SAABISM

Experience with Volvo XC70 D5 AWD

2012-02-26T23:20:00.001+01:00

Yes, this is a Saab related blog, but I like cars in general, so to get a chance to drive an XC70 and no write about experience with it would be, at least in my eyes, a pity. So the next lines are how a Saab driver feels in a crossover. No comparison, well, maybe a little bit.

First some data. It's a XC70 D5 AWD built in 2008. Engine : 2.4 turbodiesel with 185 HP / 400 Nm. Acceleration 0-100 : 9.9s, average fuel consumption 8.3 l/100km (on paper), 8.5 with me in the reality. It has 125.000km. Manual transmission.

I've got it for a while as a company car after someone and have it for nearly a month now. After 3.000 km driven the car started to show it's character. There are upsides as well as downsides.

Volvo XC70

Nice colour isn't it ? Of course it is a question of personal taste. According to DuPonts car color popularity index, the red color was last year on the 6th place in Europe and 5th place worldwide. However exatly this facelift looks too plastic for me. As if Volvo would recognise that, the later facelifts are a bit more smoother designed.

As always with company cars, there is a limited budget and several conditions. I don't how it was 3 years ago, but this car was configured with the philosophy the strongest diesel plus four-wheel-drive and a very few extras. Besides the standard there is tempomat (or was it standard ?), bluetooth system and that's it. It's a good approach, but used from my Aero on things like dimming mirror or automatic wipers, some things must be done manually. No problem with that.

Roof detail

It is a mix between a ship and a tractor. It flows on the road in the good meaning. The a bit higher sitting in the crossover gives to it not extremely more overview, only a bit better feeling. It is loud. Much louder than petrol engines. Therefore the tractor feeling. The 125.000 km are playing definitely a role here.

In the city traffic it is by far not a sprinter, but also not lazy, somewhere in between. However it drinks 10.5 litres in the city. That is for a diesel too much, even with the 1721 kg empty weight. The problem comes with parking, it needs time to get a feeling about the edges of the car, because they are not to see. Therefore for people considering this car, parking assistant is recommended.

On the highway it is again a ship. It easily comes to the 130-140 kmh local allowed speeds. The 400 Nm is enough for accelerating to 160 - 170 without any problems. The aerodynamic noises are not unusual loud, just the engine.

In the curves it behaves as one would expect from this kind of car. Only one thing, on the snow when it switched the rear wheels and became AWD (Haldex), my head started to twirl. Strange feeling. Other people in the car had the same feeling. But after I've got used to it, it dissapeared.

Interior

Plenty of space inside and very large trunk. For me, these new generations of Volvo (incl. the current one) started to be somehow "cold". This is a standard interior, the more aluminium stuff, the colder. Something is strange here. When you look at the upper part of the dashboard, there is a clean try for minimalism. Fine. But than the part with radio and buttons comes and kills the nice minimalistic try immediately. As if two people would design it.I had a previous generation of S60, it had much more homogeneous interior.


Detail

This is a car for people which understand the car as a tool bringing them from point A to point B, while the point B can be somewhere in a light terrain. Very very good snow performance. The holes in the streets are not to feel. Driving this XC70 requires also a bit more physical power than the Saab. It has a bit harder characteristic, the steering wheel goes harder, the pedals as well as the transmission. It doesn't go softer in higher speeds. My former Volvos were the same, so no surprises here.

Tachometer

I would expect a bit more for the 40-45.000 € price of a new one in this configuration but it is still a very fine car. It's safe, it flows nicely, it's a good choice for the family, it brings you also to places with only bad roads, where I never would go with my Saab. However it is not a car to which I could develop a "relationsship" as I had to my V40, S60 and later the Saab 9-3 Aero.

Click for car specs.

Spring is coming, roof down.

2012-02-25T17:17:00.002+01:00

Not even two weeks ago the temperatures were -15°C, sometimes colder and outside the cities the traffic situation due to snow was critical. The winter has shown us how it should be and faded away. Spring is coming.

With todays sunny weather first motorbikes showed outside and for convertible drivers this means roof down. In average 13°C and maybe even more (max 16°C) was definitely a reason to try. It's still not summer comfortable but first signs are here. Also our cats started to loose hair a bit, another sign.

First signs of spring are coming

From the nature point of view it's too soon. The spring equinox is on 21.3., so in a month. I remember my grandfather telling me, that summer and winter are getting longer at the expense of spring and autumn. So if winter ends now in february and spring will be short, we can expect hotter weather soon. Is it good for nature ? Not really. But a weekend of joy from the sun helps the soul :)


First real roof down in 2012

At the Danube river side channel

We went to the Danube river to look how the nature recovers from the unusual colds. Some of the migratory birds are back and the nature has started to "boot up". The frost wasn't long enough to freeze the river, but pieces of ice, large like a car, were floating all the time and the ship traffic was stopped for a while. Now there is rest of the ice of the bank, melting with every sun ray.

Danube channel

Danube main stream

The ice is melting ...

My break discs are fading away, so there is time to order new ones. 314 mm is the size. Coming soon. But the nearly 90.000 kilometers on my Saab reminded me, that besides the standard maintenance no special or unusual failures occured. Which is great. Recently I've met someone with the same Saab (without Hirsch) with 150.000 km and still nothing. I'm satisfied with the Saab.

Independence Edition as the last Saab of the current era

2012-02-23T20:14:00.001+01:00

Exactly a year ago (23.2.2011) I was proud to publish first pictures of the Saab Independence Edition. Proud because it's great and even prouder because it's a convertible. Convertibles from Saab rocks !

Who could think about, that exactly after 365 days Saab could be in a clinical death situation where bankruptcy administrators are selling it and hopely fighting for to sell it as a whole to a serious bidder, who has an honest will to ressurect the automaker in restarting the production. Yes, some predicted this. But many of us survived extremely critical situations and sometimes miracles happen. Let it be this time again.

The Saab Convertible Independence Edition was an idea to built a limited amount of vehicles, numbered limited editions each year of the independence of GM. Starting with 365 cars + years of the independence. This edition was 366 and in special orange colour.

Yesterday the last Saab, an Independence Edition was completed at ANA Trollhattan. Sad.

It is Aero based on the latest facelift. Engines were a petrol 2.0 liter (220 hp), a turbodiesel 1.9 liter (180 hp) and a Biopower version for petrol or E85. This last edition was a 1.9 TTiD. There were some special details incorporated. You can read the specification here.

In total 47 convertibles were build. This will be a collectible for sure. All are owned by ANA and the remaining are for sure for sale. If not sold already. There were through the last months some to find on autoscout24 and mobile.de but dissapeared.

If you want one of them, you can contact ANA. Omg, if I could buy one now ...

I've tried to find some pictures with high resolution, so after the click you can see them :

Saab Convertible Independence Edition Front

Saab Convertible Independence Edition Rear

Saab Convertible Independence Edition Interior

Carbon fibre dashboard detail

Numbering detail


The great 18" wheels with satin chrome/black finish

The wheels once again

2012-02-22T16:12:00.003+01:00

There is a social network called Pinterest which seems to get more and more attention. It's a virtual pinboard for sharing nice things. It is much more about pictures than about text. Easy to use and very fresh looking. Worth trying. With a small warning - you can get addictive of it as from any other social network.

Here is a screenshot of a search for Saab car. There started to appear nice and not only retro pictures. In a time you will probably get better results ase google image search, because there is a human element involved in the selection.

Pinterest Saab car search 22.2.2012

Saab History - 1947-2003

2012-02-21T22:42:00.001+01:00

The hungarian Saab club made in 2003 a wonderful video about Saab history. It's a 52 minute journey through Saab with many (at least for me) new video sequences. Also the music is chosen with taste.

In the message below you will probably get a youtube message, that you should watch it on youtube. It doesn't matter where you look at it, it is the 50 minutes of your time definitely worth.

Mergers and acquisitions

2012-02-21T21:46:00.003+01:00

Saab crash test

On the press-conference today the administrators again confirmed 6-7 serious interested parties in buying Saab and continue to develop and produce Saabs in Trollhattan. One of them should be a European car manufacturer. There are rumours who it is, but nothing is confirmed yet.

Even if no name was revealed, it made a smile on my face. Why ? Because there is a chance, that Saab will belong to someone able to keep it alive, bring to profit and maybe ressurect the name Saab in the public. Outside of the fanbase.

The acquisition of a company is just a start. The main circus begins afterwards. It's called post merger integration and it failed too often in the past. Not only in the automotive industry, but overall.

It is a known fact, that less than a the success rate of such a company acquisitions is lower as one could expect. It ranges from 45%, through 30% to an alarming 10%. Under success is meant reaching the planned targets, mainly increase of revenue and marketshare. Not reaching them can have ugly consequences.

An interesting study from Deloitte based on the largest post-merger integration database is naming the risks which can cause such failures. There are land mines everywhere. In the possible insufficient due diligence and not accurate finance fugures. In complicated merge of fundamentally different structured organisations. In problems connected with people alignment and management. Or in the failure of the merger project itself due to lack of experience.

Despite of the cultural shock of the employees. After a personal experience with this I voluntarily left my very fine job after such an acquisition.

So if the administrators of Saab are don't want to see Saab in clinical death again in two years, the winner of the battle of Trollhattan must not only have a lot of cash but also be experienced in acquisitions and integrations afterwards. Is this the case o f the named interesting parties ?

Youngman produces MAN trucks, Neoplan Busses and personal vehicles co-developed by Lotus. Everything mainly in China, not Europe or United States. Brightwell Holdings are investors, which is not the same as a company acquires another company. And they are not in the automotive industry, at least not known. As the opposite Mahindra & Mahindra is an automaker with a large product range and cooperations with foreign companies, for example Renault. However they were never through an acquisition of such a special company like Saab.

And than comes the message of an interested european car manufacturer. Nearly every large european car company has been through at least one industrial marriage or overtake. If the rumours about that the company is german would be true, than all major german brands have very intensive experience with it.

One thing is to have money for buying Saab, second thing is to fit it into its product strategy and third thing is to have experience with continuity of the business. These three things fulfills only one "known" interested party.

And that is the european manufacturer.

More informations about the recent press conference : Save Saab Museum blog | Saabsunited | Saabblog.

SVD : Decision likely in ten days

2012-02-20T15:16:00.004+01:00

Youngman

Probably the most known and loudest interested company in buying Saab is the chinese company Youngman. The swedish newspaper svd.se brought an interview with the owner Pang Qingnian. One of the richest man in China speaks a lot about himself and about the history of Youngman, but of course there were statements about roots of interest in Saab as well as future plans if he can buy the struggling swedish carmaker.

In the automotive industry Youngman produces Neoplan busses, MAN trucks and developing it's personal vehicles division together in assembling Lotus Cars (the british manufacturer) and in several agreements and acquisition with Proton.

Pang Qingnian wants to buy Saab for two main reasons. The first is the brand, new technology and safety. The second is based on the market trends in China which more than tripled car sales between 2005-2010 and now slows down, namely the sale of luxury cars from the West increases while the market with smaller and cheaper cars falls down. Let's hope, he thinks also about the rest of the world.

Plus, the PhoeniX platform still needs 2 years of development until real cars can be produced.

Therefore he aims at 9-4X and 9-5, where GM, the owner of the IP-rights, already said no. Several times. Ehm. What means this ? Than 9-1, 9-6 and 9-7, he continues.

He also explains, that the current 9-3 could be build without GMs control, which would mean an diesel and automatic transmission 9-3 only and three months to replace the body parts patented by GM. This is what the customers want - diesel + automat, but this also means no car for drivers pleasure. It's exactly the opposite - petrol and manual transmission.

Pang Qingnian didn't revealed his bid to the Saab administrators. There are sources claiming around 2 billion SEK (221 M EUR). He claims to be ready to invest 12 billion SEK (around 1.35 billion EUR) in the development of Saab in the near future. And he promises the production and development of Saab would remain in Trollhattan for at least five years.

End of the Saab drama soon ?

There are many hurdles to overcome. One is, that former employees of Saab are searching and finding new jobs and most of them are not rehirable back. "Time is short", he comments. Another hurdle is close to zero marketshare of Saab in China, which he wants to bring to a reasonable number with massive investments in sales and marketing.

He also speak about positive signals from NDRC, which has to approve the possible deal on the chinese side.

The german blog Saabblog.net, from where the initial information comes, comments, that there are two favorite players in this battle, one from china and one from India. Brightwell seems to brake a bit and there is a possibility of combination of bidders.

It seems that the decision is close. But I've had this feeling many times in the last 16 months. Let's hope, this is finally "the" thing and it is a positive one.

sources : saabblog.net | svd.se

Music for Cabriolets : Little Roy - Come As You Are

2012-02-16T00:05:00.001+01:00

This is a nice cover of Nirvana on a reggae style. Just a thing for slow driving with good vibe.

Classic 900'n'boat

2012-02-15T12:50:00.001+01:00

A classic Saab 900 towing a boat ? Well, not really. Just a friend from our Saab club parked closely a boat on a trailer in the city. After the parking lot in front of the boat on trailer was free, he was running to park the Saab "on the right place" because of getting this picture :


Saab C900 and boat

Time and place : spring / summer 2011, Bratislava, Slovakia, close to a park called Medická záhrada.

