen any interior concepts, so we have to work with an assumption that the interior would have been up to par. We know that Saab would have developed the IQon interactive/entertainment system for this car. It was quite advanced when it was first announced and while it wouldn’t have been the first of it’s kind at release, it would have placed Saab well and truly ahead of a lot of competitors.

Couple an innovative and classy interior (assumed) with this good-looking exterior and you’ve got the visual makings of a great package.

What would have set this car apart, however, is the combination of the visual/tactile package with the mechanical. Saab would have had both a new powertrain and a new drivetrain for this car – the BMW-sourced 1.6 turbo engine and the eXWD system being developed in conjunction with eAAM. This mechanical package was being tested at the time of Saab’s bankruptcy. I was in the building at eAAM when they were removing their components from the test cars. This wasn’t vaporware, it was the real deal, and whilst I didn’t get to drive it, I think this car would have offered mechanical advances to the Saab range that would be similar to what Saab achieved with the 99 Turbo.

This would have been a massive car for a re-born Saab. Have no doubt about it.

Let’s take a proper look, shall we? Click to enlarge.

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The Consequences

The consequences are all theoretical, of course, but I’m going to take a stab at them for the hell of it.

The Swedish government were happy to throw Saab under the bus. OK, they were happy to see Saab trip over their own shoelaces and fall under the bus. To say that the Swedish government couldn’t have taken a longer-term view and do more to help Saab is to ignore things that governments do every day.

Saab were politically sensitive thanks to the focus placed on them by the Swedish press and the Swedish government were more than happy to take the politically popular line – do as little to help Saab as possible and let the company fall where it may. “We do not plan to get into the car business” they said. “We will not risk taxpayer’s money” they said. Well, we all know what happened.

The Swedish taxpayer’s money was at risk because of loan guarantees to the European Investment Bank. The only way the Swedish taxpayer would end up on the hook for that loan is if Saab failed, which it did. It’s not just the EIB loan, however. There’s also the double-whammy comprising welfare payments and the re-training of former Saab employees, as well as the loss of tax revenue from the wages they earned working for Saab as well as the business taxes the government might have earned from Saab. The Swedish taxpayer is now paying through the nose and they’ve lost one of the cornerstones of their manufacturing industry. And if you don’t think Volvo’s slowly but surely heading the same way, you’re not looking close enough.

If the Swedish government had found a way to provide Saab with meaningful assistance – and I don’t know what that way would have looked like but the governments of Germany and France seem to find a way – I think Saab would have had a chance. We might have made it. We might not. But I believe we had a strong enough brand and a strong enough range to do something special.

The Saab 9-5 launch didn’t go well and Saab knew it. There would have been changes in MY12 and MY13 to address this.

The Saab 9-4x didn’t even get a real chance but having spent some quality seat time in it, I think it would have gone gangbusters (in Saab terms) in the United States. Success there might have opened up other markets for that car, too.

And then you have this new Saab 9-3, which I think would have been a technological gamechanger for Saab. I think this new 9-3 (or 900 as I believe it would have been called) would have captured a LOT of imaginations. I know one guy in the press who got to drive an early eXWD prototype and spoke glowingly of it – and that was a prototype. Imagine the finished product.

Sadly, we’ll never know what might have happened. The Swedish government took their stance and now they’re dealing with a shrinking parts business as a result. GM took their stance and I look forward to watching Victor Muller’s legal case against them. I don’t know whether he has a realistic chance seeing it’s going to be fought in GM’s backyard, but seeing this car I can see why he’s so motivated.

Spyker, of course, turned out to have not enough accessible resources. Their main investor wasn’t allowed into the deal and GM blocked other potential investors, right or wrong.

We’re dealing with imperfect information and a sliding-doors scenario that’s 100% irrelevant in 2013. That’s sad, but that’s the way it is.

NEVS

So what of NEVS and this Castriota design?

I’ve mentioned before that NEVS must have rocks in their head if they’re not chasing this design – and that was before I’d seen it.

The simple fact is this – this design was based on the architecture that NEVS will use to build their electric Saab. Using this design is by far the most efficient way to get that car to market quickly, both in terms of time and finance. The fact that the design looks good only makes the case more compelling.

Time will tell what they decide.

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Congratulations, Jason, on a job well done. You created what I think would have been a truly memorable Saab.

It’s such a shame that we never got to see it or drive it.

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Video: Erik Carlsson In His Saab 96

It’s Erik Carlsson’s birthday – 84 years young on March 5!

To celebrate from afar I thought I’d show this video I shot with Erik in January 2012. I had the good fortune to go to his home in England, share some lunch at the local pub and take in some stories and memorabilia back at the house. All that thanks to my mate Mike, who you’ll see in this video.

What happened in this film was an unexpected delight. What happened straight after was one of the most enjoyable motoring moments of my life (you’ll get it towards the end of the film).

Read the full story: Lunch with Erik Carlsson (2012)

Here’s the video. What fun!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MR SAAB!

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Saab Sport and Rally Catalog

The Saab Festival is going to celebrate the Saab Sport and Rally days in May-June this year.

I thought some people might like to get another look at one of the original Saab Sport and Rally catalogs, this one from 1978.

1978 must have been such an exciting time to be a Saab owner. Saab were still racing, building on a proud heritage and with the Turbo era just around the corner. It must have been a time filled with so much promise for the future. The chance to look through a factory-backed catalog like this and dream about what you might do to your car would have made for some fun times, indeed.

Saab bowed out of motorsport just at the beginning of the turbo era but that hasn’t stopped people from wanting to heat up their vehicles. It’s a spirit that endures today and will be celebrated at the 2013 Saab Festival. And while it endures, this spirit is probably best displayed by the engineers and gearheads who built those little Saabs to take on the world and their way of sharing that spirit with others at the time – the Saab Sport and Rally catalog.

My thanks to Ted Y for making these files available. Click to enlarge.

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