Korean Designer Mixes Science and Nature in a Saab Sports Sedan Concept for 2025

Earlier this year, Swedish automaker Saab was saved from the scrapheap by Spyker and a loan from the European Investment Bank. In spite of this, nothing much has changed. The stylish new 9-5 has gone on sale overseas, with the 9-4X crossover following in Q2 2011. And the aging 9-3 trundles on, blissfully unaware that anything has happened.

Korean design student Youngho Jong is looking towards Saab’s future with his 2025 Advanced Warning System Vehicle concept: a rakish, four-door saloon with coupe-like styling. And no headroom, by the looks of it, but that’s a forgivable oversight. More interesting to us, however, is how he used his knowledge of nature and human psychology to come up with a vehicle that isn’t just smart, it’s downright sinister.

Read more »

Saab 9-5 Convertible Design Study: What do you Think?

Courtesy of SaabsUnited, the people who provided pics of the nice but ill-proportioned 9-5 Coupe rendering (see here) we recently showed you, here is a look at a second possible 9-5 variant. It's a computer generated image for a large, 4-seater convertible that could compete with the Audi A5 Cabrio in the future world of what-ifs.

Read more »

Saab Reveals its First-Ever Pure Electric Model: 9-3 ePower to Debut in Paris

This month's Paris International Motor Show will host the world premiere of Saab's first ever EV, the 9-3 ePower. Based on the SportWagon variant of the current 9-3, the prototype model will lead to a test fleet of 70 vehicles that will participate in field trials in Sweden early next year.

Read more »

Saab Elektrisk: An Artist's Take on the Swedish Volt

Even if Saab remained under the umbrella of General Motors, we seriously doubt that there would ever be a rebadged, remasked -call it whatever suits your fancy- Saab version of the Chevy Volt. Maybe in a perfect world Saab could have built a Volt spin-off with an entirely different body but with the Opel Ampera covering the European market, a remasked Saab wouldn't make much sense. Still, it's interesting to see an artist's take on a fictional proposal for a Saab Volt. Created by photoshop wiz Theophilus Chin, the rendered Swedish Volt has been baptized for apparent reasons 'Elektrisk'.

Via: Theophiluschin

Saab Fashionista Concept: Design Proposal for a Volt-Based Hybrid Coupe

More often than not, we think that the American automobile industry may have been in a much better state if only the people who are actually engaged in the creation of cars had a say in the decision making. This conceptual proposal for a Chevrolet Volt-based Saab coupe from Mayeul Walser, a 4th year Car Design student in Creapole-Esdi, is a good example. You may or may not like the design, but the idea of an aggressively styled hybrid Saab coupe is more than engaging.

According to Mayeul's description, the concept behind the Saab Fashionista's design was to create a luxurious four-seater coupe that blends the futuristic feel of sci-fi movies with the elegance of products from renowned fashion houses such as Karl Lagerfeld and Chanel.

The 24-year-old design student also claims that while based on the platform of the Volt, he designed the Fashionista to be equipped with a hybrid powertrain coupling a V6 gasoline engine to an electric motor for a (purely theoretical) output of around 300HP.

If it was our choice, we would have opted for a more powerful version of the Volt's plug-in hybrid powertrain to make the project more feasible, but then again, since this is only a pipe-dream concept, why not go for a V6.

Carscoop thanks Mayeul Walser for the high-res photos

Video: Saab 9-X Air Convertible Concept

Revealed ahead of its Paris show debut, the 9-X Air concept previews Saab's upcoming 9-1 premium hatch that will rival the likes of the Audi A3, BMW 1-Series and Volvo C30. Equipped with a fabric top that automatically folds in three sections behind the rear seats, the 9-X Air is powered by a 200 HP 1.4-liter turbocharged engine that runs on E85 biofuel and is matted to a hybrid electric motor. Hit the jump to check out the first official video of the 9-X Air that includes an interview with GM Europe’s Vice President of Design, Mark Adams or click here for more details and a high-res image gallery. -Continued

Saab 9-X Air Convertible Concept: 32 High-Res Images and Official Details

Set to make its global premiere at the Paris Motorshow in October, the Saab 9-X Air Concept is the convertible version of the 3door 9-X BioHybrid that was revealed at the Geneva Show in March. And despite its name, this concept is not just a lot of hot air as the Swedish firm intends to use the 9-X models as a base for their forthcoming 9-1 premium hatch that will rival the BMW 1-Series, Volvo C30 and Audi A3. Essentially, the 9-X Air is giving us an idea of what a convertible version of the 9-1 could look like. -Continued

The most unique feature on the 9-X Air is the clever roof system that Saab calls the ‘Canopy Top’. The flat-folding fabric top was developed from a Targa roof principle, hence the prominent C-pillars, or as Saab calls them, buttresses, that provide the rear mounting for the Canopy Top.

The fully automatic fabric top folds into three small sections under a rear tonneau cover in the trunk deck. The rear screen between the buttresses retracts automatically into the underside of the raised tonneau cover to allow stowage of the Canopy Top. The screen then moves back into position to provide a complete glass surround for the cabin in open-top mode.

This ‘surround glass’ feature, together with an active wind deflector on top of the windshield header rail, essentially create a ‘wraparound’ wind deflector net, promising to cut turbulence for all four passengers.

As you may have noticed in the photos, the 9-X doesn’t actually have a boot opening. And indeed, Saab’s designers have replaced the traditional boot with a storage compartment, big (or rather small) enough to accommodate two golf bags, that slides out from underneath the rear light bar.

Inside, the 9-X Air boasts a futuristic design with a row of five display screens illuminated in green 3-D graphics that we probably won’t see going into production for another decade or so, but hey, what did you expect from a concept car.

As with its three-door sibling, the 9-X Air Concept is equipped with a hybrid powertrain that comprises a 200HP 1.4-litre turbocharged biofuel (85% bioethanol - 15% petrol) engine matted to a dual-clutch six-speed semi-automatic transmission and an electric motor with a lithium-ion battery pack. According to the Swedes, the 9-X Air can sprint from zero to 100 km/h (62 mph) in 8.1 seconds and on to a top speed of 231 km/h or 143 mph.

Finally, Saab says it has projected an average fuel consumption on gasoline of 5.0 lt/100 km (57 US MPG) and 119 g CO2/km while on E85, CO2 emissions are projected to be even lower, at just 107 g/km, with estimated fuel consumption of 6.5 lt/100 km (36.2 US MPG).

Saab 9-X Air Convertible Concept Heads for Paris

The first official photos of Saab’s surprise concept for next month’s Paris Motor Show have unofficially found their way into the net. The drop top Saab concept is based on the 9-X BioHybird that was revealed at this year’s Geneva Salon in March. Compared to the 3door ‘shooting brake’ concept, the 9-X Air has lost its tin top in favour of a retractable canvas roof while Saab’s designers also restyled the car’s rear end. A notable design feature of the 9-X Air is the rear fin-like extensions of the C-Column. -Continued

Even though Saab has retained the 2+2 seating arrangement of the 3door version, from what we gather by looking at the pictures, it looks like this Saab won’t be carrying around any adults behind the front passengers.

Since Saab hasn’t released any official information on the 9-X Air Concept, we don’t have any technical details in our hands yet. But it wouldn’t be too far fetched to say that the front-wheel-drive 9-X Air Concept will most probably get the same hybrid powertrain as the Geneva Concept which was equipped a 1.4-liter turbocharged E85 flex-fuel gasoline engine matted to a 6speed dual clutch gearbox and backed by an electric motor that’s powered by a set of lithium-ion batteries.