Saab news from 1960

2012-02-15T10:33:00.000+01:00

A link to a very nice retro news film from the 60's came appeared in some of the forums. It's called Aktuellt om Saab (1960) and is in swedish. You can find the original here.

It has ~16 minutes and a first part is about the aviation part of Saab. For those interested in the cars, it seems, that someone cutted out the corresponding part and uploaded to youtube.

It's a wonderful piece of industrial history, about producing and testing of Saab 96. At that time Saab produced 30.000 cars per year. What we would give now for that production number ...

The Saab fellowship

2012-02-12T23:49:00.002+01:00

In many countries Saab drivers greet each other on the road. They blink, they wave, sometimes they drive together for a while. The less Saabs in the country, the more the habit. It's visible all the time.

There are not many brands, where the drivers are doing this. Sometimes Hondas or older BMWs. Not too many others. The reason is commoditisation of many things incl. cars which let this nice habit slowly fade away. It's a pity.

Have you seen the Saab versus advertisement campaign ? I like it a lot. Therefore I've tried to do my own version of it. Not so clean, not so professional but still authentic. The photo is from a convoy in summer 2011 to a large Saab event in the Czech Republic (Roudnice). Taken by Kerim from saabundergound.cz. The black convertible is mine. It was an 8 cars convoy to Prague, where another 30-40 cars were regrouping. On the event itself around 200 cars were present. You can read more here.

Hopefully i didn't broke any copyrights or something like that, it wasn't my intention. I hope you like it.

Saab vs. Fellowship

Saab enamel mug

2012-02-12T20:25:00.003+01:00

I've found in the streets of Amsterdam an interesting shop selling enamel things. They look a bit vintage and has a potential with the time to get even more old feeling. I've bought a Saab mug, but in the shop were also thermometers and other stuff. Not cheap but unique.

The shop is called Emaille.nl, they have a webshop as well. I've seen there 2 sizes of Saab thermometers. They are not in the shoplist at the moment but if someone is keen to get them, an e-mail to Emaille is worth a try.

My mug (was the last in the stock at that day) :

Saab enamel mug

A Saab in the recent The Big Bang Theory

2012-02-12T13:37:00.001+01:00

In the recent part of The Big Bang Theory series one of the main characters Leonard drives a Saab. It is an american version of 9-5 sedan from years 2004 - 2005. Like this one.

Saab in The Big Bang Theory

source

How to prevent microsleeps on long drives ?

2012-02-12T12:49:00.006+01:00


Saab 9000 interior

Many of us knows the sleepy feeling after several hours of driving and everybody knows that microsleeps can kill. According to studies up to 20% and more all car accidents are caused by driver fatigue or microsleeps.

During a microsleep a driver completely stops to perceive the ambient plus after the fear after waking up while driving can cause wrong reactions with fatal consequences.

The investigations for such crashes often reports no marks after hard breaking, strange reactions in front of clear and visible obstacles or driving to other lanes without any visible reason.

I had such an experience. Several years ago after ~1800 km and several hours of tiring meetings I woke up in the emergency lane of a highway in 130 km/h. I had luck, nothing happened, I had to rest for longer time. This "adventure" teached me to be extremely cautious on the road.

Reasons for microsleeps :
There are various reasons and combinations of them. Insufficient sleeping before the drive. Too much heating in the cabin. A long night drive and fight against biorythms, most sleepiness comes between 2 - 5 a.m. and 3 - 4 p.m.. Boring highway drive, all the time the same ambient. Too much eating before or during the drive (look at postprandial somnolence). Too many energy drinks, they can cause opposite effect, if they are too many.

Some example what can happen are shown in this video. There are several vehicle manufacturer independent warning systems (non-commercial example is here), but not all of us have them and to completely rely on them isn't too healthy as well.

So how to prevent microsleeps ?

How to prevent microsleeps :
Someone asked in a closed forum, what people do to stay awake in the long drives. Here is an extract from useful answers :

if you can, drive through the day
plan ahead, try to avoid traffic peaks around cities
every 2.5 - 3 hours stop a bit of physical activity, which increases blood circulation
to be not hungry and not sated, somewhere in between
dont eat too much and heavy food, better light food and more often
eat some sugar if possible, in chocolate or so
eat fruits for fast sugar
sometimes let cold air into the car, it wakes up, make draught
drink a lot of water, coffee or energy drinks later, when it starts to be long
listen to music, sometimes loud and with faster tempo
listen to audiobooks or radio with spoken word
don't drive boring slow, do not speed, but drive "fresh" or change "heartbeat" of your driving
have a camera with you, if a good target for a picture comes, photograph it
surf on the radio stations
speak with the others in the cabin, but if it makes you tired, tell them to be quiet

Besided of this, my experience says, the older I am, the more sleepy I am getting. It's a completely different feeling, when I drove in age between 20-30 years and now around 40.

If you have other recipes against to get tired on the road and to prevent microsleeps, the comment section is for you.

Happy saabing.

Mahindra may loose interest to takeover Saab because of GM

2012-02-11T13:59:00.001+01:00

One of the interested parties Mahindra & Mahindra recently speaks about possible withdrawing of their proposal for taking over Saab. The reason is GMs stubborn resistance and active effort in prevention of the Saab rebirth.

It is not a surprise, that GM will not license their IP of the current models 9-4X and 9-5 to anyone. The IP for 9-3 stayed open and there are reportedly ways to build 9-3s without GM. These are the challenges which a possible new owner of Saab would face. One can understand GM's standpoint, they own the IP, but to not license it means, that GM see Saabs possible reincarnation as a threat. The other, much simpler motivation would be, that GM wants burry another proof of their incompetence.

There are two different scenarios ahead for the Saab administrators. The first is to sell it as a whole (Youngman, Brightwell Holdings, Mahinda & Mahindra ...) or to sell it in pieces (Volvo, BAIC, e-car consortium ...). If Saab will be sold in pieces, this means the end. So this would be also the target of GM.

DI.se also writes, that all the proposals for Saab now are indicative only. Let's wait if this is true or not.

... and yes, let's hope, these are rumours only ...

Sources : di.se | expressen.se

Saab Nine Two enthusiasts study

2012-02-11T13:01:00.001+01:00

I've found a wonderful design coming from the pen (computer) of a Saab enthusiast Carl Fredrik Holtermann. This is a piece of art made from heart. Another great example of careful mix of the classic shapes together with modern look.

Saab 9-2 study

Respect Carl Fredrik !

You can also look at another 92 study called Saab Sixten.

Vintage

2012-02-10T00:39:00.001+01:00

Retro

Roof boxes and Saabs

2012-02-09T23:58:00.000+01:00

There is a roof box specialist in Sweden called Takboxspecialisten. They do roof boxes and simillar things for many cars but have a gallery with Saabs with roofboxes.

Some examples :

You can look at the whole gallery here.

Wordle Saab

2012-02-09T23:34:00.001+01:00

Wordle is a tool creating "word clouds" from texts or websites or blogs with RSS feeds. It scans a text or feed and creates pictures from words highlighted according to frequency of use and most probably other things. It is not new, but still very fresh looking and capable of creating very nice pictures. Carefully selected fonts and color combinations. The author Jonathan Feinberg placed a lot of work in it.

So I've tried to wordle a bit on Saab's websites and the large fansites and blogs i know and have some nice wordles for you.

Wordle from Saab facebook fan page

This is Saabs official facebook fan page. Fine, that it works with Wordle.

RSS feed from Saab.com

This is the RSS news feed from the international version of Saab.com. The Saab.com itself is in flash, but it provides a link to rss.

Saabsunited.com

This is Saabsunited.com. A bit less words, but it depoends heavily on the configuration of the feed. Simple and to the point :)

Saabblog.net

Saabblog.net, the german fansite looks completely different.

Wordle of Saabworld.net

RSS feed of Saabworld.net.

Wordle from Saabism.blogspot.com

... and my little Saabism.

I preferred the black background but you can configure a lot by yourself in the Wordle.

Radar

2012-02-06T23:30:00.001+01:00

Saab Museum Trollhattan pictures part #3

2012-02-05T19:50:00.003+01:00

Many visitors are coming to my blog through the Saab Museum Trollhattan pictures part #1 and part #2. These pictures were uploaded when the blogger engine didn't had the default photo galleries, so they are not in higher resolutions.

Therefore here is part #3 of the Saab Museum pictures. Some are the same, some are new. All of them clickable.

Saab Museum Trollhattan, Oct. 2011

Turbo Wheel on Saab Aero X concept

Saab 93-X concept

Saab 93-X concept interior

Wonderful retro babies

Saab 900 Convertible with targa roof prototype

Saab Museum Trollhattan, Oct. 2011

Saab 92, MY 1950 - 1952

Saab 900 x 2

Saab 900 Convertible interior

Saab Museum Trollhattan, Oct. 2011

Ursaab

You can also look at part#1 and part #2.

Saab 9-X Air

2012-02-05T18:22:00.001+01:00

This is how Saab convertibles could look like if GM wouldn't be such ignorant. A wonderful concept and a hard one, since Saab convertibles are top in it's class, to improve them required a lot of skill.

It is a hybrid, with Biopower engine (E85 ethanol or Petrol) combined with electric engine. Introduced 2008 together with the Saab 9-X Biohybrid.

Technical specifications :

Specifications	9-X Air
Internal combustion engine	Front mounted transverse four-cylinder inline engine with turbo
Displacement :	1398 cc
Bore x stroke:	73.4 x 82.6 mm
Max power (E85):	200 hp at 5000 r / min
Max torque (E85):	280 Nm at 1750-5000 r / min
Max power (gasoline):	170 hp at 5200 r / min
Max torque (gasoline):	230 Nm at 1500-5200 r / min
Valve control:	Double overhead camshafts per cylinder bank, four valves per cylinder
Fuel system:	Direct injection
Hybrid systems :	Electric motor / generator with lithium-ion battery pack ; Energy regeneration at braking
Drive:	Front wheel drive
Gearbox :	6-speed sequential manual, with automatic clutch
L x W x H:	4427 x 1826 x 1390 mm
Fuel consumption :	6.5 l/100 km (E85), 5.0 l/100 km (petrol)
Carbon dioxide emissions :	107 g / km (E85), 119 g / km (petrol)

Source : Wikipedia

I've seen it in the Saab Museum in October 2011 and besides many things I especially liked a detail - the slide-in cameras instead of side rearview mirrors. These :

9-X Air concept "rearview mirror"

There are some videos on youtube on it. If you would like to keed the good feeling while discovering the 9-X, better don't look at the official where the GM's VP of design looks like drunk and speaks mostly marketing brainwash.

Probably the nicest of the videos is this one :

And also this one from the Detroit International Auto Show is very fine.

Of course, this is now over, this never will be built. Many GM patents are there for sure and it already has the current 9-5 front mask look'n'feel.

Such a pity ...

Music for Cabriolets : Toni Granko - Plachtyk

2012-02-05T12:43:00.002+01:00

Again a summer flashback. The slow and atmospheric tracks from Toni Granko are an excellent choice for slow evening rides and short stops on comfortable places with the roof down.

Toni Granko is a guy from Bratislava, making music for long time. This track is from the album "Ľudia dialok blízkych myslí", freely translated as "People from far away close in mind", from 2010. He's a friend of mine, he is not exactly a Saab enthusiast but he has a taste for cars and very much likes Saabs. Into his car history definitely belongs this wonderful old Volga GAZ 21 (check the transparent tachometer !) as well as a Volvo 440.

In this fast world he reminds me a bit of Vini Reilly | Durutti Column, going his own way even in the boom of the manchester scene in the 90's. To better know the background, the movie 24 hour party people, is very recommended.

Visual performance in the video is done by Kufrik Brothers.

Saab 9-3 Convertible by Nordic

2012-02-04T21:46:00.001+01:00

Saab 9-3 I (2001) Cabrio tuned by Nordic to 430 HP / 510 Nm. Nice :)

More about the car and pictures is here.

Skiing

2012-02-04T02:43:00.001+01:00

Just a pic, from Saabhistory. On the roof downhill racer Benny Lindberg and beneath the roof the swedish ski legend Ingemar Stenmark :)

Music for Cabriolets : Soil and Pimp Sessions - Sahara

2012-02-04T02:21:00.000+01:00

These guys are a jazz sextet born in the Tokyo club scene, calling themselves Soil & "Pimp" Sessions. They describe their music as "Death Jazz". Sometimes "jazzpunk" would be appropriate as well.

Starting 2001, currently with the album #8. In a live performance, they play unbelievable things. Energetic, fast and exact. There are plenty of youtube live videos.

This is not autopilot music, rather listening inside and going with the groove. This is extremely appealing stuff so a couple of tracks are enough, but the minutes with them in the car are often mindblowing.

The newest battle of Saab started

2012-02-03T17:34:00.005+01:00

The bidding and information battle of Saab increased on intensity. The recent bid of Youngman has been rejected by the receivers but this is just a start.

According to various sources, the Youngman - Lotus bid for Saab was between 200 and 300 M€ which seems not to be enough. They anticipate around 1000 workers in the Trollhattan plant, if they win, which again seems to be insufficient. No word about the rumoured claim to invest 500 M€ as a buying price and another 500 M€ for development.

