Tag: Saab 9-5 SportCombi

Two Saab assets – Product and People

Whilst the newspapers and web columnists have been talking us down, you’ve been hearing plenty from me about the reasons I believe Saab will survive it’s current difficult times – brand, factory, product and people. Perhaps it’s time to hear from someone else.

The following was written in comments to this website by Derek M, who attended the Saab Owners Convention in New Jersey last weekend. I’ll present it here without any further introduction or context as I think it speaks for itself. We have some of the best fans ever.

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Just a quick (although not brief) note of appreciation. When SAAB was announced for sale by GM, I hungered for news and stumbled upon Saabsunited. It’s my wife who has always been enamored by the brand, but I’ve since come to develop a passion for the brand. I still receive a smile each day as I pilot my convertible to work. Your post of the 9-5 combi at SOC was all the incentive needed for Denise and I to take a day trip to New Jersey. It was nice to be surrounded in an environment that was all about product instead of the media’s constant barrage of finances.

It is the details of the 9-4x which are certain to create or reinforce the brand loyalty in the CUV segment. Ex: The collapsable u-rail system locks into place under the floor if not needed. (Gee, can you see what Jason and the design team can do about emulating that concept with the wind diffuser for the next generation of convertibles???)

Perrine SAAB brought a 9-5 turbo4 sedan for test drives. (Java with the cashmere leather, wood trim and cocoa brown dash is particularly luxurious looking.) I must confess to having scoffed at your praise of the turbo4. My bred-in-the-US mentality is that bigger is better – so while I appreciate the size of the new 9-5, after driving the turbo6 last year why would I even think about a test drive of the turbo4?

Was I mistaken in my assumption? Absolutely. The power band and torque for the turbo4 was smooth and readily available, no lag- no feeling under powered.

After drooling over the 9-5combi in person, who cares what is under the hood. it will sell on looks alone. I do think the turbo4 is the right choice for the US market as this trim distinguishes it from the 9-4x trim levels. (Although, it would be nice if aero trim included the Hirsch upgrade in horse power to distinguish trim levels, but I’m no product planner.)

The most enjoyable part of the day was the interactions. During our test drive of the 9-4x aero, we had the opportunity to converse with John (Libbos, from Saab Cars NA). What great tenure and expertise. Where I work, we refer to employees of twenty-five plus years of service as Legacy employees. If my memory and math skills are adequate, John will reach that milestone next year. They’ve helped define our brand and create our culture, leading to our legacy. It is that passion and determination that distinguishes companies from their competitive set. Passion is inherent, you are either impassioned by your work or you are not. As a Human Resources guy- Human Talent is my area of expertise. I truly believe that it is the power of the individual , the human asset, that makes an organization unique. The competition can’t copy synergy, mettle nor fortitude.

So regardless of one year of service or twenty-five years, my thanks to both you and John for the impact and passion you’ve ignited in me. I look forward to the day when conversations and media can focus on product. I have every confidence that similarly impassioned individuals are working towards the financial solutions needed for such a realization.

Saabosphere – links we liked this week

There’s an event on Facebook called Save Saab. We didn’t create it, but I’m sure all Saab employees and fans appreciate the fact that it’s there.

The event is tomorrow and the location – the whole world. It’s a non-geographic event. A show of support. Go to the event page and click “I’m attending” to show your support. We really do appreciate all of you.

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Whilst our executive team are working their tails off to ensure the liquidity we need to proceed, there are plenty of pundits lining up to write our obituary. We’re a big, fat, easy target.

With that in mind, it’s been nice to see someone looking at alternative points of view. Matt De Bord at BNET has taken a look at three ways Saab might survive the current situation.

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At what age do you consider it OK for your booster-seat-age child to buckle themselves in?

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If you’ve ever wondered if, or how, your Saab addiction might effect your partner, then this article is for you. It’s a thoroughly enjoyable story of Saab addiction written by Barbara Scully, a Saab-widow from Ireland.

I felt so moved by it that I left a comment in support (of her husband! 🙂 )

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Some reviews that are worth a look……

Car and Driver have done a short review of the 2.0T version of the Saab 9-5 sedan. I found it quite heartening because the 2.0T has been my personal preference when it comes to this car. It was nice to see they also commended the ‘smaller’ 9-5.

…..the 9-5 sedan is by far Saab’s best product in recent memory……

[the 2.0T’s] competent dynamics and roughly 10-grand-cheaper point of entry make it the deal of the lineup.

