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Press - March 04, 2008
Saab Shows Luxury Can Come in Small Packages -- The Detroit News
Christine Tierney
GENEVA, Switzerland -- General Motors Corp. unveiled a small Saab concept car here Monday, which is likely to become the fourth model in the Swedish brand's growing lineup.
The Saab 9-X BioHybrid concept, shown on the eve of the Geneva motor show's press preview, strongly resembles the sleek Saab Aero X that was displayed two years ago, with its high belt line and wraparound windows.
The automaker also is displaying a prototype for a Saab crossover, the 9-4X in Geneva.
"Here we're showing two concept vehicles that signal the resurgence of Saab," said GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz.
The two vehicles represent GM's latest efforts to build up Saab, the European premium brand it bought in two stages, acquiring 50 percent in 1990 and the rest in 2000.
GM first exhibited a prototype for the 9-4X at the North American International Auto Show in January. The 9-4X, which will replace the 9-7X SUV, will be built in North America.
Executives hint strongly that GM will put the 9-X into production, too -- most likely in Sweden, where GM has pledged to build a small luxury vehicle.
"You never do a concept without wanting to get market reaction to guide you to eventually doing a car like that," said Steve Shannon, general manager of Saab Automobile USA.
"Given where Saab plays in the market -- very efficient, sporty yet functional, slightly smaller -- it makes perfect sense for Saab to do a premium compact."
GM executives said such a car would help Saab to increase sales in Europe, where premium subcompacts are very popular. "It would round out the Saab brand in the broad base of the European pyramid -- where the BMW 1 Series and Audi A3 are -- that is where the volume is," Lutz said in an interview here.
Lutz said there would be demand in the United States, too, for such a car. "As fuel prices rise, more Americans will be willing to pay premium prices for a luxury small package, which Europeans have been willing to pay for for years."
Other automakers have brought or plan to bring stylish small cars to the U.S. market, such as the BMW 1 Series, Mercedes-Benz's Smart two-seater and the Volvo C30.
"If you look at the competitors doing this today, they are all global, based-in-Europe premium brands," Shannon said. Within GM, "it was kind of a no-brainer that Saab would be a good candidate" to market a small car.
Christoph Stuermer, a Frankfurt, Germany-based analyst at forecasting firm Global Insight, said he expects modest sales for a small Saab. He said he thinks they will sell fewer than 20,000 units a year in Western Europe, the car's biggest market, and perhaps reach 20,000 to 25,000 "if they're lucky." That compares with estimated annual sales of about 140,000 for the BMW 1 Series.
But Stuermer said the cost to develop the little Saab, already dubbed the 9-1 in the industry, would be modest, because it will probably be built on the Delta-2 platform for the next-generation Opel Astra coming out in late 2009.
"The only thing Saab needs to do is offer stunning design. If it's 100 percent Opel under the hood, nobody cares," Stuermer said.
The 9-X traces its roots to one of the Swedish automaker's first cars, the sporty Saab 92 that had a production run lasting 31 years, from 1949 to 1980.
Last year, Saab sold a record 133,167 9-3, 9-5 and 9-7X vehicles worldwide.
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