Saab History

I have recently read a report from Car Guides as a translation from Sweden’s MiljöRapporten on the future of Saab Automobile’s hybrid products as well as the other automobile manufacturers projects in the short-term.

This recently translated article is, in my opinion, a great follow-up to the long-term piece about the Scandinavian Hybrid collaborative between Saab Automobile, Volvo & Sweden’s energy company, Vattenfall as well as the Swedish Hybrid Vehicle Center projects at a number of Swedish Universities.

For the record, we have at this time, two concept vehicles, both the Saab 9-3 BioPower Hybrid Convertible Concept in 2006 and the Saab 9-X BioHybrid Concept this year. These concept vehicles are a great start, however, knowing that technologically speaking these are just concept vehicles and maintain more of the “theory” of what’s to come opposed to the “reality” of what is currently available.

So here is the question: When exactly will we see a Saab Hybrid in production that customer can actually buy? The customers want them, the dealerships want them, and other manufacturers already have them. Since Saab has historicall been about innovative industry firsts, what is holding them back from the hybrid at this time?

I hope that they get on board with this one and fast, because time is moving fast these days.

Here is the report below:

As we said, Volvo and Saab will put ten PHEVs on the road by 2009 to create a strong Swedish plug-in market, with vehicle testing to begin next year. Using vehicles from these two automakers, technical know-how from Vattenfall and lithium-ion batteries from ETC Battery, the plug-in hybrid project will have a budget of 62 million Swedish crowns (around $9.6 million U.S.) The vehicle models that will be used and other details are being kept quiet. Continue after the break for more.

AutoblogGreen reader Stefan N.’s translation (slightly cleaned up) of this article:

Saab and Volvo in large plug-in project

Saab and Volvo will begin a large scale project on plug-in cars. In the project the two car manufacturers will test 10 plug-in cars in traffic during the next year. “We will be testing larger Volvo models working as PHEV,” says Klas Niste at Volvo Cars.

There is a lot of hush hush around this project. But in the corporations’ request for subsidies from the energy department, the goal is clear. The corporations wants to create a Swedish market for plug-in hybrids. Or as they write themselves, “Demonstrate how a simple customer-attractive total solution for plug-in hybrids could look like”.

Included in the project are Vattenfall and battery manufacturer ETC AB in Nol, Sweden. And what the different corporations are supplying is obvious. Volvo and Saab will provide ten PHEV cars. Vattenfall will provide technical solutions for loading the cars in a efficient way. ETC Battery will provide their lithium-ion batteries.

Read more »

Film Credit: Auto Motor & Sport

The Saab 9-4x BioPower Concept & 9-X BioHybrid Concept have been recently showcased by Auto Motor & Sport. During this filming, the concept cars were showcased in and around the falls in Trollhättan, where Saab Automobile’s project strategist, Andreas Eskengren was interviewed.

Enjoy the video that was filmed that showcases these vehicles in Swedish, above!

Saab Automobile has introduced two Hybrid concept vehicles over the years, one being the Saab 9-3 BioPower Hybrid Convertible Concept in 2006, followed by the most recent Saab 9-X BioHybrid Concept.

While we have not yet heard about a production ready Saab hybrid, yet, we can hope to see one in the near future with all of the recent investment in research and development as of late by Saab Automobile.

Since 2007, Saab Automobile has been collaborating with the Swedish Hybrid Vehicle Center that involves KTH University, Lund University while being hosted by Chalmers University in Göteborg, Sweden.

The Swedish Hybrid Vehicle Centre (SHC), as it is indicated, is a “distributed Center of Excellence with the objective to develop and optimize existing and coming technologies for propulsion and energy storage to find the most fuel effective and cost effective hybrid vehicle concept.”

Furthermore, Autoblog Green reports that there is currently $40 million dollars invested in the SHC over the next five years.

For more information about this interesting collaborative, please visit their website directly http://www.chalmers.se/shc

Below are the their mission and objectives.

The Swedish Hybrid Vehicle Center (SHC) is a Center of Excellence established 2007 by the Swedish Energy Agency (Energimyndigheten) with three Swedish universities and six Swedish industrial companies as partners. Chalmers is the host for SHC.

