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I found this cool article on autoweek.com. Aparently the new small and sporty concept that is set to be shown in the fall will set the stage for a styling change in the future models. While I see this as good news the article also mentions that Saab is considering expanding into the crossover vehile market which I don't really want to see but i guess it may be necessary for saab to prosper.
Saab's fall concept forecasts future designs
By BOB GRITZINGER
Dig into Saab’s design history and you won’t find much. In more than a half century in the car business, nearly every car produced by the Swedish manufacturer has clearly descended from the design of the Saab 92 (at right), a 1947 concept car also known as the “original Saab.”
Maybe that’s why Saab is attaching such historical significance to its plans to roll out a new concept car this September at the Frankfurt motor show. Technically, the latest concept will be only the third concept car in company history, taking its place in a short line of test-beds that includes the 92 and the EV-1, a Saab 900 Turbo-based future car built in the late 1980s. (Saab’s 1956 Stockholm motor show Sonett was introduced as a production rally car, while its 9000 model introduced in 1984 went directly from paper to production.)
Saab was solely in the aircraft business back in post-World War II Europe when its leaders, looking for a way to save the company from an untimely demise, directed its engineers to pound out a car. Not surprisingly, the prototype two-door Saab 92 bore a striking resemblance to the company’s aircraft product line, its revolutionary aerodynamic shape honed in the wind tunnel. A front-driver (what better to handle winter driving conditions in Scandinavia?), the 92 was powered by a transverse-mounted, two-cycle, two-cylinder 25-hp engine that pushed the slippery shape to a speed of 62 mph.
Eccentric as it was, the 92 framed the design char-acteristics for the entire Saab lineup for the next five decades—influencing models from the 99 to the 900 to today’s 9-3 and 9-5.
Against that backdrop, this fall’s concept unveil-ing takes on considerable weight, because it will sig-nal the first real change in styling direction in the company’s history—a history that has taken a significant turn in the past decade with the carmaker’s acquisition by General Motors.
“We see this car as the symbol of our future,” says Michael Maurer, now a little over a year into his new job as head of Saab’s design studio in Trollhatten, Sweden. Maurer joined Saab after 14 years with Mercedes-Benz, where he most recently led the team that designed the Smart. Maurer also worked on styling for the SLK, SL and A-Class as general manager of M-B design in Stuttgart, and previously led M-B’s design house in Japan.
At Saab, Maurer says he has discovered a renewed excitement for car design he hopes to translate into sheetmetal in the new concept car. While he won’t disclose details, Maurer says the concept will be small, sporty and properly proportioned. Maurer hasn’t ruled out leading Saab into other automotive segments as well, exploring some of what he calls the “new animals” such as crossover vehicles now proliferating in the marketplace.
Besides preserving Saab’s traditional strengths—safety, control, design and turbo-boosted performance—Maurer intends to incorporate Saab cues that build on its past: wraparound windshields, three-hole grilles and driver-oriented aeronautic cockpit interiors.
Maurer says the lineup won’t lose sight of Saab’s strong Scandinavian heritage as a car that “solves the contradiction between the pure joy of motoring and practicality.” An example, Maurer says, is the 9-5’s cupholder that elegantly folds out and flips open from a slot in the dashboard.
“We need more 9-5 cupholder solutions,” says Maurer. If such “solutions” can be made to perform their assigned functions while being elegant, Saab will be making progress.
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