If this is a bidding battle, like an auction, than the price will go up soon.

Important is, which Saab models would be produced (if any) under the new buyer. GM told, they will not allow anyone to use the 9-5 and 9-4X intellectual property, so these models seems to be gone. The Saab 9-3 is still in game but the know-how for the pre-facelifted 9-3 was sold to the chinese BAIC, which now warns Youngman about this. And it seems not to matter, that the current line are the post-facelifted Griffins. Who knows, how the agreement looks like ...

Brightwell Holdings, the other known interested party, is negotiating with GM, claims TTela today. Zamier Ahmed, the representative of Brightwell says, that they want to produce 9-5 and 9-4X as quickly as possible and is very optimistic about that. No words about the price, they didn't placed a bid yet, but signed an agreement of confidentiality with the receivers.

This might be a tactical move. It is known, that Brightwell was in talks with Victor Muller before the bankruptcy declaration.

Youngman - Lotus as well as Brightwell Holdings intend to buy Saab as a complete and restart production. Production of what exactly is still open.

The third interested party Mahindra is still quiet.

The identity of the other parties, most important this "european car maker" also remains unknown.

There are also parties which would like to buy only a part of Saab. BAIC seems to be interested in context of a plan to produce electric cars together with Panasonic. Electric Saabs would provide enough know-how. Also the swedish neighbour from Goteborg would be interested in development properties. And many more. The receivers claimed several times, that they are interested in selling Saab as a whole, not part by part. How strong they can stay we will find out quite soon.

GM has to approve any kind of business with Saab. Will it ?

The newest battle of Saab started. Will it finish the war ? We thought this about several battles before, no one did. But, as the receivers clearly stated, the clock is ticking and money is less and less.

Sources : saabsunited, saabblog, ttela

Want me ?

2012-02-03T00:09:00.000+01:00

Bids for Saab are coming

2012-02-02T20:49:00.000+01:00

Two things are happening right now. The first one is extremely important. According to various sources the chinese company Youngman-Lotus has placed a bid for Saab some days ago. This is inline with the informations, that the Youngman delegation arrived on Monday to Sweden. No other details are known yet.

There is nothing publicly known about other bids, but this doesn't mean, they were not placed. Brightwell signed a confidentiality agreement with the receivers, so even if they would place a bid, it would stay confidential.

Another bidding for Saabs, but of a quite different kind, is going on right now in an electronic auction. According to Saabblog, there are 1400 Saabs which were either company cars of Saab employees or on stock in various places. 25 of them can be now auctioned. Some really nice pieces are there and everything close to new.

Only an authorised reseller can attend that auction but if someone is interested, the dealer would attend for him for sure. You can view the auction here.

Things are moving.

Global warming ?

2012-02-02T07:44:00.001+01:00

Right here, right now. This is central Europe. It shouldn't be really a surprise, it's January but sometimes I'd like to be born a bit closer to the equator.

My Saab sleeps in the garage. I'm very curious how my temporary company diesel from the other "swedish" brand will start the engine.

... a crash

2012-02-01T23:57:00.000+01:00

This picture is recently circulating around the networked globe ... ouch.

Saab 900

2012-02-01T00:44:00.001+01:00

ahh..

Saab 900 classic

source

Swiss "Cash TV" report about Saab in Switzerland

2012-01-31T19:50:00.001+01:00

The swiss TV broadcast Cash TV is about how the swiss people make money. In the part from 29.1. was a part about Saab. Mainly from the dealers and Hirsch perspective. Well, no reason for pleasure at all. But the whole thing is not over yet.

It's in german language mixed with swiss german, sometimes hard to understand, but the point is very clear.

You can watch the video through this link.

Saab special car transport vehicles

2012-01-31T18:58:00.002+01:00

As previously mentioned, there was a company Solstad in Sweden, rebuilding Saabs to special purpose cars, mainly 6-wheelers, car transport vehicles. There are not many pictures around the globe, but some are.

The main source is again Saabrobz's flickr photostream and couple of other sites. So I'd like to post them here. They are based on a timeline, the oldest first. A click on the pictures results in a better resolution.

There are more pictures, you can find them here.

Sources : Saabrob, wikipedia, cardatabase, sorlinden.se

Five potential bidders for Saab

2012-01-31T16:38:00.001+01:00

Saab 9-3X

Even while the recent press conference of Saab receivers didn't unveiled any breaking headlines, some news are still there.

Firstly there are five interested parties, potential bidders. The receivers didn't comment on any of them by name. Three are known : chinese Youngman - Lotus, turkish Brightwell Holdings and indian Mahindra. The names of the remaining two will stay hidden. From earlier claims it comes out, that there is at least one swedish interested party.

A name, BMW, resonates in many comments and also behind the scenes. It would be a good mother company, but it remains open if this is the truth and what business strategy may lie behind. On a personal note don't like BMW's design too much, but the technical part is great.

Secondly, around 100 people are still on Saab's payroll. These people are very important for a possible restart of the factory. There are managers as well as technical workers with unique skills. It must be a decision of the receivers to keep them still in, even when time is critical and money is running out. Such a decision must be part of a plan, namely to sell Saab as a whole with a restart of the production on the background.

One more update came about Saab Parts, the highly profitable company producing spare parts for Saabs. The EIB (European Investment Bank) loan was payed by the swedish NDO (National Debt Office) and NDO is taking over Saab Parts. In practice that means a takeover by the swedish government, while Saab Parts remains as a part of the package offered for sale by the administrators.

If someone buys Saab, there will be a debt to NDO to be covered. It is somewhere between 100 and 200 M €. If nobody buys Saab, Saab Parts remain government (NDO) owned and the debt will be repayed from the profit of their business.

Sources : saabsunited.com and saabblog.net

Solstad Saab 900NG convertible

2012-01-30T16:30:00.003+01:00

Do you like modified cars ? I like them as long as they are done with sense and taste. All of us have seen many mods, which destroyed the original.

There was a swedish company called Solstad, found by Robert Solstad, which modified cars, mostly Saab, mainly rebuilding them to special cars like car transport vehicles or ambulances.But they did also a convertible. If Solstad have nothing to do with the norwegian Solstad Offshore, than I couldn't find anything about them.

But I could find some pictures of the Solstad Saab. It's a tuning of Saab 900NG (1994-1998) with the B258I 2.5-liter V6 with 170HP and automatic transmission.

Solstad Saab 900 NG convertible

Click on any picture to get bigger resolution.

The pictures are coming from saabrobz's flickr pool and you can see 4 more pictures here. Thank you for the "yes" for posting them here.

Do you like it ? I like a lot the rear part with the spoiler and the dashboard. Yellow and black are a very daring combination, but very nice as well. The seats would be nice without the V6 turbo letters. The rims are fine, the changeover from black to yellow on the sides makes it look a bit like from a computer game.

Btw. what were the differences between 900NG and 9-3 I ? There are two interesting threads on in : first and second.

Saabism featured on Saabblog.net

2012-01-29T14:41:00.001+01:00

With great feeling I've found an article about Saabism together with a link in the blog links section on one of the very large Saab community sites - Saabblog.net.

Saabblog is a german speaking site covering the large german Saab community, always up-to-date and one of my main information sources. The 27 categories of topics speaks for itself. You can find here news and different topics, sometimes from a different angle of view as well as a great wave of enthusiasm.

The article on Saabblog can be found here.

For me it means a large dose of motivation to continue and improve Saabism. Saab is a passion, Saabism is a hobby, a school of blogging and writing texts as well an attempt to bring at least a small contribution to visibility of Saab and the power of the community - potential customer base. If my blog contributes at least a little bit to a rebirth of Saab, it would make me really happy and only confirm, that the dedicated time was worth it.

Thank you Saabblog, thank you Tom !

Saab 9000 combi, the Saab that never happened

2012-01-28T21:36:00.003+01:00

I just came across an interesting picture, a Saab 9000 combi - or kombi, estate or wagon if you like it more. For unknown reasons it never came into serial production. It is a pity, because the 9000 is a desired model in the Saab community.

It's this one :

source

Some googling brought other pictures of the car. Since this kind of rare picture tend to disappear with the time, I've downloaded them all and posting them here, so another source is alive. The original sources are of course there.

All the pictures are clickable to get the original size.

These two pictures can be found on this swedish forum.

Saab 9000 combi

And these pictures are coming from this dutch forum.

All the pictures are clickable for the original size.

Saab Support Convoy Brno, Czech Republic 2012

2012-01-28T18:49:00.003+01:00

A nice video came from the czech part of the We are many, we are Saab event. I didn't attended at the czech part, the slovakian (home) and austrian parts were enough.

Brno : 60+ cars
Prague : 40+ cars
Bratislava : cca 50 cars
Vienna : 53 cars

But the video is nice. Greetings to saabunderground.cz !

Leak from Brussels : Biofuels not that eco-friendly as described

2012-01-28T18:03:00.000+01:00

Image source : www.mediafreedominternational.org

Fuel in our cars, disregard if petrol or diesel, is polluting our environment. No question about that. A try to reduce the harmful effects - greenhouse gas emissions - is useful. No question about that either. But what if the amount of reduced emissions is not that high as indicated ?

A recent leak from Brussels published on Euractiv claims, that exactly this happens.

The CO2 numbers we know are not including the effect of an important factor - Indirect Land Use Change (ILUC).

ILUC happens, when a new land is created for fields, where plants for biofuels are growed. It means mainly deforestation all over the world, mainly in places like South East Asia. That means, that with burning of biofuel we get less direct greenhouse gas emissions in the air but with cutting forests we produce more emissions at the end.

These messages are coming in the connection to the awaited EU legislative proposals on biofuels in the spring.

In its recent review of the Fuel Quality Directive, the EU proposed a default value of 107g CO2 equivalent per megajoule of fuel (CO2/mj) for oil from tar sands, as compared to 87.5g CO2/mj for crude oil, reflecting the greater environmental harm that its production causes.

It a is 22% difference. A lot.

EU intends to constantly decrease the amount of greenhouse gas emissions, starting with 35% less emissions than conventional petrol and the number should grow up to 60% in 2018.

You can read more details in the Euractive article.

Brightwell Holdings signs confidentiality agreement with Saabs receivers

2012-01-27T21:07:00.001+01:00

Dagens industri reports, that one of the interested parties in buying Saab, the turkish company Brightwell Holdings has signed a confidentiality agreement with the receivers of Saab. That means no details of an eventual bid will be revealed.

The private-equity firm claimed before, they are interested in buying Saab as the whole company.

They would like to make a bid. "We are just a few days, maybe a week away." said the spokeswoman and board member Zamier Ahmed. It makes sense, they don't want reveal any details. On the first hear it sounds a bit suspicious, but at least my experience says, confidence agreements are before tenders and bids not unusual.

Their competitors in bidding should be chinese company Youngman, which claimed to bid. Another interested party was the indian Mahindra, which representatives visited Sweden a few days ago. But about bid no word until now.

The second part of the article becomes also interesting, when DI starts to ask Brightwell about GM and their possible steps in licensing of their know how. The answer :

"If GM is continuing to issue their licenses, we can begin production within weeks.".

"But if GM, at worst, do not want to go that route, it does not mean that we are not interested in Saab ... we have our own platform, developed internally by one of the companies owned by Brightwell Holdings, " she added.

What licenses she speaks about ? GM claimed, that they will not issue 9-5 and 9-4X licensing to anyone. So, does she speaks about the 9-3 license ? What about the PhoeniX ? It is known, that Saab has sold a right to use to Youngman. If the right is exclusive ... about that falled never a word. Or one of their plans is to have PhoeniX and the new platform together.

This is unknown and due to the agreement it will remain so. To buy a Saab as a whole package is one thing, what exactly they plan to produce in Trollhattan is a different story.

Let's hope for the best.

A computer from Saab ? No problem ...

2012-01-27T00:47:00.000+01:00

Did you know, that Saab had a computer departement which became a separate company ? While browsing, I found out, that the former Czechoslovakia bought 50 years ago a computer from Saab.

Saab had in the 60's a computer departement, later a separate company, which developed computers, firstly for the aviation industry and tried it to place also in other industry segments. The company was called Datasaab. Now, in 2012, the computers from the 60's looks like from the stone age, but still it has some retro magic inside.

Datasaab had an interesting history, through which they developed and sold several models. SARA, D21, D22, D15, D16 and D220, just to name some of them. Their main intention was to make a computer small enough to be placed in an aircraft, which was at that time a pure science-fiction. They even invented FCPU (flexible central processing unit), never patented that, but Intel did years after.

The company lasted from 1960 to 1975, when it was sold to Sperry UNIVAC, which doesn't exists anymore. The last known sale was to Ericsson and ICL. You can read more about the history of Datasaab o a dedicated page as well as on Wikipedia.

Also a guy called Göran Sundqvist tried to do computer music on the D21 in 1967. Some samples, you can listen to are located here. It sounds like computer music Sinclair Spectrum a computer from the 80's. Hey, but this is computer generated music from 1967 on a aircraft computer ! A pure avantgarde for the time where it comes from. In the same year, one of the digital pioneers Tangerine Dream were found and even three years later Kraftwerk started to exist.

