Saab to start making cars again!

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I know at least one person who on Hexus who will be happy about this news:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-25180698

[pastymuncher]

Not sure if this is a good idea. Same old model that was looking rather dated years ago. They need a new model that can compete with modern cars. I don't think the eventual move to electric cars is good either. Small ones are stupidly expensive now so how much will a Saab electric car be and who is going to splash the cash on one?

[herulach]

Shame they're not producing the 9-5, the 9-3 was a bit dated (although the aero convertible is still gorgeous). Wonder what engine's they'll go with IIRC they were using a mix of Fiat & GM motors (maybe the 2.2 Tdi was their own).

All that being said, if they bring the cabin up to date (which should be pretty cheap - it only really needed a big screen bolting in) then I'd have a TTiD convertible tomorrow.

[scaryjim]

AFAIK they're only doing short runs to get used to running the factory again - I remember a one off rolled off the ramp a few months ago and there was some discussion about it back then (will see if I can find the thread in a bit). There's a bit more information at http://www.saabcars.com/ - looks like the original run is limited to China and Sweden, and when they start producing electric cars they'll initially only be available in China. The website does suggest that other markets, and other models, will be added over time, but since the company's focus is electric cars I doubt they'll produce much of a range of petrol Saabs: presumably they're mostly back-filling orders or some such.

Sadly I don't think we're going to see a significant rebirth of the Saab brand or any redesign of the older models, but presumably factories are expensive things to have standing around doing nothing, so they've started rolling a few cars off the line to try to make at least some of that back. Given the average electric car power plant I can't see them fitting out a standard 9-3 in electric, I don't think the power:weight ratio would be good enough and the range would probably be abysmal (unless the NEVS group have some new technology, of course). Presumably once they've run the factory for a bit they'll start working on new, lightweight models that are more suited to the electric car market...

EDIT: can't find that thread, but a quick google search turned up this from September: http://jalopnik.com/the-first-new-sa...-in-1342663532 - must've seen it somewhere else...