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The Age newspaper in Australia has reviewed the Saab 9-5 and think it’s a great car, but the situation with the company stops them short of recommending it strongly. (Video)

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The Independent (UK) has published a very good review of the Saab 9-5 SportCombi based on a pre-release drive. It makes for some very good reading…..

Would it make me buy a 9-5 Sportwagon over an obvious German rival? I do believe it would

……And the picture accompanying it is one of the best photos of the Combi I’ve seen.

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I’d like to send a small note of well-wishing to some good friends, Rune and Anna, who got married on the weekend.

You might remember them from the 2,000km trip to northern Sweden that I took a few weeks ago. That trip was to pick up Rune’s car after some accident repairs. Today, the same car played a role in their wedding day.

Congratulations, guys. Wish so much that we could have been there.

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Saab 9-5 SportCombi wows the crowd

Saab are in the midst of a challenging time. We have our fair share of critics in the world of business commentary, people who are paid to have opinions and duly express them.

Amidst all the doom and gloom, one of the main things that has kept me feeling very positive – as it did when Saab were being sold in 2009 – is the product portfolio. We’ve just got too much good product coming down the pipe for this company to do anything other than sustain and succeed. Aside from the dedication I see around the place every day, it’s the one thing that fuels me to “never, ever give up.”

One of those products that’ll be gracing the roads near you soon is the Saab 9-5 SportCombi. The following is actually an internal message shared between a couple of colleagues, but one guy who received it encouraged me to share it here. It’s actually pretty typical of a lot of the feedback we’ve been getting with our new releases in recent times.

It’s from Great Britain……

I helped out at the Three Counties Show in Malvern on Friday and also visited the site again on Saturday.

You would not believe the response to the 9-5 SW ……. It was amazing !!!!

I have done loads of Shows over the years and I have never witnessed anything like it! People were crawling all over it …Families …Couples …a wide and varied audience to be honest. A LOT of BMW owners……due to poor winter driving in them….Very Very keen……loved it.

It was a real buzz to see the reaction when people saw it and made a bee-line straight to it. Some even walked on to the Honda site next door and saw it on the plinth and climbed over the fencing …couldn’t wait to see it…loads of compliments on the styling build quality …. It was a real boost!.

THIS IS A WINNER!!!

Very encouraging indeed.

Coincidentally, I also found this video from WhatCar? today, where a group of their readers got to check out the Saab 9-5 SportCombi. The results are, once again, very encouraging.

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Have you seen the 9-5 SportCombi for yourself yet? And if so, what did you think?

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Inside Saab – electrical integration

File this under “Things that blow your mind about how incredibly complex it is to design and build a motor vehicle”. Long title, I know. But this is one of the more mind-blowing insights I’ve had into the vehicle development process since being here at Saab.

I’ve told people for some time now that there are no ‘fingersnap’ solutions when it comes to building/changing automobiles. It’s an incredibly complex process and whilst the evolution of electronics has given us many advances in vehicle functionality, behaviour and performance, the development work required to produce these advances is astounding. Add in the fact that everything you’re about to read has to be developed, tested and approved for all of Saab’s global markets, in all vehicle configurations, and you can get a sense of the complexity even before you start trying to calculate the permutations.

I’m going to apologise in advance for this one. There’s no way that I could adequately gather together everything I’ve learned about this process and express it in an educated manner. I feel embarrassed even trying, but I hope that you’ll still get a feel for what this is all about.

The Vertical Bench

There are two main test benches used in electrical integration. The first of these is known as the vertical bench.

The vertical bench looks like a cross between a dismembered car and a telephone switchboard. It’s based on a rack system that has all of the car’s components attached to it. Look closely in the photo above and you’ll see several different radios, climate control, rear-seat video screens, door handles, etc.

Here’s a quick look into how complex things are these days – the front door handles alone are involved in more than 10 different electrical systems within the Saab 9-5. And to think there was a time when all you did was unlock the vehicle with a mechanical key and step inside! Today, with passive entry, you do less work but the car does a lot of the work for you and that work is planned and tested here at electrical integration.

Continue reading Inside Saab – electrical integration

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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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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Saab 9-5 SportCombi durability testing

I’m spending quite a lot of time at the moment just visiting various departments within Saab, getting to know what they do.

