Under starter’s orders

The overdue product revival at Saab has finally begun.

After more false starts than any season of trackwork, the Swedish prestige division of General Motors has finally been cleared for something new. However, it's not the much-needed replacement for the 9-5 flagship, or even a revamp of the underdone 9-3, but an all-new family wagon.

The 9-4X BioPowerConcept was unveiled at the Detroit motor show with the promise of a very early go-ahead in a joint development program that will also spawn a new compact Cadillac wagon called the BLX.

The full production version of the 9-4 will be ready to roll before the end of 2009, although it will probably not make Australia before 2010.

When it does, it has the potential to do for the brand what the Porsche Cayenne — which has driven record sales and profits — has done for the German sports carmaker.

“New products drive sales. They rejuvenate the brand, they help with the direction you are going,” says Parveen Batish, director of GM Premium Brands in Australia.

“It will be great to have a car that's all new and in a new segment. It opens up a group of customers who were not available to us before.”

Batish will not confirm any production plan for the 9-4X, even though other GM sources at the Detroit show say it is a definite goer, but the details are obvious and promising for Saab.

The concept car has a 2.0-litre turbocharged engine that like a growing number of GM vehicles can run on E85 ethanol fuel with a power output of 221KW and 400Nm of torque. That means a claimed 0-100km/h sprint time of 8.0 seconds and fuel economy of 10.5 litres per 100km.

The 9-4X is a five-seater wagon with all-wheel-drive, built up over a similar mechanical package to the one already used for the 9-3. It is expected to be built in Mexico as its key target is the US.

In Australia, Saab rebounded slightly last year after bottoming this decade at less than one-third of its late '90s peak. Last year's showroom total was 1911 cars and the company has a target in the 2500 range for 2008.

“We were up by 16 per cent last year. We have grown faster than the industry, and that's a good result,” Batish says. But he denies Saab is underdone on the product front, even though the 9-3 and 9-5 are old by industry standards and the two models used to keep sales ticking in the US — the awful Subaru-cloned 9-2 and the 9-7 badged from the 9-7X — never came here. Saab has shown concepts in the past but before the 9-4X none made it close to showrooms.

“We've got the new 9-3, which is externally 90per cent new,” he says. He is much happier talking about the 9-4X and a planned compact.

“We showed a concept car,” Batish says. “We want to gauge public reaction to the 9-4X. And it has been good.

“We'll be really pleased if it comes to fruition. We know there is new product coming and it will happen when it happens. We have announced we're looking at another new segment, with a smaller car called 9-1.”