Saab loses 'where' war; now it's about 'what'
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March 21, 2005 12:00 AM

Saab loses 'where' war; now it's about 'what'

Products will be built globally; brand fights to keep its identity

Wim Oude Weernink
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    Saab is focusing on its products after losing the argument with owner General Motors about whether future models must be built in Sweden.

    General Motors Europe said this month that the next-generation Saab 9-3 will be built in 2008 at the Opel plant in Ruesselsheim, Germany. The plant also will build the Opel Vectra, and the cars will share GM's Epsilon architecture.

    Saab's main plant in Trollhattan, Sweden, had bid unsuccessfully against Ruesselsheim for the program. GM Europe said Trollhattan will build specialty models, including the new Cadillac BLS derived from the current 9-3.

    Building the next 9-3 in Germany is a continuation of GM's policy of globally interchangeable plants and products. Two U.S.-only Saabs - the 9-2X based on the Subaru Impreza WRX and the 9-7X SUV based on the Chevrolet TrailBlazer - already are built outside Sweden. The 9-2X is built by Subaru in Japan; the 9-7X is built in Moraine, Ohio.

    Augustsson's exit

    Saab CEO Peter Augustsson was a staunch defender of Saab's "Swedishness," so it wasn't surprising when GM said on March 9 that he would leave the company. News of his departure came days after GM chose Ruesselsheim over Trollhattan. Augustsson, 51, will start a consulting firm.

    With the Trollhattan plant's future decided, Saab managers are trying to get the brand's product programs back on track after repeated delays. Ad Janse, chairman of the Saab dealer council, said, "All these political rumors in the past have caused much delay in product development and marketing strategies. We may have lost two years."

    On April 21 and 22, the dealer council will meet in Sweden for the first time under Jan-Ake Jonsson, a Saab veteran who was appointed the brand's managing director. He works in Sweden. But the new chairman of the Saab Automobile board is Carl-Peter Forster, president of GM Europe.

    Saab says the 9-3 portfolio has strong potential to boost volume. Saab will add a 9-3 sport wagon this spring.

    Saab's likely product plan

  • 9-2X: Subaru-based, built in Japan for U.S. If approved, next generation arrives by 2007 or 2008.

  • 9-3: Next generation built in Germany in 2008

  • 9-5: Face-lift in September; successor undecided

  • 9-6: AWD sport wagon developed with Subaru; built in Japan for U.S. in 2006, then Europe

  • 9-7X: SUV based on Chevrolet TrailBlazer; built in U.S. for U.S. The 2008-09 successor for global market undecided.

  • Sport wagon: For global market; built in U.S., likely by 2008-09
  • Wanted: Awd 9-3

    Saab dealers also want the 9-3 all-wheel-drive version promised three years ago.

    Corporate turmoil had postponed the decision on a next-generation 9-5. So the current 9-5 will get a facelift in September to extend its life. Saab still is debating what the next-generation 9-5 should be and on what to base it. The GM Epsilon architecture would be an obvious choice.

    Forster said GM will create a global Saab sport wagon. Sources do not rule out using the Zeta, a rear-drive architecture developed by GM Australian subsidiary Holden.

    Another possibility is the Lambda architecture, which will be used for sport wagons. The first models are expected in late 2006, from a GM plant is near Lansing, Mich.

    Front-wheel drive is no longer a core value for Saab. "But agile, predictable handling definitively is," Forster said at the Geneva auto show. The sport wagon is likely to be built in the United States.

    "Unlike the Subaru-based Saab 9-2X and the Chevrolet TrailBlazer-derived 9-7X, which were developed halfway into the base models' life cycles, the sport wagon Saab is a brand-new development," said a Saab source.

    The Saab sport wagon is at least three years away. But the Saab 9-6, an awd sport wagon co-developed with Subaru, comes earlier. A GM Europe source said the car will debut in "closer to 18 months than two years" and sell first in the United States.

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