There was also a Saab promotion video aiming at the computers, where also the D21 and D22 are shown. As well as some nice old Saabs. And funny music sometimes :) The language is swedish. It reminded me sometimes on the wonderful sci-fi series from the 70's called U.F.O.. Enjoy.

Music for Cabriolets : McSolaar - Dévotion

2012-01-26T01:17:00.000+01:00

Remembering the summer ... and many summers before. Imho this is one of the best tracks of McSolaars album Prose Combat. Old school. In the car, it lets you drive.

Saab Sixten

2012-01-25T01:36:00.001+01:00

There is a study called Saab Sixten designed by the swedish design studio Gray Design and named after Sixten Sason, the designer of the first commercial Saab, the Saab 92, which roots are in the Ursaab.

The wonderful study gives the lines of the first Saab a modern look. It's an awesome showcase, what the designer can do, for example for a Saab 9-1. If Saab, after some miracle, would survive and produce new cars, for which all the Saab fanc, including me, hope so much.

I like this study a lot. See for yourself. The pictures are clickable for a higher resolution.

Saab Sixten

You can find more pictures and text here.

An engine in this ? The site says 6 liter V8. Yah right, I want it tomorrow ! In todays world to have this in a size of a Focus/Mini with 300 hp would be fun as well :)

Saab Museum saved and stays in Trollhättan

2012-01-24T18:19:00.004+01:00

According to P4 West and Saabsunited the Saab Museum is saved and stays in Trollhättan. The bid of 28 million SEK (3.18 M €) for the whole museum will be covered by the city of Trollhättan, SAAB AB and The Wallenberg foundations.

THE MUSEUM IS SAVED.

The running costs will be covered by the city of Trollhättan and regional government.

THANK YOU !!

This is another very clear message to the automotive world, that Saab isn't just another automaker, but a brand with a high value for many fans and some authorities which deserves to be saved.

Read more at Saabsunited.

Article about Saab in slovak version of Auto Motor and Sport

2012-01-24T12:37:00.001+01:00

In the recent issue of Auto, Moto and Sport is a 6-pager about Saab. It's a recapitulation of Saab's history with the accent on what was happening in the last 1.5 years. Also it reminds on inventions of Saab.

I really appreciate, that the so often seen poison in the articles (for unknown reason for me), is not seen here yet. It is not an enthusiastic article but also not an anti-Saab text. These are basically data with comments, nothing else.

For those who understand Slovak, below you find scanned copies for read or download.
The images are clickable / Obrázky sú klikateľné.

Music for Cabriolets : The Herbaliser - Battle of Bongo Hill

2012-01-22T19:12:00.000+01:00

This funky/breakbeat tune works perfectly in the car if you like the beat and bassline. There isn't too much more in the track but if you jump on the wave of the track, driving makes much more fun. The repetitiveness works great this time. This track keeped me awake after a 1000km while still had to drive 250 km in rain and snow.

The Herbalizer are one of the most known artist of the independent label Ninja Tune.

Saabs receivers press conference outcome : no breaking news

2012-01-22T01:54:00.003+01:00

Saab PhoeniX, one of the key weapons in Saabs fight for survival

Only a few news came today out at the press conference of the Saab receivers Anne-Marie Pouteaux and Hans L. Bergqvist in Göteborg.

Important is, that they confirmed the interest of several parties in buying Saab as a whole package and in continuity of Saab as a brand. Also very important is the claim of the administrators, that their aim is to sell Saab as a whole.

Until now published interested parties are chinese Youngman, turkish Brightwell Hodlings and also, and this is new, an unnamed swedish company. Also a combination of them seems to be a possibility.

Establishing (evaluation ?) of all Saabs assets is not yet completed. And the clock is ticking, money is running out.

That is the reason for decision to sell cars in the Saab Museum. they received 500 bids, no decision made yet and it should be expected within 2 weeks. This is a very sad par of the story, but let's see, what happens and if we ever get knowledge of the winners.

According to the Save Saab Museum blog one of the bidders is the dutch Louwman museum in Den Haag, which is the world’s oldest private collection of motor cars. They are bidding for the Ursaab. Another Ursaab bidder is the Swedish National Museum. Another very important bidder is the swedish Innovatum Technology Park, a development centre doing research projects and inspirational activities based in Trollhättan.

Well if time and money are running out, we will know the most important answers soon.

Sources : Saabsunited.com, Save Saab Museum blog

Turkish bid for Saab is close

2012-01-19T19:18:00.002+01:00

According to Bloomberg, the before mentioned turkish private-equity firm Brightwell Holdings will bid for Saab in the near future. They didn't specify the date, but indicated, that they will need around 2 weeks from now to place a bid, which is around start of the second week of February.

They would like to buy the whole "Saab package" and are in talks with Saab for several weeks now.

Ex-CEO of Saab Victor Muller claimed before, that he was in talks with Brightwell Holdings. Brightwell confirms talks with the administrators as well as with Muller. What about GM ?

Any transaction will need approval of GM as well as the Swedish government and the European Investment Bank.

You can read the whole article here.

Sources : Bloomberg via Saabsunited.

A new bid for Saab ?

2012-01-19T12:32:00.002+01:00

DI.se reports, that Youngman is preparing a new bid for Saab. It should be 5 billion SEK (528M EUR) for Saab and another 5 billion SEK for the development of the new PhoeniX based car on the 9-3/900NG level. This is together more than 1 billion EUR.

This news has now the status of a rumour, next hours / days should bring more light in the situation.

It was reported by Saabsunited together with the message, that there is a workaround for the existing 9-3 models to be produced without GMs intellectual property.

That would most probably mean the end of 9-5 and 9-4X, however some voices say, this isn't necessary true.

The receivers called selected media to a press conference for Saturday. Next week Rachel Pang, CEO of Youngman should be in Sweden. With the new bid ? Who knows.

Around other interested parties in buying Saab after bankruptcy it is quiet, but Victor Muller claimed in an interview, he's trying to help the turkish potential investors Brightwell Holding.

The Saab museum is still in the same status - they sell the cars, deadline for bids is 20.1.2012, a day before the press conference.

As if the things started to move ... at least for the public.

edit : this link : Youngman to submit SEK 5Billion Bid For SAAB - was submited just minutes ago (18:30, 19.1.2012) by ex CEO of Saab Victor Muller on his facebook fanpage.

English wikipedia blackout today

2012-01-18T12:25:00.002+01:00

Today as the protest against SOPA and PIPA the english part of Wikipedia is down.

You can see the blackout page here, today only. You can learn more here.

edit : to see nice overview of the websites, which joined the blackout effort click here. You will find there screenshots of the blackout screens of webs like wired, wordpress.org, google, mozilla, tumblr and many more.

Press conference of the Saab bankruptcy lawyers on Saturday

2012-01-18T11:52:00.002+01:00

According to Saabsunited selected media were invited for a press conference to Goteborg on Saturday, 21.1.2012.

There were several interested companies in buying Saab after the bankruptcy - the chinese Youngman, the turkish Brightwell Holding, the indian Mahindra, just to name a few. The lawyers are aiming on selling Saab as a whole.

However the whole process is running out of cash, so there are already concrete steps of selling the Saab Museum in Trollhattan out of the whole package. This is a bad sign, because the museum is an important part of Saabs culture and the automotive history. You can read more on the Save Saab Museum blog as well as on Swadeology (with list of cars for sale).

There are also critical stakeholder voices asking what exactly the lawyers are doing, why and who they are focusing at from the interested parties.

Indeed it is not clear, what is going on right now in the bankruptcy case. This might be the reason for the press conference. Or there are already some concrete things done. Probably not the biggest, what all the enthusiasts and ex-workers are waiting for (that would be public or semi-public immediately), but some update would be healthy.

Let's hope they will come at least some good news.

Awesome pictures from the Dakkar rally 2012

2012-01-16T20:54:00.000+01:00

I just wanted to point out fantastic photos from the Dakkar rally 2012, issued at the boston.com. Wow.

Also I am somehow proud, that the slovak motorbike rider Stefan Svitko finished on the 5th place, which is historically the best place for a slovak attendee. Congratulation !

One picture to speed up the tastes, you can see the rest here.

The rest of the pictures can be found here on boston.com. Enjoy.

We are many, we are Saab : events in Slovakia and Austria.

2012-01-14T21:13:00.002+01:00

To see 100 Saabs in one day is here in the middle of Europe not a common thing. Different was the situation at the worldwide series of Outside-Saab events. Bratislava and Vienna were the places I've chosen to go.

Bratislava was for me a very nice surprise. Some people were saying about 45 cars, imho there were more. Many new faces but many Saabs, which I've seen in the streets through the year. Mainly newer Saabs, but also some older babies. A nice surprise was also the meeting with old friends from saabsunited.cz. The program was simple : meeting, convoy to the Devin castle, fotosession, convoy to Danube and again foto session.

Sorry for the long post, the blogspot engine behaves sometimes very crazy.

Some pictures (click on them to see larger size) :

The austrian part was at the Saab Oberlaa dealership. A nice event, 53+ cars. The dealer opened for us the shop and offered some tea. The cold wind outside was crazy. They have new Griffins on display. Again many people from the austrian Saab club. Thanks a lot for inviting us. Hopely we doo together in summer again a drive.

Again some pics :

Modern design of a gas station

2012-01-12T12:34:00.000+01:00

This is very unusual here in Slovakia. A minor gas station chain GAS started to design their stations in a very clean, minimalistic and modern way. This concept allows to maintain the corporate identity while build several sizes and variations.

The author is the Architecture design atelier SAD. It's always very refreshing to know, that some companies are aiming on fresh designs as a part of their identity and fighting against the boring corporate designs. It's located in Matuskovo, Slovakia, reportedly seen by several friends in reality. It is 55km from where I live. A future target of a cabrio ride in summer :)

Here are some pictures. If you want to see more, follow this link. You can also browse through some of the very nice and often modern gas stations in the world.

Source : tototu.sk

Outside-Saab meeting Wien

2012-01-12T10:36:00.008+01:00

Pre všetkých, ktorí sa chcú zúčastniť na rakúskej časti akcie Outside-Saab vo Viedni :

Stretnutie bude v sobotu 14.1. o 12:45 na parkovisku pod Starým mostom, vedľa Mýtneho domčeka. Pôjde s nami minimálne jedno auto bez diaľničnej nálepky, takže pôjdeme starou cestou mimo diaľnice. Odchod okolo 13:00.

Je to 62 km, po starých cestách ~1h 10min jazdy.

Akcia vo Viedni začína o 14:30, adresa je Saab Oberlaa, Oberlaaer Straße 230, Wien.Viac info na webe rakúskeho fanclubu.

Určite pôjdem aspon na chvíľu podporiť aj slovenskú časť o 10:00.

Teším sa na stret. Aby to celé malo aj zmysel odporúča sa veľa fotiť.

update : už aj na saabclub.sk - Puppy Hunters Saabklub webe

---

For all slovaks which would like to be a part of the austrian Outside-Saab event in Vienna :

We will meet on Saturday 14.1. at 12:45 on the parking place under the Old bridge in Bratislava, close to the Mytny domcek restaurant. There will be at least one car without the highway toll sticker, so we will go the old way to Vienna outside the highways. Planned departure to Vienna cca 13:00.

It is 62km, on the old roads around 1 hour 10 minutes drive.

The event in Vienna starts at 14:30, the adress is Saab Oberlaa, Oberlaaer Straße 230, Vienna. More info on the event is on the austrian fanclub site.

I personally will go also on the slovak part at 10:00.

Looking forward for the event. To make the impact as biggest as possible it is recommended to have a camera and take as many pictures as possible.

Zväčšiť mapu

2011 Automotive color popularity by DuPont

2012-01-08T14:09:00.003+01:00

The popular annual car color popularity report for 2011 is here. It is coming every year from DuPont :

Europe (click on the picture to get hi-res version) :

In comparison to the 2010 charts no dramatic change, only minor. Europe is conservative. Unfortunately. DuPont changed a bit the the measurement, instead of 11 clolors in 2010 they measure 10.

Following table shows the differences :

Colour	% in 2011	% in 2010	% change
Black	25	24	1
White	20	14	5
Gray	18	19	-1
Silver	15	17	-2
Blue	7	9	-2
Red	6	7	-1
Brown / Beige	5	5	0
Green	1	1	0
Yellow Gold	1	1	0
Purple	n/a	1	n/a
Other	2	1	-1

The main difference is, that white color increased popularity at the expense of Gray, Silver and Blue. It is true, in every car dealership disregard the brand is at least one white car, if not the majority. I assume this chart are about new cars, e.g. side-effect of production planning.

I like black cars, but what is going on here ? The first four colors are basically black & white. Are the europeans more and more colour blind ?

Here is the global chart :

For more regions (13 together) follow this DuPont link, which is the source of this information.

Saab and The Simpsons

2012-01-08T01:41:00.001+01:00

According to imcdb.org one Saab appeared in the Simpsons. It is in the episode 22.10 which had the premiere at January 09, 2011. In the discussion are speculations which Saab is it. Well, look yourself :

It looks indeed like a Saab 9-3X concept from 2002 which means, the illustrator either googled or is following Saabs. Also the simplified rims could be from it. How the concept looked like against the production version 9-3X is shown here :

And my picture of it from the Saab Museum :

sources : imcdb.org, saabhistory.com

Who killed Saab Automobile ?