Mission:

The mission of the Centre is to be a strategic knowledge and competence base for education, research and development within hybrid electric vehicles, and to form a framework for cooperation between industry and academia.

Our main objectives are:

* Create knowledge and understanding for the fundamental processes in hybrid vehicle technology through experiments, simulations and modelling
* Define and investigate new technologies and hybrid vehicle concepts that will lead to more fuel effective vehicles

Focus of the research work is on a systems perspective, emphasizing on integration of and interaction between components and subsystems, but work will be divided into three areas:

* System studies and tools
* Electrical machines and drives
* Energy storage

Photo Credit: Saab History (Caption: L-to-R Saab Sweden & USA Presidents, Jan-Åke Jonsson & Steve Shannon)

As a guest invited by Saab Automobile USA & General Motors, it was another great opportunity to be present for this North American premiere of the second introduction of this compact product segment for the Saab brand. I also realized that much like I did previously with the 9-4x BioPower Concept launch and Turbo-X Launch, it was important to once again provide good video coverage in addition to photography. With that in mind, I took the initiative to solicit sponsors and in that process, site sponsor Saab of Hunterdon in New Jersey. came in at the nick of time to sign up as a film sponsor. This support ultimately faciliated the ability to cover costs to rent a professional camcorder to film the event.

The Saab 9-X BioHybrid Concept North American Premiere took place this past Tuesday in New York City, March 19th, 2008 almost three weeks following its global launch in Geneva on March 3rd, 2008.

I began this event by flying out early from National Airport in Washington, D.C. en-route to New York City on Tuesday morning. Shortly after my arrival, I made it a point to head directly to the former location of SAAB’s first office in New York City at 405 Park Avenue. With the rise and fall of buildings throughout the world, in particular on Manhattan island, I was incredibly surprised that this building still stands. Immediately after some photography taken here, I continued to pick up my camcorder equipment and then began preparing for the Saab Reflective event that evening that began on 9pm and concluded at 1am.

The Saab Reflective event that night began promptly and initially reminded me of the “GM Style Event” that took place back in January the night before the North American International Auto Show began. The GM Style Event was communicated as “an evening celebrating artistic convergence of vehicle design, fashion and music”, and in a similiar fashion, the Saab reflective event was an event that also focused on clothing and vehicles, but under “eco-friendly” auspises. During this event, both the aforementioned Saab 9-4x BioPower Concept as well as the Saab 9-X BioHybrid Concepts were displayed as backdrops to this launch of an eco-clothing collection for Saab Automobile in partnership with a Swedish clothing design firm called Reflective Circle.

It was during this event that there was a number of media mingling amongst a number of select local New Yorkers who got to get their first glimpse of these concept cars and clothing. The concept cars themself, were re-revealed at this venue by a number of models all dressed in while carrying umbrellas in a carefully choreographed sequence that seemed to be a cross between something you would see at the rocketts at radio city music hall and a runway platform in Paris. During and after this introduction, there were some notable Saab executives present, but surprisingly, there were not any Saab designers on hand to speak or discuss the design intent, direction and future of the Saab Automobile brand and product development. This particular omission was surprising, given that this venue was purposely planned in order to promote the Saab concept vehicles in a more unique and intimate way that Saab could only do in another one of their “key” North East markets in the United States. It was clear that while this event was certainly geared towards a certain New York audience, it was partially at the expense of the rest of the media and other individuals who were present, because it did not represent their specific demographic and psychographic or at least partially. What was not clear for me was the entertainment value of the event for the press and media, other than what I believe to be, in my opinion, a notable event that not only complimented the Geneva Motor Show, but the New York Auto Show the following day as well.

With the night coming to an end, Saab Automobile, the media, guests and other individuals managed to wrap it up after nearly four full hours of socializing, mingling and networking at this first ever eco-event that took place at the IAC Building in New York City.
The event showcasing an eco-friendly clothing line, subtly indicating the Saab concept cars while toasting to “BioPower Martinis” served on none other than an ice bar, harkened back to Saab’s scandinavian roots and ever-continuing “ice-block” design element theming most notably in the interiors of both concept cars present inside and out.

