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Saab is back in Black.


The Turbo X limited edition unveiled at the show this morning pays homage to the first 900 Black Turbo, which marked the beginning of the blown Saab over 30 years ago.

The Turbo X is supremely exclusive to Australia, with only 30 models coming to our shores in the first half of 2008.

Both limited edition sports sedan and wagon are turbocharged, of course, pulling 206kW and 400Nm from a 2.8-litre V6.

A mean set of 18-inch alloys wrapped around a sports brake package and suspension match the front grille and headlight surrounds, which is a darkened but recognisable new 9-3 face.

It also features a number of innovative modifications that will make their way to the new 9-3, the most impressive being the XWD system.

This on-demand all-wheel-drive system has not one, but two separate torque splits: one divides the twist between the front and the rear wheels, while the other doles out torque to individual rear wheels.

Saab’s Parveen Batish also indicated that Saab will introduce a high performance diesel in 2008, and announced the official arrival of its 9-5 BioPower range.

The renewable Ethanol/petrol powered cars are tuned to run on E85 flex-fuel, or a mix of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent petrol. The mixture also increases power in the 9-5 by 20 per cent over the standard petrol variants.

But unlike Saab’s Swedish home country, only a handful of bowsers in our metropolitan areas sell E85. Customers will have to run on E10 or 10 percent ethanol fuel; and standard power until it is embraced by the bowsers.