2012-01-07T04:05:00.001+01:00

Saabworld.net brought me to a couple of interesting articles about Saab in Forbes issued in December 2011, short before Christmas. All are analysing Saabs bankruptcy from different angles and one of them is pointing to an in-depth study of what happened.

The first one called What Every Marketer Can Learn From Saab's Crash And Burn is describing lack of positioning and vision of Saab. It is basically repeating an older animadversion to Saabs marketing strategy, which changed after the "Born from jets" campaign starting in October 200, which was too late.

Saab 9-5 Sport Combi 2011

As a long-term car enthusiast I have to disagree on this one. In 2001 we were buying 5 company cars and had to agree on the manufacturer to get good price. Saab was in game, 5 people were excited about it. We were on a test drive on a 9-3 I and it was great. A bit unusual but that was an advantage. The problem was price / performance ratio. Big time. Saab ended second after Volvo (S and V 40) and before Ford (Mondeo) and Honda.

The second one Why Saab couldn't be saved is naming as the main reason lack of money. It's a claim of the wide known thing.

Yes, Saab wasn't profitable and after GM sold it to Spyker there wasn't enough funding to keep it alive until it gets profitable.

The third article Saab Lives On; That Is, Some of Saab's Ideas is focused on the U.S. market and is pointing at Saabs basic idea of four-cylinder turbocharged engines. These cars were not conform with the american thinking about cars at the start of this century, which preferred V6/V8 large volume engines. And also the, in that time economy cars, were not profitable. But after the petrol prices started to rise, the smaller turbocharged engines started to be again interesting for the market, but to be profitable, they had to be styled more distinctive.

Saab 9-3 Independence Edition

Well I cannot speak for Americans. I liked the european models, disliked the 9-2X (Saabaru) and was neutral about 9-7X. But to be honest, even now looking at the modern american cars like f.e. Jeep Compass and simillar, I cannot understand how people can like their interior. To me it looks like it was designed uncles in Siberia which never seen something else than a Lada or Volga.

The most interesting artice of them called Why Saab Had to Die is extracting several points from the mentioned in-depth analysis Who killed Saab Automobile ?. Firstly it says, that to blame GM is too simplistic :

To GM’s credit, it supported Saab despite making losses in almost every year of its 20 year ownership of Saab (with the exception of 1994, 1995 and 2001). But GM-Europe’s configuration as a very high-volume producer of economy to mid range cars sat uncomfortably with Saab’s niche of individualism, technological sophistication and premium positioning.

Well than why GM bought Saab and what was the strategy with it ? From todays point of view it looks like they bought brains, milked them and threw them away.

Maybe I have to shut-up to blame GM, my father was working 15 years for EDS in Vienna at the GM factory for Opel engines as a programmer. He had a long-term job there ...

Saab 9-4X interior

Secondly it says a big truth about production volumes and pricing :

In its final years, Saab produced the same volumes as Porsche, yet was competing with Audi who had not only almost ten times Saab’s volumes but also benefited from well-executed platform-sharing and economies of scale within the Volkswagen Group. In simple terms Saab had the worst of both worlds—Porsche volumes and Audi prices. This was not sustainable.

This is absolutely true. But why was that ? In the GM time maybe lack of focus and strategy for Saab. GM filed for bankruptcy in June 2009 and there were reasons for this. Bad decisions ? Incompetence ? U.S. government helped them to survive.

The third thing is a warning for other small car manufacturers and again about money :

Other smaller premium or niche manufacturers also risk being caught in the unhappy middle between high-volume luxury producers (such as Audi, BMW, Mercedes) that all produce around a million units per annum, and the high-margin/low-volume producers (such as Porsche, Ferrari, Rolls Royce) who recover their costs through high margins. Companies that fall between these camps will find it hard to generate the cash necessary to develop new.

Well yes, but even if this is true, they survive somehow, whether with help of some big brothers or somehow else.

There is much more in this 40-pages very interesting and eye-opening analysis. You can read or download it in this link [pdf]. A must-read for every car fan.

Music for Cabriolets : Unkle - Rabbit In Your Headlights

2012-01-07T00:09:00.000+01:00

This reminds me on the autumn. Sitting in the car close to the water with a friend , roof down and this track. Plus the first steering wheel in the video is from a Saab 900. The same Saab 900 hits the guy in the video as the first and appears also later in the clip. Enjoy. A very emotional piece of music and lyrics.

Saab 9-3 convertible : folding the wind deflector

2012-01-06T20:53:00.002+01:00

A year ago I wrote an often visited blog post about installation of the wind deflector, or windshield if you want, on my Saab 9-3 convertible. Today came a readers request to write about how to fold the deflector, when you don't use it. I found it as a good idea for the blog, so here we go :

It looks complicated at the first time, but once you do it for the first time, you will know everything. With practice you can do that in 20 seconds, maybe less.

So after you took the wind deflector out of your cool Saab, you have something like this :

Just simple fold it down to this :

Now find a mechanism which you see on the next set of pictures. It is holding both halfs of the windshield together. Everything holds on one plug. Continue as seen on the pictures :

Now fold the upper half of the windshield :

Your are now able to fold in the same way the lower half to achieve this :

Don't do it strongly. It goes very easy, just find out how.

Now adjust the mounts. The side mounts must be together like in the picture. If you have problems to move them, you have to push the yellow part and pull the black part. A how-to picture is here.

Now pack it into the case as in the pictures :

That's it. Use the brain instead of power. The wind deflector isn't a cheap thing, to break it would be a pity. I guarantee you, that after 5-6 folds you will laugh about how easy it is.

This pretty little windshield does a great service ! If you want to see how to install it, look here.

Enjoy the ride.

Saab Art January convertible wallpaper calendar

2012-01-01T21:45:00.003+01:00

The Saab Art page, where Roy Chui from Hongkong reguraly issues wonderful Saab calendars, has a fabulous page for January featuring Saab 9-3 Convertible. It's with high probability mine facelift with different colour. Great ! The other January version covers Saab 92.

You can download it in various resolutions here. You can also visit Roy Chuis facebook profile.

P.F. 2012

2011-12-31T21:12:00.003+01:00

Dear readers,

despite of the all possible efforts, this year wasn't very good for Saab. But as in normal life there are ups and downs and most of us believe it will be better after a time. So let it be also in this case. A small and shy light of hope is still there. I still somehow believe it's not over.

We all love the good old days and drowning in all the nostalgia. But this time we need to believe in a better future. For Saab it is the PhoeniX. The only chance for our much more than just a cars.

Pour Féliciter 2012

If your're going through hell, keep going. (Winston Churchill)

Lawyers

2011-12-31T12:02:00.004+01:00

These are Anne-Marie Pouteaux and Hans L Bergqvist, currently the receivers of Saab, from the Delphi law firm.

They are now pulling the stitches on what will happen with Saab. Are they ? Let's hope yes. There are too many parties behind the scenes.

They look fine, aren't they ? I'm sure they are aware, how many people are waiting for the results of their work.

In my professional career I had several encounters with lawyers. Some of them were complete assholes. My experience in a global corporation was absolutely clean : the higher level / multiregion, the bigger asshole and the lower chance to find any kind of mutual interest or motivation to move things forward. The guy responsible for us was farting in his chair somewhere in South Africa and needed several calls to do something for a multimillion dollar deal. A Martian.

On the lower level the situation was different. Our regional lawyer was ok. Sometimes extremely slow but I couldn't blame him, the corners of the law are sometimes very foggy. But this guy understood what is going on and if there was a need for him, he was there.

The guy from the small local law firm was the best. He helped me, when I was leading an office with 30 people, where he could. He charged a lot, but did his job for it.

These two guys on the photo are not coming from any of this hyperglobal lawfirms and consulting superheroes where you are only one of thousands of clients and they charge you 5 digit numbers in € for worthless papers. These two seems to come from a smaller agency which is good.

And they even show a bit of emotions, which doesn't happen often !

“We have ourselves looked into the future product lineup and seen the new 9-3 model and the new technology. And we now really understand, in a whole new way, why Victor Muller is so committed and continues working to find a solution. What we have seen has really moved us.” says Anne-Marie Pouteaux.

Their image of Victor Muller that had been formed by the media has changed.

“I have complete respect for him, he has proven himself helpful because he really wants this to work” says Bergqvist.

Let's hope, they tell the truth here and they can help Saab.

Anne-Marie & Hans, a lot of people rely on you !

source : TTela.se

How to save the Saab Museum

2011-12-30T20:24:00.007+01:00

The wonderful Saab Museum is a part of the package which the receivers of Saab Hans L Bergqvist & Anne-Marie Pouteaux are trying to sell, but in this moment no investor is approved and no agreement is signed.

Therefore there are ongoing efforts and initiatives to save the Saab Museum. The largest is on Saabsunited proposing this to start an association "Club" where all who wants to contribute, has to become a member paying a fee, which looks to be around €50 per year. A reasonable business plan must be in place as well as a temporary management group. Makes sense. The whole proposal can be read here. Also there is also an e-mail adress, where you can declare your intention to help and so join the effort. I did.

Informations about Saab Museum are saying that annual running costs of the museum are about €650.000 and income from tickets is only a fraction of covering the costs.

Another wonderful fan effort supporting the Saabsunited initiative is the Save Saab Museum blog. It collects all informations around the topic as well as pictures and links. The guy running this blog Rudy Snaidero living in The Netherlands, has a black 9-3 convertible, the next facelift after mine, the great 9-3 sedan aero and an extremely nice Saab 95. A longer term facebook friend.

There is also a Save Saab Museum facebook fanpage collecting fans from all over the world.

So how to help ?
If you are interested to help, the best place to start is to read the Saabsunited post, look at the Save Saab Museum blog and most important write an e-mail to the organisators of the effort. The Saab Museum is worth it.

Btw. you can see my pictures from the Saab Museum from October 2011 here and here.

A shy light of hope continues ...

2011-12-30T16:48:00.001+01:00

Interesting things are going on now at the bankrupted Saab.

Some days ago, there was a turkish delegation in Trollhattan reported, interested in Saab. I don't know who exactly is it. According to wikipedia Turkey produced 1,124,982 motor vehicles in 2010, ranking as the 7th largest automotive producer in Europe [source]. There could be interest in some kind of joint venture like f.e. Otosan is.

Another interest came from India. Saabsunited reported, that there is an indian company, "based in India but acts on a world-wide basis with much more than 100’000 employees worldwide. They are a multi-billion dollar company, that work on multiple fields such as energy, logistics, real estate and of course within the aerospace and automotive industry.". After 24h it turned out, that it is Mahindra. Their strategy definitely is to play a role in the worldwide automotive industry. Their personal vehicles product portfolio doesn't look hi-tech at all, but exactly this would be the reason for interest in Saab.

Father of one of my friends drives a Mahindra Pick-up (together with Suzuki Samurai) in the forests and hills of northern Slovakia, in some places an untouched area. It's saying very basic but it does exactly what it should do. It's reliable, goes through terrain and is easy to fix.

The Mahindra story is confirmed by Bloomberg and I've seen basically the same content on the czech news tv channel CT24 (a good one).

At the end I'd like to cite Saabsunited again from this link, which says a claim from the receivers of Saab after bankruptcy Hans L Bergqvist & Anne-Marie Pouteaux :

” The contacts we have had has so far has been positive and gives good hope for alternatives and also combinations of solutions that could result in a continued operation to some degree. Leading to a purposeful dismantling of the bankruptcy operation.”

Disregard how careful this statement sounds, the whole thing is very serious and they would never state this without having a reasonable agreements or data on the background.

Therefore the shy light of a hope still glows ... not only for me and all the fans around the globe but mainly for the city of Trollhattan which in case of total end of Saab would suffer extremely ...

Merry Christmas and all the best in 2012

2011-12-26T12:23:00.001+01:00

This year the Christmas gift for all Saab fans wasn't very nice. It looks like Saab is dead, we will see how the situation will evolves in the next days. Although one slovak wording is saying "Nothing lasts forever", this was a hard hit.

I'm not too much afraid about servicing my Saab. Saab Parts, as a separate company runs fine and is profitable. Spare part delivery times will be longer. I dont plan to buy something in advance, mainly because I don't know what. Hot topic were keys : i have two and both in very good condition.

Where a bit fear comes is the service work. But still there are many Saabs around and the people servicing them don't dissapear, as well as the Saab specific tools, like Tech 2. Let's see, what authorised service will mean.

I've read feelings from people whining "what I have bought". I admit, first day after the bankruptcy declaration I had simillar feelings. But afterwards everything came to normal. I really love the car, continue to going driving just for fun and relax. The soul is there and will remain. Maybe even I will upgrade the baby to make it even more attractive for me. Thinking about Hirsch interior stuff. Will Hirsch survive ? Hopely. Best wishes to St.Gallen.

Finally I've found a new job. It will be a challenging one but for a very good company and a job I did before, so I will not have to start on a green field. Hopely I learn new stuff. The only thing which is sad, that I will choose a new company car, hoped for 9-5 SC but unfortunately this will stay only a dream. Most probably a Volvo. Less soul but still nice and reliable.