As I began to make my way out of the building with other colleagues and various other members of the press, we began discussing and were eventually all in agreement that while this event was fun at an individual level, we were left with less of a complete understanding as to the entire objective of the event, combined with the fact that the concept cars that were present, were out promoted by an eco-friendly clothing line.

On Wednesday, March 20th, the New York International Auto Show opened their doors early to the media and press. I was looking forward to seeing the Saab stand as I had previously in Detroit, Michigan, and this time I noticed that the venue was certainly different in scale and design. While the Saab stand and display at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit being large, adequately lit and more open, I found that the Saab stand in New York was challenging from a photographic, and video production perspective. I clearly had my work cut out for me.

As I began to make my way through the Saab stand, I was surprised to see that the Saab 9-X BioHybrid was not presented as prominent as I would have thought in the display, where the Saab 9-4x BioPower Concept appeared to be more front and center as you will see in the photograph. I also got to see on the stand, the Saab 9-3 Turbo-X that was suited with the proper three-spoke wheels that made its North American launch at the Boston Auto Show this past November. What was most surprising about the Saab stand was that outside the smaller scale, and 9-X BioHybrid set in the background, there was no single Saab 9-5 in either sedan or wagon (combi) configuration. This refined model for the Saab brand, now in its 10-year anniversary is still a great model, so I see no reason to exclude it as it is part of the lineup.

Near the end of my experience at the Saab stand during the show, I did get the opportunity to have an interview with both Steve Shannon and Jan-Åke Jonsson, the president of Saab Automobile USA & Global operations respectively. This experienced helped me formulate my in person opinions on my previous thoughts on the Saab 9-X BioHybrid as well as the the future of Saab Automobile.

The final program for the day involved a nice informal group meeting with Bryan Nesbitt, GM Vice President of GM North America Design located at the GM Design Center in Warren, Michigan. I really enjoyed his information, on the Saab 9-X BioHybrid design, as well as the driving as well as associated lifestyle differences in North America versus Western Europe. I am glad that this chance to talk about the 9-X BioHybrid with a designer, took place in addition to the GM Next chat some days later with Anthony Lo, online.

The take aways I had from my experience seeing the 9-X BioHybrid in person was that while I like the idea of this vehicle, I was not entirely convinced that every bit of theory that this vehicle was communicated to have, will see be one hundred percent applied to a production vehicle. I also think it is critical that this concept car, once it goes to market as a production model, includes everything indicated in this premiere as well as cross-wheel drive as an option. I believe that everything including the solar-powered roof as outlined in the specifications of this concept car, will need to see production, because Saab is always about innovative industry firsts, so it is about time that they maintain that position once again here in this vehicle segment for the brand.

This North American launch for the Saab 9-X BioHybrid was an important venue for Saab Automobile. I believe that the aforementioned reflection event combined with the New York Auto show complimented the Geneva Motor Show. As a member of the press invited to this event, I was fortunate to to get the chance to see the Saab 9-X BioHybrid in person and my thoughts on this concept car have remained unchanged, following this experience.

I appreciated this experience thanks Saab Automobile USA, General Motors as well as Saab of Hunterdon & JMK for making it all possible.

Photo Credit: Saab Automobile

I recently participated in another installment of the GM Next chat with Saab Designer, Anthony Lo. Anthony Lo joined Saab Automobile AB in October, 2000, as chief designer for Advanced Design. Lo has lead the design of the Saab 9-X, 9-3X, 9-3 Sport Hatch, and Aero-X, 9-4x, 9-X BioHybrid concept cars.

I was very interested to hear many of his responses to the questions posed: Please keep in mind that the order in which the questions posted did not necessarily sync up with all answers, so please use your own intuition.

Here is the full chat transcript below:

NoSpeaker: Anthony Lo, Director of Advanced Design, General Motors Europe
Region: North America
Date: 25 - March - 2008
Time: 10:30 –11:30 a.m. (EST)

SME: Anthony Lo, Director of Advanced Design, General Motors Europe
Date: 2008-March-25
Time: 10:30 –11:30 a.m. (EST)

A.Lo.Moderator:
Hello everyone, I’m Dave Roman, Director of GM Europe Technology & Design Communications, and I will be your moderator for this webchat session. Anthony has arrived and he is logging into the chat right now. We’ll get started in a moment.

