Thursday 18th September 2008

Saab 9-X Air

Saab unveils convertible concept ahead of Paris Motor Show

---

Cabrios - old and new

Saab has unveiled a new convertible concept which it claims will influence the look of its future open tops. The 9-X Air has a unique ‘Canopy Top’ which incorporates prominent rear pillars which curve upwards to mount the flat folding roof.

Saab says that with the roof up the car takes on the appearance of a true coupe. The 9-X Air’s raked rear pillars support the Canopy Top – itself a development of the Targa roof principle – with a separate rear screen located between them.

Instead of having a manually detachable roof section, the Saab Canopy Top is fully powered in operation and folds away in the storage trunk.  Saab has already filed a patent for this radical design of convertible roof. Anthony Lo, Director of Advanced Design at General Motors Europe said of the car: 'Like her sister the 9-X BioHybrid, this car is all about efficiency in design and performance.  It offers important benefits in weight-saving and packaging as well as giving us the freedom to take convertible design forward.'

The car is powered by a small 1.4-litre turbocharged Saab BioPower engine. Running on E85 fuel (85% bioethanol/15% petrol), the engine delivers 200bhp, giving zero to 62 mph acceleration in 8.1 seconds and projected CO2 tailpipe emissions of just 107 g/km over thecombined cycle.

 

[FrankenFarter]

I've always had a soft spot for Saab's and I genuinely like the Aero's styling, especially with the kit that's available. I hope this one turns out to resemble the concept - It's bloody lovely is that !!

[Vedrfolner]

Looks great. But no pictures from above?

SAAB is on the offensive! Season 2 of Burn Notice has SAAB not only mentioned, shown and driven, but there was also a competition to win one. Could any American who sees the show tell me if there is a marketing campaign in addition to the product placement?

Edited by Vedrfolner on Thursday 18th September 12:00

[Insight]

Doesn't look like a convertable.

[Fetchez la vache]

More pictures on this thread..
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

[kprm77]

The bottom pic reminds me of a Renault GTV6 Turbo.

[cowellsj]

That's cute, still can't ever see me in a convertible tho..

[forzaminardi]

Very nice, but Saab are always introducing these new concepts but never actually get round to launching the car itself. What happened to the quite good looking hatch of a few years back, heralded as Saab's return to fun cars? There is a Saab garage near me and it seems very busy, but I can't understand how when they effectively sell only one model.

[martync]

if the back of the car is 2 foot higher then the window line isnt it going to be a pig to see outta the rear view mirror?????

it looks cool with the windows up, but i think its gonna look a bit strange with the windows down!

[richieB]

If any a manufacturer needed a new Model, it's Saab. They've been flogging the same single model in various formats (which is basically a Vauxhall Vectra) for years! This concept looks fantastic though. But what happened to that last supercar concept that was splashed around every car magazine front cover?

[Wadeski]

They were honest about that supercar - it was never for production. It was a showcase for the styling (especially the front end) that is now on the 9-3 and forthcoming 9-4x.

Basically I'm guessing that this concept is the new Astra size 9-1, which replaces the old 9-3 coupe and convertible as the sporty stylish saab.

that leaves the 9-3 to be the slightly dull Saab it is now, and the 9-5 to be the expensive dull Saab that nobody buys.

I still want a track prepped OG 900 as my next car

[bob1179]

I've always liked Saabs, but unfortunately they seem to have lost their way over the last decade and a half, the use of GM underpinnings has taken away their uniqueness.

Although GM undoubtedly have allowed Saab to keep going rather than go bust, they must allow Saab to follow their own engineering principles and rekindle what was so great about the company in the first place.

I like this car, it is quite 'old Saab' and I think this sort of thinking and design should be encouraged.

[timewatch]

This looks like the car that they had on their stand at the New york Auto show in 2004 ?

I would upload a picture I have of the car but can't seem to do it ?

SAAB said at that time they had "no intentions" of putting it into production, they announced that on loudspeaker at the stand.

Funny how this has come about !

TW>>>

[Ed.]

bob1179 said:

I've always liked Saabs, but unfortunately they seem to have lost their way over the last decade and a half, the use of GM underpinnings has taken away their uniqueness.

Although GM undoubtedly have allowed Saab to keep going rather than go bust, they must allow Saab to follow their own engineering principles and rekindle what was so great about the company in the first place.

I like this car, it is quite 'old Saab' and I think this sort of thinking and design should be encouraged.

Agreed but I don't see it happening, same as Ford with Volvo GM thinks cut costs and sell loads is the only way to make cars.

[pSyCoSiS]

Not a bad looking motor, and impressive figures for the 1.4 litre engine....

[AeroPower]

nice, they just need to put the Turbo X engine in it and make sure its 4 wheel drive and im sure it would be a great sucess.

[CommanderJameson]

There's entirely too much front bumper.

>>belm<<

Edited by CommanderJameson on Thursday 18th September 18:14

[davemac250]

Looks slightly odd in proportions, a bit like the Chrysler-SLK thing.

I have the current Saab Conv, and as long as they get rid of GM's cost cuttings, of which there are lots, then I hope this is a success. Be interested to see how much the concept is toned down. Rear 3/4 visibility looks worse than in the old XJS.

[Saabstudent]

I think it looks awesome - i sooooo hope they make it.
Won't be holding my breath though.
They have had winning concepts for years - 9X, Aero-X, 9-X Bio-hybrid etc and nothing has happened yet - maybe for this one though...

G

[Dizi]

The very first Saab i like the styling of...I'm obviously getting old!