Well, last year wasn't very good, therefore it is good possible the next will be much better. I wish all the best to all Saab fans, readers, friends, everybody. And of course enjoy the rest of the Christmas.

Sad but true ...

2011-12-22T14:03:00.001+01:00

source : facebook

Saab worldwide meetings 14. - 15. January 2012

2011-12-22T12:32:00.004+01:00

In a very similar spirit as the Save Saab convoys, there will be Saab enthusiasts meetings around the world. Organised at Saab fanclubs all around. They will take place on 14. and 15. January, which is Saturday and Sunday.

There was a website created especially for this event. You can find under http://www.outside-saab.com. The site will be constantly updated with places of the events.

There is also a facebook event, a twitter account, a possibility to download posters : A4 and A3. [pdf] as well as possibility to buy stickers @ saabsunited.

Why ? The organisers are writing on their website :

As we all know, the current owner of Saab had to stop the voluntary reconstruction and file for bankruptcy. This news did hit those working for the company very hard. For them Saab is their daily bread, for us, it is a brand we all love and support.

And that is the reason why we are urging you all to yet again show your support for the brand. Saab may be in very deep and murky waters, there is still an odd chance for it to survive.

We need to show our support for the brand, we need to show everybody in the world the brand is alive and well.

A shy light of hope ... GM's licensed technolgy in Saab

2011-12-21T15:54:00.000+01:00

This might sound too enthusiastic and close to naive, but even after declared and approved bankruptcy of Saab, there is a very small chance that "things" are not finished yet.

Rachel Pang, the CEO of Youngman, the hottest prospect in buying Saab is today in Trollhattan and is trying to solve the situation.

What would mean if Youngman would buy Saab ? The biggest hurdle is GM which protects it's copyrights / technology licences. One option is to try to go without them in the race for prosperity. So where are they and what for are they ?

- they are in the new 9-5. That would mean a full stop.
- the same applies for 9-4X
- for some (for me unknown) reasons it doesn't apply for 9-3 (sedan, combi) and 9-3X
- it doesn't apply for the new PhoeniX platform or the 10% of technologies can be replaced by others

So that would mean "only" 9-3 and development of PhoeniX into a finished product, which sources say would take 1-2 years. That wouldn't be a bad start !

One very interesting text came in discussions on saabsunited.com coming from a french forum. It describes where the GM technologies are in Saab. It's rather a sad reading by finding out, that many of them were developed in Saab, but registered as GMs intellectual property :

1) The 9-4X is the basis of the Cadillac SRX, and not vice versa. The platform was developed by an engineer at Saab, the well known Peter Dörrich. The patents are owned by GM. Regarding the 9-5, most of the technical innovations also used in the Opel Insignia, and in some Chevrolet and Cadillac, are the result of work of engineers and Mat, Fägerhag and Stefan Rundquist, researchers at Saab.
2) The drive system (XWD) is a collaboration between the Swedish Haldex (which is to sell its transmission to the U.S. BorgWarner) and Saab, the patent is owned by GM.
3) Technology Biopower (flexfuel) is also an invention of Saab Powertrain, the brilliant engineer Kjell Bergström from Saab. Patents (including Trionic, Direct Ignition, etc.). Unfortunately owned by GM.
4) The developing hybrid powertrains are also the result of Saabs brains, including Tommy Lindholm. Patents owned by GM.
5) The Ecotec engine that equips some Saab, Cadillac, Chevrolet and Opel is the result of collaboration between a research department Saab, and GM Europe design office, which include Opel. Patents owned by GM.
6) The design of internal parts and body come from the office of Saab design, by Simon Padian, Anthony Lo (now Renault), etc.. Patents owned by GM.
This list is not complete.

Sad reading, isn't it ? This seems to be just a part of the things developed by Saab, owned by GM and one of the main reasons, why Saab is now bankrupt.

Let's see what happens.

Change of traffic rules in Austria : emergency corridor on the highway

2011-12-20T10:28:00.003+01:00

This is a heads-up for everyone driving to Austria. After 1.1.2012 there is a change in austrian traffic rules.

In principle it says, that if you are on a highway and see, that a traffic jam will come, you have to create an emergency corridor (Rettungsgasse) for rescue cars immediately.

Until now, the corridor was in the parking/emergency lane, but this was often jammed through cars with failure or around arrival/departure lanes. This is the main reason for the change.

The fines for not respecting this are pretty high, from 726€ up.

There is a multilanguage document [pdf, 2.5MB] explaining the new rule. Download it here.

The picture and video below explaining the system :

Saab files for bankruptcy ...

2011-12-19T11:07:00.003+01:00

The newest press release of Saab is very sad. Today Saab filed for bankruptcy with the District Court in Vänersborg, Sweden. The court will decide very shortly.

This happened after several attempts to configure a deal with the chinese companies Pang Da and Youngman as well as other bodies, which would fund a restart of Saab in exchange of ownership rights in Saab. All attempts were vetoed by GM, which holds copyrights and patents for many technologies used in the current Saab models.

The saga lasts since april 2011, when Saab was forced to stop production and on the road were many ups and downs. Now we are in the same situation than 2 years ago, when GM, the former owner of Saab, decided to close the brand.

But it wasn't closed, so there is still a very small chance, that this is a part of the plan. Very very small. More a desire. The costs to re-run Saab are astronomical, but even in that position there were possibilities to do that. All of them were smashed down by GMs veto, which clearly protects its interest on the chinese market.

It seems, that they weren't ready to approve anything which could lead to a Saab restart in chinese hands.

Hate GM ? Not necessarily, but buy a car from them ? Not necessarily.

Headlight bulbs change

2011-12-18T12:25:00.002+01:00

I'm quiet in the saabism blog in the last weeks, unfortunately I have to solve important things for living, so not too much time and motivation left to write. Ups and downs.

One thing, best tagged as "practical" happened last week. One of my xenon headlights started to change color from white to pink/red and the light intensity got lower. That is usually a sign of soon death. But not always you can change it immediately for various reasons. (weekend, no time slot in the service, no bulbs on stock etc). In my case I noticed it one evening and the next day in the early morning I had to drive 330km to other city.

So how long it lasted ? From being absolutely sure the light changed from white to pink, it took around 5-6 hours of functioning / drive to the definitive end.

When I came to the service (in the other city - Prague) the headlamp lighted somehow. After restarting the engine for going into the service garage it was dead. Good timing.

The service work was about 30 minutes : changing for Philips D2S, setting up & calibration. It is recommended to change both headlights because they have to have the same color and intensity of the light. Life expectation : 2400 hours. It happened after 4 years and 85.000 km of the Saab 9-3 convertible.

So advice : if your xenon lights are changing color, go to change them as soon as possible. You don't have too much time.

Ambulance car in action

2011-11-19T00:50:00.001+01:00

It doesn't happen often, that I am able to see a 7 minutes long youtube video. This one nailed me to the chair for the whole time. And not only once.

It is a highly professional ride from an ambulance car driver. How does it feel from his steering place.The quietness inside the cabin through the ride is fascinating.

And to stay on topic of the blog, there were two Saabs spotted in it. At 5:48 is a white 9-3 and 6:31 a black one. Both on the left side.

The language in the video is hungarian.

Enjoy

Music For Cabriolets : Freakpower Is A Beautiful Thing, Baby

2011-11-12T11:44:00.002+01:00

Nostalgia for the summer evening rides. Opened roof, driving out of the city on some backroads. The In Dub: The Fried Funk Food bonus EP from Freak Power added to the regular album Drive-Thru Booty is something completely different than the cool funky album. Done by Norman Cook (aka Fatboy Slim).

The whole EP works great while driving. For shorter trips at the evenings.

First pictures of future Saab 9-3

2011-10-31T19:11:00.003+01:00

Many internet sources today showed the very first (in public) and very blurry sketch of a new Saab 9-3. It will be based on a PhoeniX platform and it should be finished and produced in 2013/2014 in the fastback and convertible chassis variants.

Both, the pictures as well as new informations appeared on todays meeting of Saab and their creditors, where the main topic was to show Saabs strategy for the future after the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding with two chinese investor companies PangDa and Youngman about their purchase of 100% shares of Saab for 100M€. The deal will be valid after approval of several governmental bodies, which are still not in place.

Sources : saabsunited, svd.se

Music for cabriolets : Vinyl on the road

2011-10-31T11:41:00.001+01:00

While vinyl record players are a technology long ago overtaken by many kinds of digital players, they are still not history. DJs use them as well as audiophiles. But once this was hi-tech, so it's only logical the manufacturers attempted to use them in cars :

When this photo was shot I was in some parallel universe, so I have no clue if the car audio worked. I assume it was for singles and EP's (5-inch, 7-inch and simillar), due to the size LP's probably not. The manufacturers had somehow to overcome skipping/jumping of the gramophone needle on the roadbumps, not only because of sound issues but also a probable damage of the vinyl itself.

But this analogue implementation of a car audio is just wonderful. It seems that they tried jukeboxes as well. You can find more in an this overview as well as in the two videos below. This is wonderful !

Saab 9-3 convertible 2.0 T review

2011-10-31T10:41:00.001+01:00

I found a rather older and nice review of the 9-3 cabrio 2.0 T by Motorvision. Good comments to the point and very true conclusion. Language : german.

Victor Muller interview in text

2011-10-29T15:50:00.001+02:00

The interview of Victor Muller, Saab’s Chairman and CEO, yesterday for the Swedish Radio answers some questions as well as bring a bit of the atmosphere of the last hours

You can listen to it here :

Lyssna: Victor Muller om att Saab blir kinesiskt

For those who cannot listen to it for whatever reason, below you will find the interview in text. Usable for Google Translator as well. It is a very slightly shortened :

SR : What do you say about this ?
VM : Well it's fantastic, because the future of the company is now secured.

SR : How does it feel for you, that you will no longer be the CEO of Saab ?
VM : I didn't wanted to be cEO of Saab in the first place. I only did this temporarily. So this will now be the way for new CEO, which we've been looking for for a qiet some time. This is very good news. We will have now the stability and the funding to execute our business plan and atract good people, such as a new CEO.

SR : How has the negotiation been ?
VM : Exhausted.

SR : When did you reached the agreement ?
VM : Late last night (from 27. to 28. October 2011).

SR : What is the agreement about ? The partners are buying 100% ?
VM : Yes.

SR : And for how much ?
VM : 100 million €

SR : Now you have been working for Saab for 2 years, now it is over, what do you say about that ?
VM : Well, it's not over. Now it's actually only just beginning. And I think that this will secure all the plans that we have made for the company will now be executed. So that is let's say the best achievement and I am extremely relieved that the period of uncertainty will come very soon to an end, we can pay our creditors, we can start our production, we can launch new models and we can expand to China as we have originally intended. So I think this is very good news for Trollhattan and very good news for Saab.

SR : Do you think the production will still remain in Trollhattan ?
VM : Of course.

SR : Do you think that GM will confirm the new deal and Saab can still produce the same cars as now ?
VM : This is up for the buyers and for GM to agree and I am pretty confident that this will be achieved.

SR : What will you do now ?
VM : Continue to run the company until the new CEO comes and than will definitely remain involved in the future

SR : So you think you will be involved in the future. Are you and the Chinese totaly stick to the agreement ?
VM : Yes. Otherwise I wouldn't have signed it.

SR : You sound a little bit tired.
VM : That is very correct. I slept 3 hours in last 48 hours.

SR : What are your words to the employees at Saab now ?
VM : I would say, that our relentless efforts to secure the future of Saab are now starting to pay off and Saab will remain a car manufacturer in Sweden which will have a very bright future in China, the largest car market in the world. Our original intentions are to be fulfiled.

SR : When will the production start again ?
VM : It's way too early to say. On monday (31.October 2011) we have the creditors meeting, we will present our plans to the creditors. Certain conditions still have to be met such as the NDRC approval for this transaction, but we expect to have that very quick. Once the funding from Youngman and Pang Da starts to fly into the company, we can make a deal with all our suppliers. You would say, from that moment on 8 weeks. Following after the moment of full funding.

SR : How much money are the Chinese willing to invest in Saab ?
VM : More than a half a billion Euro overall.

SR : How much now they are planning to invest to make sure the reorganisation will be successful ?
VM : Exactly enough to make this happen. They have very deep pockets and they will make sure that everything we commit to will be execured.

SR : Are you happy now ?
VM : Tired and happy.

SR : Thank you very much Victor for this interview.
VM : My pleasure.

Sources : saabsunited.com, inside.saab.com, Swedish Radio

Saab SOLD (?)

2011-10-28T13:13:00.000+02:00

The Saab, Pang Da and Youngman saga continues and this time it looks to be final. Today Swedish Automobile N.V. (SWAN) announced, that it signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Pang Da and Youngman for the sale and purchase of 100% of the shares of Saab Automobile in considered value of 100M€.

It's still a MoU, because the deal has to be approved by several authorities (swedish and chinese), SWANs shareholders and other entities (GM?).

The MoU is valid until 15. November 2011.