SaabHistory.com:
What are your thoughts on the Saab 9-X BioHybrid?

Anthony.Lo:
Good morning! The 9-X BioHybrid is our vision on what a compact size Saab would look líke.

SaabHistory.com:
On model nomenclature: Why was the Saab 9-X reusing the 9-X again, instead of 9-1x?

Anthony.Lo:
As it remains as a concept, we would like to reuse the 9-X nomenclature.

SaabHistory.com:
On Technology: What will be making production (ie. Solar Panels, etc.) and do the solar panels on this car actually work this time or is it just theoretical?

Anthony.Lo:
The hybrid system is announced for production on future GM vehicles. On the solar panel, we are working on several studies on how to improve battery performance and solar is one of them. The panel itself does not work on the concept.

Read more »

Film Credit: Saab History

Saab Designer, Bryan Nesbitt offered his time to speak to a number of members of the press at the New York International Auto Show during a group discussion.

I think that you will find his frank and to the point insight and information about the Saab 9-X BioHybrid as well as the driving styles in the United States versus Europe very interesting indeed.

A special thanks again goes to Saab Automobile USA, General Motors & Saab of Hunterdon / JMK Saab for making this interview possible.

Film Credit: Saab History

At the opening day of the New York International Auto Show following the Saab Reflective event, I got the great opportunity to interview both Steve Shannon, President of Saab Automobile USA as well as Jan-Åke Jonsson, President of Saab Automobile AB.

Throughout this interview, there was a lot of information that I was happy to hear, especially when it came to details that both elaborated on with regards to the Saab 9-X BioHybrid, the Saab Advertising Campaigns as well as the Saab dealership network. Enjoy the interview above:

A special thanks again goes to Saab Automobile USA, General Motors & Saab of Hunterdon / JMK Saab for making this interview possible.

Film Credits: Saab History

At the Saab Reflective Event last Tuesday evening, I managed to capture some good video coverage thanks to Saab of Hunterdon & JMK Saab in New Jersey.

This event took place at the IAC Building in New York City and began at approximately 9 pm and ended around 1am.

In this video you will see both the Saab 9-4x BioPower Concept as well as the Saab 9-X BioHybrid Concept on stage where Saab Automobile launches their new eco-friendly clothing line.

A special thanks again goes to Saab Automobile USA, General Motors & Saab of Hunterdon / JMK Saab for making this possible.

Photo Credit: Saab Automobile

This just in yesterday from Saab Automobile USA, following the aforementioned Saab reflective on Tuesday, March 18th, 2008.

Saab Thinks Big by Acting Small, Introduces the “Pure BioPower Eco Clothing Collection”

New York — The Swedish premium car brand, Saab, has made a business out of producing fun-to-drive vehicles combining its Scandinavian design principles of form and function with responsible performance. Today, Saab is translating those values to clothing, launching the Pure BioPower Eco Clothing Collection in partnership with the Swedish clothing design firm Reflective Circle.

The fashions were revealed at an exclusive pre-New York Auto Show party where the Saab 9-X BioHybrid concept made its North American debut. A glimpse of what a future compact car from Saab could look like, the Saab 9-X BioHybrid concept is designed to reflect the priorities of youthful customers seeking progressive looks, responsible performance and high-tech communications in a fun-to-drive package.

The Saab 9-X BioHybrid concept is E85 bioethanol-capable and is equipped with the next-generation GM Hybrid system. Joining the Saab 9-X BioHybrid concept at the party and at the auto show is the E85 bioethanol-capable Saab 9-4X BioPower concept, which debuted in January in Detroit. Both concepts reaffirm Saab’s commitment to develop cars that save fuel and produce fewer emissions.

“Many of our customers tell us they want to make a positive impact on the environment not only with the cars they drive, but also with the products they buy and use,” said Knut Simonsson, Saab Automobile AB Global Brand & Sales Operations executive director. .

Read more »

Photo Credit: Saab History

Tonight featured the Saab Reflective event at the IAC Building