I think thats bull shit. Remember the video of the old 2 cycle saab's exhaust being fed into the intake of a trionic car? Its emissions were very low!

 

It's very misleading to say that GM has halted 9-3 development. The article indicates that they are moving the 9-3 down to a smaller platform, because of gas prices. Which makes perfect sense.

 

Well according this they have stopped it, to reevaluate it, which means they have halted production.... not saying they have permanently halted it, I don't think what they need is a car any smaller than what they ahve now if they want to compete, they should have a new model designation if they bring out a smaller car IMO.

 

Wait a sec....

Maybe we can has hatch?

 

i don't think they would just eliminate the 9-3, smaller chassis make it two door maybe

 

i think this has been addressed on trollhattansaab.net

 

Well, lets adress it here.

Smaller is better, we are only 6 years too late for the mini craze. GM was too damn busy chasing the sport ute craze.

 

Well, lets adress it here.

i meant the article. they haven't halted anything. just moving the 9-3 to delta 2.0.

 

sounds like the right direction to me, the 9-3 has gotten big, lets remember this is supposed to be a c900 sized vehicle, and if its bigger than the current 9-3, thats more like 9000 sized. Like GA said, it sounds like a good move, and hopefully they can pull it off.

Paul

 

Yeah, I dont get the point if the new 9-3 and 9-5 are basically the same car inside.

 

downsizing on saab's bread-and-butter car? what will americans think about that.

 

If America likes the current 9-3, then they can just buy the next 9-5. Having said that, the Delta II is supposed to be flexible enough that the 9-3 actually wouldn't loose much size.

 

The current 93ss interior is already relatively small, but I do wish they made a 2 door =/ It will be interesting to see what the new platform brings in terms of handling performance.

 

The current 93ss interior is already relatively small, but I do wish they made a 2 door =/

Relatively small? remember that the current 9-3 is supposed to be similar to the c900. I think it is huge comparitively. the new 9-3 and the 9-5 are basically the same car. I think going with the delta 2.0 platform will be perfect. give us a hatch again maybe make XWD an option and optimize/retool the old 2.0 Turbo from the NG900s. that would be a pretty sweet car. i think it would handle great and compete with things like the new Volvo 2 door hatch, the GTi, the Astra, and all those other compact hatches. it could have a range of drivetrains from non-turbo FWD all the way to High output Turbo XWD. that would give it a pretty wide price range and might even lower the cost of the "entry level" saab to something similar to the 9-2x to get saab going again.

 

Hells yeah!

I think Saab is just the company to make a premium small car.

Imagine an XWD version to compete with the 1-series... that would be seriously popular around any city.

I've always been a VW fan, but I wished they made nicer stuff (instead of making what used to be small light cars heavy and larger).

Lets face it... saab lately has followed the path that everyone else has taken, and it's no working to the extent it should. If you want things to change, you need to do something different.