Saab 9-1: Hybrid Opel Astra With Aero X Styling Cues?
GM's Swedish [in appearance only] division has decided it needs to take on the BMW-1 series and Audi A3 with a brand new model in 2010. Hoping to get a 9-1 with the Swede's slick AWD? Nej. Teknikensvarld.se reports the plan: compete with the German bad boys with a pair of hybrid engines stuffed into an Opel Astra with a Saab logo stuck on. True to their latest tune, GM has planned a conventional hybrid and a plug-in hybrid, and of course Lithium-Ion batteries are also being suggested. No word yet as to how GM [may] have managed to get Lithium batteries to work when Toyota is still adopting a "wait and develop" strategy. Also no word on what the 9-1 looks like, other than the fact that it will take styling cues from the Saab Aero X (pictured). Let's just hope that styling cue thing works out a bit better than it did in the 9-2x and 9-7x.
More by Alex L. Dykes
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"They should see what Ford is doing with Volvo - they’re handling their Swedish brand 100x better than GM." I think the big thing is that Ford isn't handling their Swedish brand so much as letting their Swedish brand handle itself.
jabdalmalik: Exactly. GM's got their fingers in the pie and they're mucking up a fantastic little niche brand to try and increase sales to Volvo levels. Not gonna happen. What a mess.
Increasingly it looks like the Saab nameplate is only going to survive as the Scandinavian Opel. In sort of the same way that Vauxhall has devolved into being the British Opel.
Jbdalmalik, I agree. I think that Ford's relative hands-off approach has worked much better. The only thing I see there as a problem is that Ford sucks money out preventing them from pushing forward new designs.