An MoU between the same 3 parties was already here some months ago. It didn't worked, was cancelled and now signed under new conditions again. What is completely new is the 100% purchase attempt from the chinese side, which was probably a plan all the time. The 15.11. is within the timeframe given by the court for reconstruction.

Nothing else is known so far, but news will come very soon.

So if the deal goes through, Saab will end in chinese hands completely. It's simmilar case to Volvo and Geely relationsship. Shortly after the purchase of Volvo, Geely claimed that it will let Volvo operate independently besides making Volvo branded cars in China. I would desperately expect similar claim for Saab by Pang Da and Youngman. The brand stays, but what cars in which quality and where will be built under the new ownership is unknown yet. We will find out soon. This is the "somehow good" scenario. The bad scenario is pulling Saabs technologies, killing the niche brand and creating a new one.

Todays press release partially answers this : An important consideration for Swan to enter into the transaction is the commitment of Pang Da and Youngman to provide long term funding to Saab Automobile. Without any details yet. Well, let's see ...

So questionmarks :

approvals of the authorities and shareholders (can destroy the whole deal)
Saabs debts (is the 100M€ enough ?)
how the reconstruction now continues
renegotiations of new agreements with supplyers (some of them are not existing anymore)
production in Trollhattan factory and future of all the employees in Trollhattan (after 1-2 years when production in China starts)
future of Victor Muller in Saab
business (sales) success after reconstruction and production restart

And how I feel now :

Lyrics (The Verve - Bitter Sweet Symphony)

SAABs game with Pang Da and Youngman is over

2011-10-24T00:51:00.003+02:00

The agreement between Swedish Automobile (SWAN), Pang Da and Youngman as well as the agreement to provide a brigde funding from 13.10.2011 is history. The reason described in Saabs press release is simple. Pang Da and Youngman "failed to confirm their commitment" to the agreement. The news came after an earlier news that Pang Da and Youngman offered 22M€ for 100% of Saab on Wednesday 19.10.2011, which is by far an undervalued offer.

Inthe middle of these turbulences Saab announced, that it got another commitment for funding from North Street Capital for 60M$.

Saab has another roller coaster passage behind and for sure another coming very soon. Saab is still in the reconstruction phase, which is at the moment filed to be stopped by the administrator of the reconstruction Guy Lofalk. He describes in an recent interview what happened. Saab has a few days time to react and the court will decide until end of October.

As the situation became more and more unclear. Sad.

UPDATE : next part of the development can be found here

Music for cabriolets : The Cure - A Forest

2011-10-17T15:09:00.000+02:00

It's short after 6 o'clock in the morning. Rostock, Germany. I'm driving out of the Sweden - Germany overnight ferry, passing the apocalyptical power station tower. It's dark, only a few cars around on the highway. Hundreds of kilometers are waiting. So let's start them. Loud.

Btw. the strange drums used in this track are Remo Roto-Toms. They appeared in the 70s, differing from common used drums from that time by metal construction and easy tuning by rotating the drum body, therefore the name. It is possible to tune them in notes like any other instrument. Their sound characteristic was higher and flatter sound + afterwards quicker descending as wooden drums. They were used as toms in drumkits as well as additional percussions to drumkits.

They were used by wide range of prominent drummers. To name just a few of them : Bill Bruford (King Crimson), Roger Taylor (Duran Duran), Roger Taylor (Queen), Neil Peart (Rush), Phil Collins (Genesis), Stewart Copeland (The Police) or here Laurence Tolhurst from The Cure.

Due to their easier transportability and less place requirements they were often used also by drummers playing in bars and very small venues. The largest of them 22" (if I recall correctly) could be, when properly damped, used also as a kick drum.

Later, in the 80s they were pushed out by the wave of electronic drums with more variable but also more artificial sound. They are still produced and sometimes appear on stages. From my former drummer period I have six of them somewhere :) There is also a wiki link explaining more.

But drummers remained to use wooden drums in waste majority. Wood is wood, the sound is more natural. So the Rototoms stayed as a curiosity.

Saab Museum Trollhattan pictures part #2

2011-10-16T23:29:00.030+02:00

Just a selection of pictures worth seeing...

You can see the first part of the pictures here.

Edit (5.2.2012) : added some new pics and higher resolutions in PART #3.

Saab Museum Trollhattan pictures part #1

2011-10-16T23:09:00.044+02:00

The first partis covering some of the convertibles in the Saab Museum in Trollhattan.

Click on the pictures for seeing them larger.

Saab 900TC Concept

The wonderful Saab 900 I Convertibles :

Saab 9-3 Convertible BioPower & Skeleton Editions

Saab 9-x Convertible Concept.

You can see the pictures from part #2 here.

Edit (5.2.2012) : added some new pics and higher resolutions in PART #3.

Cabrio ride hint : Trollhattan (Sweden) to west coast and back

2011-10-11T01:15:00.002+02:00

If you ever go to Trollhattan, the Saab Mecca and stay for day or two, you will probably want to do a trip around. You'll have 2 possibilities - either go to the huge lake Vänern or to the coast. Since I like to ocean, the choice was clear. Also someone on the Saabsunited forum advised the same.

The map :

Larger map

Depending on the time of the year, you may not start to soon in fall, because it's often foggy in the morning. In October, there was every morning fog until ~10-11:00. The picture below is from the night, but the morning wasn't different.

Trollhattan at night. Hotel room view.

Through the day, in Sweden you have to drive slowly. Even in October it was possible to take the roof down and drive a nice cabrioride. At least a part of the day.

Somewhere in Sweden

The first target is Uddevalla with a large and nice bay. Even without map somehow intuitive you can find a higher place over this bay for a stop. Than you will get this view :

Uddevalla

If you continue on the road 151 direction coast, you will have to cross a bay with a free ferry. It stops you for a moment, but for a stranger the stop is worth. It's a bit raw around, I don't know if I'd like to go this way in deep winter. And I'm sure, this wouldn't be a place for living some 300 years ago. Now it's a bit different. The countryside around would be a perfect place for an escape from the hectic cities and all the useless mess around.

One of the free ferries around

Then the hunger comes. A local hint says : "go to Hunnebostrand, restaurant Bella Gästis". Fine, why not. Hunnebostrand is a town at the coast, at that Sunday afternoon very sleepy. The restaurant was very good.

Hunnebostrand

Than the road continues as indicated on the map. Tha fall started, as I am writing this a week after the trip, the colours must be much richer now. In Tanumshede is an entrance to E6 highway which leads back to Uddevalla and Trollhattan.

Direction back to Trollhattan

240 km, 5-6 hours incl. lunch stop. Strictly recommended.

Saab 9-3 ePower dashboard indicators

2011-10-07T19:14:00.007+02:00

Looks like a conventional Saab, but it isn't. The 9-3 ePower is a pure electrical vehicle (not a hybrid). It is a combi, has a range of ~200km, fairly swift acceleration and runs on lithium-ion batteries. We've seen more than one version. There are plans for making a 50-70 cars fleet for intensive testing. You can read more about Saab 9-3 ePower here.

Since I didn't find, what kind of information an electrical vehicle provides on the dashboard, I've made a picture last week in Trollhattan. Here it is :

D.T.E. is Distance to empty fuel tank (battery in this case), like on every Saab with SID (Saab Information Display). Now it has a dedicated indicator. Tachometer is clear. On the right side, the A is for Amperes, electric current and basically saying how much energy is milked by various systems from the battery. Instead of the turbo bar, there is Ecometer is telling you how economically you drive and when you loose energy. And the state of charge indication, the same as fuel level.

For a test drive of the electrical Saab, there is a video on SaabsUnited from such a drive and a lot of explanation.

edit : btw. André-Marie Ampére :

Saab recent nominations : Shortlist 2012 North American Truck of the Year and Car of the Year in Singapore

2011-10-07T13:06:00.000+02:00

Two great news are recently rotating around the networked globe.

The Saab 9-4x found itself in the shortlist for 2012 North American Truck of the Year (TOTY), together with BMW X3, Honda CR-V, Land Rover Range Rover Evoque, Mercedes Benz M-Class, Mini Countryman and Nissan Quest. The jury of 50 journalists decides first for the top three finalists, which will be announced in December and the winner will be announced at the 2012 North American International Autoshow in Detroit, 9 - 22. January 2012.

The second news is fresh and even better. The new Saab 9-5 Sedan 2.8V6 Turbo has been named Car of the Year in Singapore by a prestigious Consumer Guide, published by Wheels Asia. The Saab 9-5 was favorably compared with Audi A6 and BMW 535i in the Executive Sedan class.

Given Saabs situation, these news are much better than expected. Last weekend I had the chance to drive the new 9-5 (Turbo 4, Vector, manual, FWD) and sit/explore the 9-4x. Both were very impressive.

Congratulations Saab !

Sources : Inside Saab, Saab Media, Saabs United

Saab bits & pieces

2011-10-06T22:58:00.000+02:00

Since I like old fonts and details, this was one of the targets for my camera through the Trollhattan trip. So here is a small selection of the captures. Some are from the Saab Museum, some from the SaabsUnited Oktoberfest cars. Enjoy.

You can see more from the SaabsUnited Oktoberfest 2011 here and here.

SaabsUnited Oktoberfest 2011 Trollhattan in pictures

2011-10-06T13:32:00.004+02:00

My first and hopely not last large Saab event. In the previous post are immediate feelings written deep in the night still in the hotel in Trollhattan. So this is part 2 of the post, mainly pictures.

Before one experience with the ANA service. Through the day before leaving Trollhattan, the ashtray in my Saab broke down. Although a small thing, for a smoker who leaves for a 1500 km drive without the ashtray a very disturbing thing. So early in the morning I went to ANA with a big ask for fix / change it. They understood and the problem was fixed within an hour for a reasonable price. Respect. And thanks a lot.

The pictures :

Many Saabs. Of course mine in front :)

The evening before the main event. SUHRT rally cars in front of the hotel.

Saab 9-5 SC :

I want. It would be a great combination of a family car, a day-to-day car and using it as a company car.

On the photo below is the american version (as far as i know). A bit different mainly from the rear side. Imho nicer, but with this meaning I was somehow alone around.

The 9-4X

A small wet dream. In Aero please. That was a really nice piece. I've met on the roads around Trollhattan another white one several times. Alltogether I've seen 2 whites and this grey. The video of the presentation from the photo above is located here.

My favorite Saab cabriolets seen around

This 9-3 II in grey with probably custom roof a and very minimalistic look'n'feel. Hirsched. Grey inside. Even the ice-cube rear lights are now in a context, where I like them. Wow.

Around this 9-3 I Viggen cabrio I was daily walking in the garage and had to stop for a moment each time. Looks in great condition, Hirsch wheels (probably ECU as well). Ehm ... P0rn.

Update : with 99%, it's this one. Different license plate, but the one in the link was sold.

And some more :

"Steampunk" edition

The red 9-5 was very nice as well. I liked the red-black rearview mirror detail.

Combination of 80ies and probably some uncommon medication :) Nice !

We had this 9-5 for 30 minutes test-drive. Three drivers, 2.0 Turbo 4, Vector. Positive surprise.

This is another car p0rn. A hirsched 9-5 2.8V6 Aero, software, 19" wheels, exterior as well as interior parts. Ahhhh ....

Some more pictures will appear in the future. You can also find the first part here.

Greetings from Trollhattan : Saab overload

2011-10-02T01:53:00.001+02:00

Not my first time in Sweden, but first time in Trollhattan. The reason for this trip is Saabsunited Octoberfest. That means 1300km there, another 1300 on Monday/Tuesday back, 2 overnight ferry rides + 150-200km around.

Long trip, very intensive days, extremely interesting programm through all the days here. Trollhattan means overload of Saabs. They are everywhere. While at home, when I meet a Saab on the road, often I know the driver. Here in Trollhattan if you want to find a street without a Saab, you have to do a multiple hours roundtrip and even than most probably have no success in your task. They are everywhere, all types, zillions of versions, tunings and conditions. Now I understand very well, what it would mean for this city, if Saab would disappear from the scene. And I also understand why people here and around don't wave at each other from Saab to Saab, they would have to mount an artificial waving arm on the windscreen.

It's always very refreshing to meet new people, have a chat with them or even in deeper talks to learn their attitude about things. This trip is about this. I've met very interesting people, often open-minded to talk. They all will stay in my memory. From the norvegian guy up to the older guy at our evening desk which loved to use the in-between the lines speach. Also I had the opportunity to talk to TimR and Till72 from SaabsUnited, to Swade writing Inside Saab as well as Manfred from Hirsch.

Saabmuseum visit was a must. At some cars I forgot to breathe, absolutely unique collection of the automotive history.

There was a time for a short trip before the event programm started. This is a nice city with places worth to see as the waterfall as well as the locks and draw-bridges. One of them is to see from my hotel window. Close to the waterfall there is a huge propeller placed on a parking place. I've made several pictures of my convertible over there, this time posting only one. Yes, my car is dirty, but it had 1300 km to drive without chance to clean it properly.