I spent a little time today at the climate controlled wind tunnel facility, where they can do various types of wind tunnel testing (though not aerodynamic testing, as it’s too small for that). The wind tunnel can be manipulated to simulate all types of weather conditions, but we’ll tell you more about that later.

They also have a couple of climate chambers there, where they can simulate different temperatures but without the wind effects. While we were visiting, a Saab 9-5 SportCombi was undergoing some durability testing on the rear rear door.

I’ll let the video tell you the rest…..

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My thanks to Dennis “the doorman” for the lesson.

Notes from New York – Part 3 – The Auto Show begins

Today was press day #1 at the NYIAS and even though Saab’s press conference isn’t scheduled until tomorrow, there was a flurry of activity at the Saab stand with a steady stream of visitors all day (and whilst I don’t want to sound smug, I think there are a few manufacturers who wish that was the case at their stand).

Following are some images and commentary on some of today’s events and some of the vehicles on show at the Saab stand.

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Being a senior executive at an Auto Show is all about two things – interviews and business. If they’re not engaged in one, it’s the other. Victor Muller arrived this morning with a phone virtually plastered to his ear and when he wasn’t speaking to the media, the phones were busy once again (often two at a time).

For Jason Castriota, it was all interviews. He was walking journalists around the Saab PhoeniX Concept for most of the day……

…..although he also got to sit down occasionally. This is Jason speaking with Alrik Söderlind from Auto Motor and Sport in Sweden.

These are not models from the Saab stand today. Saab has a regular crew that does all their major motor shows. These two young ladies saw PhoeniX’s doors were open and couldn’t wait to jump right in…..

Former Saab ad writer, Curvin O’Reilly, was also in attendance today. He offered both his credit card and checkbook, but still wasn’t allowed to take PhoeniX home.

Concept cars can be temperamental things. Some of you may remember the Aero-X almost swallowing a man at an auto show around 5 years ago. The poor guy had to climb out through the hatch at the back of the car as the power to the canopy top failed.

The PhoeniX has been exceptionally well behaved in comparison, but it’s not without its moments. Today, whilst Curvin was sitting in the car, the driver door decided that it was time to close. A few frantic minutes were spent looking for the remote control, before Curvin was safely extracted from the car. He seemed pretty content in there, though….

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Let’s take a closer look at some of the cars on the Saab stand. As noted earlier this morning, Saab have what is virtually an all-new lineup on the stand comprising the PhoeniX Concept, the Saab 9-5 SportCombi (due for release later in 2011), the Saab 9-4x (due for release in a month or so) and the Independence Edition Saab 9-3 Convertible (a limited edition of just 366 vehicles worldwide, available for order right now).

The Saab 9-4x has been seen occasionally on the streets of Trollhattan in recent weeks (Saab’s home town). I saw it twice in a few days before heading to New York for this show. I’m going to go out on a limb here – ‘crossover’ vehicles are not normally my taste – and say that the Saab 9-4x is taking very large strides in the race to become my favourite looking Saab. It really does look exceptionally good on the road and it doesn’t look too shabby under lights at the NYIAS either…..

The interior of the car features a dash panel with a silver/grey fleck finish as well as a patterned trim down the side of the center stack. It’s subtle, but very welcoming indeed.

I can’t wait to drive this car.

There will be a drive event early in May for members of the US automotive press corps (Some “long lead” publications have already driven the vehicle). Look out for coverage on the web shortly thereafter.

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The Saab 9-5 SportCombi was also on the Saab stand today and will be joined by a Saab 9-5 Sedan on Friday, the first public day of the show.

The interior of the 9-5SC Aero was finished in Parchment, with a patterned trim featuring on the dashboard and elsewhere.

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As I said at the top, the Saab stand was very well attended today, despite there being no actual press event scheduled for the day. That all happens tomorrow and I’m sure it’s going to be even busier then.

Interest in the company is really high and the great thing about that is that it was all interest in the product. PhoeniX was the star attraction, of course, but there were plenty of people going through the Saab 9-5 SportCombi and especially the Saab 9-4x.

The New York Auto Show has been a good one for Saab so far. The press will be even more engaged with the company tomorrow and I can’t wait to talk to a few of them and see what they think of PhoeniX and Saab’s upcoming vehicle range

(…..and speaking of which – aside from Geneva, last month – when was the last time Saab had such a totally fresh and new range to show people? It’s very exciting to see things evolving like this, like watching a newborn growing up)

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