SAAB 9-3 Convertible, an unlikely candidate for controversy?
The blog "plugsandcars" drew my attention to the question, is SAAB's 'new' 9-3 Convertible BioPower Hybrid Concept (snappy name, eh?), actually a plug-in hybrid? There appears to be some confusion, and the suggestion of another GM cover up.
The first thing that's slightly odd is the idea that this car is new. It's been doing the motorshow rounds for nearly a year. I had a good look at it myself at the British show last June and thought nothing more of it - it's a hybrid, like the Toyota Prius, but the engine is also capable of running on biofuel - 100% ethanol if needs be. Nothing particularly amazing about that.
A photo I took of the 9-3's bootfloor - showing the battery pack, at the London motorshow last year
However, it appears GM group politics have covered up an added aspect of this car. GM own SAAB, and have been much maligned in the motoring press over recent years for running the Swedish company into the ground - lack of new models, shutting SAAB's dedicated design studio, and coming up with some pretty awful stop-gap models which grafted SAAB noses onto other GM group cars. (Check out the 9-2x - otherwise know as the Saabaru, and the the 9-7x to see what I mean).
All seemed to be changing, though, with the unveiling of the terrific Saab Aero-X concept car at the Geneva motorshow last year - a signifier, it seemed, that GM had big plans for SAAB.
The Aero-X concept car, signifier of great things for future SAABs?
So it is a little surprising to now read that this 9-3 Convertible has in fact (possibly) been a plug-in hybrid all along, but GM didn't want anyone to know. The press about the car in Detroit makes no mention of it, but Plenty magazine is announcing it as a plug-in hybrid. Further investigation reveals that at the unveiling of the car in Stockholm last March, the original press-release stated that the car was in fact a plug-in hybrid. This was apparently hastily withdrawn and re-written at the behest of GM. The original press release was still used by some however. (Mark - who knows a thing or two about press releases - suggested to me that paragraph number 28 is exactly the place you would bury this kind of information!) Meanwhile the car continued it's motorshow rounds, but with the plug-in socket point - which reports suggest is in the SAAB badge on the boot-lid (a very cool detail in itself), glued shut.
Cover up? Who knows, but one can understand the logic if it's true. In the US, it would make sense for GM's thinking to run along the lines of wanting to launch this technology at their home auto show (Detroit), and under what might be seen as a more 'recognisably GM' brand - as it now has with the Chevrolet Volt. (How many people are aware that GM own SAAB?). But why not launch the plug-in technology in Europe under the SAAB brand? It fits the brand image perfectly - SAAB is regarded in Europe as an environmentally friendly car company. Just as Ford are now using Volvo's safety credentials and expertise to benefit the rest of the Ford group, GM could use SAAB to grow and spread it's green credentials. SAAB as the halo-brand for GM? Watch this space.
In the meantime, I'd be interested if anyone has any further info on this story if they'd post it in the comments section.
Posted by Joseph Simpson on 10th January 2007
GM has really treated SAAB badly, which is such a shame as SAAB has some excellent engineering teams and are leading the biofuels car sales in Sweden, a test market for biofuels. In Sweden you can fill up on biofules in most cities now. See this map for biofuel stations in Sweden: http://www.miljofordon.se/tanka/
SAAB's 9-5 Bio power represented nearly 1/3 of the "green cars" sold in Sweden in 2006, 50% more than the closest competitor, Ford Focus with E85 engine. But SAAB really needs a plug-in hybrid E85 car in Europe. It isn't exactly like other GM cars sell like hotcakes over here and SAAB engineering is just far superior to GM's US cars.
Posted by: Thomas Bjelkeman-Pettersson | January 13, 2007 at 01:58 PM