The Octoberfest itself had a very interesting programm, many many cars all the time changing in the parking lots. There was stuff I would never dream of to see in the near future, Maptuned cars, the 9-4X, 9-5 SC (sport combi), the last facelift of Saab 9-3 caled Griffin as well as the e-Power electrical vehicles. I had also the opportunity to test drive the newest 9-5 for a while. Turbo 4, Linear. I want :) In Aero please. Tomorrow 12:00 is the correct time for that :) I could easily imagine to have this as an everyday car. I dont know how many cars were there. Many, as well as people.

That's it for the moment. There will come more selected photos from the 400 shot in the last 2 days. Time to sleep now.

Tree Tunnels

2011-09-24T13:25:00.000+02:00

A wonderful scenic roads related link travelled to me via the Internet. Tree tunnels are always a one of the highlights of cruising on scenic roads. Someone has collected some of them, however in a bit different context - on a dating site. These places are magic, only some of them seems to be accessible by car.

My favorites from the link :

Co. Antrim, Ireland :

image source

Hawaii :

image source

If you would like to see more of them click here.

James Bond numbers

2011-09-22T22:08:00.000+02:00

I am at 77.000 km. Zeros and sevens. Reminds on 007. No other number on SID.

There is also a fine band called Zero 7. Triphop, downtempo also a bit pop. Fine stuff, if you don't listen too long or too often to it.

This number also means next intermediate control. SID showed 8%, so a little time, but I dont want to get the service warning in the middle of the Sweden trip, so now. Front break pads needed to be changed. So there are new ones as well as some other standard things.

Jeep Grand Cherokee impressions

2011-09-22T19:42:00.001+02:00

Yes, it is strange to see a Jeep review on a Saab blog. But who likes Saab mostly likes cars in general and definitely would catch a possibility to test drive something else the same way as I did.

It's good to have friends in automotive industry, friends which trust you, that you dont wreck their test cars. I have such a friend, so I get from time to time a chance to drive something interesting. This time it was a really large car - a Jeep Grand Cherokee. A close to new one, with only 10.000 km driven.

My experience with SUVs is rather limited - i drove XC90 D5 for a couple of kilometers and a Chevrolet Trailblazer for around 5.000 km through the United States. So the impressions are good for people with similar experience maybe considering to buy an SUV.

The engine was the stronger version of 3.0 V6 CRD (diesel) performing 241 hp / 550Nm, automatic transmission, edition Overland, which means nearly fully equipped car with leather everywhere and all the modern electronic toys incl. blind-angle alarm, adaptive cruise control, 5 chassis regimes, rear parking camera, intelligent lights, keyless entry and so on. Tyres were 265/60 R18.

Like :
- robust impression both interior and exterior
- nice interior. After seeing some other Jeeps, which looked from inside like produced in Legoland, this was a very positive surprise.
- drive economy of the diesel - it had 10-11 litres of testing drives consumption on the computer. While driving on cruise-control 90kmh it was around 7 litres.
- sunroof, not loud at all even at 100kmh.
- adaptive cruise control which breaks as well as accelerates
- AUX, 2x USB inputs and Hard Disk for music. wow.
- it didn't had the typical diesel tractor sound

Neutral :
- the 3.0 V6 diesel engine drives the car fine and the drive economy is OK. But this car weights 2.3 tons so you dont have this feeling of push from the seats while accelerating. So if someone search for a bit more swiftness, better choice would be one of the petrol engines.
- rear camera - no need

Dislike :
- too many light - aluminium colored parts on the dashboard
- too hard chassis, I was expected a softer "boat", no problems with holes in the road but you feel them (in no sport mode)
- only one handle behind the steering wheel with everything on it, things like direction indicator, wiper regulation etc. Too many things on one handle.
- the envy of others, grumbling around, that SUV is useless
- list price of 56k €

In general i was very positive impressed. As a Saab fan I would rather go for the 9-4X, which is smaller, but imho with nicer shapes. If I wouldn't be a Saab fan, this would be one of the hottest options so far. Of course not for 56k€. But I started seriously to consider, that the "working" car, which should come to our family could be an SUV. When the situation allows that ...

The Court of Appeals in Gothenburg approved voluntary reorganisation of Saab

2011-09-21T16:15:00.004+02:00

After the first disapproval, than an appeal, today the Court of Appeals in Gothenburg has approved voluntary reorganisation of Saab.

The press release continues :

"The purpose of the voluntary reorganization process is to secure short-term stability while simultaneously attracting additional funding, pending the inflow of the equity contributions by Pang Da and Youngman.

The Swedish Company Reorganization Act says that an application shall not be approved unless there is reasonable cause to assume that the purpose of the reorganization will be achieved. In today’s decision, the Court of Appeal has found that such conditions exist, thereby overturning an earlier ruling by the District Court in Vänersborg, Sweden.

As a consequence of the Court of Appeal ruling, Saab Automobile will request for the bankruptcy filings by unions IF Metall, Unionen and Ledarna to be cancelled."

What does it mean for Saab ?

First of all Saab wins time he so desperately needs for 1) the reorganisation, 2) finding short-term funds for 3) restart of the production.

The time from the court is 3 months which can be possibly prolonged to 12 months.

Saab has several bankruptcy filings by the unions and by some suppliers. As there will come a request, with high probability these will be cancelled. The filling by the unions were highly discussed because only a part of the members voted for the filing.

The members of IF Metal (unions) also have met the chinese partners Pang Da and Youngman some days ago. Afterwards the unions waited until the last moment before submiting the filing.

There is a binding contract by the chinese partners Pang Da and Youngman in a size of 245M€ and an expressed wish to invest together around 870M€ into Saab. "Step by step", specified Rachel Pang for the newspaper DI.

So far so good. But the fight is still not over. All chinese investments are long-term and will be valid only if approved by NDRC (National Development and Reform Commission of China), the chinese authority approving foreign investment activities. This approval is expected in November 2011. Some days ago also the Swedish government tried to help by the negotiations in China. The visible result until now are several approvals below the NDRC level. The time until the expected November approval is now crucial for Saab to reconstruct.

Where the short-term money comes from is a big unknown for me. But Victor Muller (happy birthday!) is known as an extremely hard working man (sometimes magician) when it comes to search for investment funds. It will be tough, the worlds economical situation is far from to be good, but on the other hand Saab is a very perspective company. Swade, writing the official Inside Saab blog, has a great post explaining why is it so.

By the way, thank you Swade for linking our joint ride (and my gallery) of the austrian and slovakian saab clubs.

In other words, the time from now until the expected NDRC approval is the most critical time for Saabs survival. You may call it last chance. I call it space for a deep breath.

And wouldn't it be a pity to destroy a company producing this ? :

I will drive the black one 2500+ km and spend 2 nights on a ferry to Saabsunited Octoberfest 2011 in Trollhättan and back. Looking forward for the event.

And good luck Saab !

Luck, skill or discipline ?

2011-09-09T15:55:00.001+02:00

Luck for the race drivers. Definitely not a skill of the driver who lost the tyre. But for sure a discipline of the tyre itself. It behaves better than many pedestrians.

Saabs roller coaster ride continues

2011-09-08T19:11:00.002+02:00

As many of you knows, Saab is still struggling with the financial situation. It's like a roller coaster ride, many positive and negative informations and articles every day.

Yesterday Saab was asking the court for reconstruction. The courts decision to day was : no. According to the fresh press conference with Victor Muller the reasons are : 1) it wouldn't help to save Saab and that there is not enough in-depth information and 2) lack of goodwill to the brand.

Saab was very dissapointed and the answer of Saab will be an appeal the decision and provide much more informations proving, that the reconstruction will be a success.

Another stakeholder in this fight are the Unions, which are holding their demand for bankruptcy as long as they can. Imho they know, that a Saab survival would be much in favor of them than the bankruptcy. However for sure there is a very tense atmosphere.

Also CLEPA, the European Association of Automotive Suppliers showed support for Saab : “If Saab pays its debts, or at least some of them, we will help get production up and running again”.

Saab has appx 245M€ on the horizon coming in from the Chinese partners.

You can watch the video from todays press conference from today here (saabsunited.com).

Cross fingers Saab. It's not over yet.

update : Saab will submit the appeal on Monday 12.9.2011 and Unions will file for bankruptcy on Tuesday 13.9. OMG. Things are getting sharper.

Music for Cabriolets : Wayfaring Stranger by Jamie Woon (Burial Remix)

2011-09-06T02:51:00.001+02:00

This one works in the cabrio rides through the night. A long lonely ride home.

It has a nostalgic flavor from the past as well ...

SAAB and the power of acronyms

2011-09-06T02:22:00.001+02:00

Svenska Aeroplan Aktiebolaget knows every Saab fan. But what else ? Many of them have actually sites :

SAAB    Student-Athlete Advisory Board (many of them, but the linked one has a logo)
SAAB    Student African American Brotherhood (serious stuff)
SAAB    South African Association of Botanists (every metal blooms after years...)
SAAB    Space: Above & Beyond (Saabs against aliens)
SAAB    Saudi Arabian Agricultural Bank (hey guys, what about help an another Saab ?)
SAAB    Substance Abuse Advisory Board (eh yes Saab makes addictive)
SAAB    Selected And Amplified Binding (a-ny hi-tek DNA-based anti-theft stuff available ?)
SAAB    State Archives of Assyria Bulletin (4758 AD, ancient finding, ritual use. symbols unknown)
SAAB    Sustainable Agriculture Advisory Board (yes, sustain is the important keyword here)
SAAB    Student Affairs Advisory Board (uuu advisors over advisors, hopely you drive a Saab)
SAAB    Student Academic Affairs Board (growing new customers, one by one)
SAAB    Students for Asian Awareness at Bucknell (yes, we hear the asian voice, crisp and clear)
SAAB    Salvation Army Advisory Board (ok, serious stuff)
SAAB    Student Alumni Association Board (Saab is too young to die !)
SAAB    Society for American Archaeology Bulletin (4832 AD, symbols decoded as ........)
SAAB    Separate Anti-Aircraft Battalion (this is BS)
SAAB    State Association Advisory Board (yes, they wear ties for sure)
SAAB    State Administrator Advisory Board (BS again)
SAAB    South Asian Association at Brooklyn (atmosphere ?)
SAAB    South African Association of Biokinetics (biofood, biofuel fine, but biokinetics?)
SAAB    Semi-automatic Altitude Assignment Board (BS)
SAAB    Scientific Advisor to the Air Board (Australia) (BS)

source : The free dictionary

SAABISM

Experience with Volvo XC70 D5 AWD

Spring is coming, roof down.

Independence Edition as the last Saab of the current era

Pinterest

Saab History - 1947-2003

Mergers and acquisitions

SVD : Decision likely in ten days

Music for Cabriolets : Little Roy - Come As You Are

Classic 900'n'boat

Saab news from 1960

More questions than answers at the moment

The Saab fellowship

Saab enamel mug

A Saab in the recent The Big Bang Theory

How to prevent microsleeps on long drives ?

Mahindra may loose interest to takeover Saab because of GM

Saab Nine Two enthusiasts study

Vintage

Roof boxes and Saabs

Wordle Saab

Radar

Saab Museum Trollhattan pictures part #3

Saab 9-X Air

Music for Cabriolets : Toni Granko - Plachtyk

Saab 9-3 Convertible by Nordic

Skiing

Music for Cabriolets : Soil and Pimp Sessions - Sahara

The newest battle of Saab started

Want me ?

Bids for Saab are coming

Global warming ?

... a crash

Saab 900

Swiss "Cash TV" report about Saab in Switzerland

Saab special car transport vehicles

Five potential bidders for Saab

Solstad Saab 900NG convertible

Saabism featured on Saabblog.net

Saab 9000 combi, the Saab that never happened

Saab Support Convoy Brno, Czech Republic 2012

Leak from Brussels : Biofuels not that eco-friendly as described

Brightwell Holdings signs confidentiality agreement with Saabs receivers

A computer from Saab ? No problem ...

Music for Cabriolets : McSolaar - Dévotion

Saab Sixten

Saab Museum saved and stays in Trollhättan

Article about Saab in slovak version of Auto Motor and Sport

Music for Cabriolets : The Herbaliser - Battle of Bongo Hill

Saabs receivers press conference outcome : no breaking news

Turkish bid for Saab is close

A new bid for Saab ?

English wikipedia blackout today

Press conference of the Saab bankruptcy lawyers on Saturday

Awesome pictures from the Dakkar rally 2012

We are many, we are Saab : events in Slovakia and Austria.

Modern design of a gas station

Outside-Saab meeting Wien

2011 Automotive color popularity by DuPont

Saab and The Simpsons

Who killed Saab Automobile ?

Music for Cabriolets : Unkle - Rabbit In Your Headlights

Saab 9-3 convertible : folding the wind deflector

Saab Art January convertible wallpaper calendar

P.F. 2012

Lawyers

How to save the Saab Museum

A shy light of hope continues ...

Merry Christmas and all the best in 2012

Sad but true ...

Saab worldwide meetings 14. - 15. January 2012

A shy light of hope ... GM's licensed technolgy in Saab

Change of traffic rules in Austria : emergency corridor on the highway

Saab files for bankruptcy ...

Headlight bulbs change

Ambulance car in action

Music For Cabriolets : Freakpower Is A Beautiful Thing, Baby

First pictures of future Saab 9-3

Music for cabriolets : Vinyl on the road

Saab 9-3 convertible 2.0 T review