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This is a road trip in a Saab that many only can dream of. How about a rally covering 7,500 kilometers in 15 days and going through 10 countries? And the fun part is you can't use any electronic devices like GPS navigation systems so it is just the team, a car and a map.

This was the first year of this Baltic Sea Circle Rally and it took place in June. The rally started in Hamburg, Germany and ended 14 days later in Copenhagen, Denmark. Some cities visited along the way are Danzig, Kaliningrad, Tallinn, St. Petersburg, Helsinki and Nordkap. There are a few mentions of it on the German Saab forum and Facebook but I haven't found many details and experiences about the rally. But the pictures speak for themselves and are often more interesting than ...

ROYAL OAK, Mich., July 13, 2011 - Saab's all-new 9-4X crossover has landed in US dealer showrooms. The greatly anticipated vehicle is Saab's newest addition to the Saab product family. Currently, over 100 orders have been placed for the vehicle.

"Our first vehicles are just hitting retailers and our first customer sale took place last weekend at Saab North Olmstead in Cleveland, Ohio," said Tim Colbeck, President and COO SCNA. "This is an exciting product, with a true Saab crossover that gives us entry into a new segment."

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The battery company Boston-Power released a short video of the Saab 9-3 E-power driven during the Almedalsveckan in Sweden. After 1,5 years, they have reached the first verification phase, and regular people are now testing the car in normal traffic. The car with the Boston Power battery can drive 200 kilometers on a single charge.

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The Saab Owners Convention 2011 is going to be held in Parsippany, New Jersey this year. The event is only 32 miles from New York City so there are many other things to do in the area. Special group rates are available for $111 per room for 2 people which includes breakfast. Reservations can be made through the hotel website: link. Please note the special rate is only going to be available until July 28th or when the block of rooms is sold out.

Registration has been open for a while and closes on August 07. While I can't remember the amount for last year, it appears it is significantly less this year at $140 for an adult ticket. This includes meals, an SOC 2011 T-shirt, sticker and lapel pin. Included meals are the ...

These pictures were posted on the Dutch Saab forum. They were taken in a small village between Vara and Skara. As you can see on the map, it is only about 50 kilometers from Trollhattan.

It's a bit sad to see these old Saabs in a deteriorating state but it also has some artistic still-life quality to it.

Find more pictures here: http://www.saabforum.nl/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=102609









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Somewhere up northern Europe, in Sweden, near the Norwegian border, out in the middle of nowhere, there is the amazing old car graveyard. Drive for miles after miles on muddy forest roads to reach this amazing place in the middle of nowhere. There is no sign giving you direction.

Hundreds upon hundreds of decaying cars from the 40's, 50's 60's and 70's are scattered around you. You can see how nature takes back the man-made. Two brothers lived here for many years, it all started in the fifties, people was aloud to scrap their cars on the two brothers property, they ...

Even though Saab has arranged for hundreds of millions of Euros (more than half a billion U.S. dollars) from several sources for short to long term funding, questions about customer support if Saab closes still are being asked (see this forum). With all the negative publicity about temporary production stoppages at Saab, it is easy for the consumer to lose confidence in the future of Saab cars.

Consumer confidence does affect Saab sales. Singapore, a country which was only briefly affected by the global economic downturn is a case in point. Saab sales were at a steady pace of 200 to 300 cars per year for over ten years. In 2010, concern about General Motors' announced shutdown of Saab led to a unprecedented drop in Saab sales to only 13 cars for the full year. Singaporeans are naturally cautious and, due to the tax situation ...

With fuel prices at an all time-high, customer demand for high quality vehicles at affordable prices is on the rise. Saab is responding to this demand by offering an exclusive free of charge two-year service plan on Approved Used Saabs.

The free servicing plan, worth up to £700, is available on all used cars up to five years old or up to 60,000 miles, giving customers the chance to drive away a fantastic vehicle without the annual cost associated with the service.

What’s more, all Approved Used vehicles purchased from a Saab dealership comes with an industry-leading guarantee for a minimum of 12 months or 15,000 miles on vehicles ...

Trollhättan, Sweden: Swedish Automobile N.V. (SWAN) announces that Saab Automobile AB (Saab Automobile) obtained final approval from the EIB, the NDO and the Swedish government for the sale and lease back of the Saab property.

The consortium of Swedish real estate investors led by Hemfosa Fastigheter, and including among others, Brinova Fastigheter AB, PEAB and Weland Fastigheter will purchase 50.1% of the shares in Saab Property AB for a total consideration of SEK 255 million, reflecting an adjustment to the transaction price for a one year lease free period. Of the SEK 255 million consideration, SEK 205 million will ...

Trollhättan, Sweden: The new Saab 9-4X crossover has earned ‘Top Safety Pick’, the highest rating for crashworthiness awarded by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) in the United States. Only three weeks ago, the Saab 9-5 Sedan received the same accolade.

“To achieve two Top Safety Picks in three weeks is, of course, extremely gratifying,” says Per Lenhoff, Head of Safety Development at Saab Automobile. “Our main priority is always the protection of real people in real accidents, but the IIHS tests are a valuable guide for consumers and it is important for us to achieve good results.”

IIHS is a research and communications ...

Today, Saab announced development of three new Saab models, the Saab 9-1, Saab 9-6X, and Saab 9-7. These vehicles would be funded by new capital from mainland China.

Previously on June 13th, Pang Da Automobile Trade Co., Ltd. (Pang Da) and Zhejiang Youngman Lotus Automobile Co., Ltd. (Youngman) had signed a memorandum of understanding for the capital injection of €245 million (US$500.2 million, 3100 million Swedish krona) but this development creates a binding agreement, which is subject to government approvals. The capital would be used to create a 50 percent joint venture between the mainland Chinese companies, Saab Automobile, and Swedish Automobile (formerly Spyker).

The announcement of the new model lines comes as a sharp contrast ...

Head of Convers group Vladimir Antonov gave a mini interview about the fate of the brand.

We asked Antonov questions about the current state of Saab, current and future plans for Saab, advertising and dealers in Russia, Antonov's previous experience with Saab cars and how Saab can improve their image by working closely with Saab owners and clubs.

The interview (in Russian) can be found on our website: http://saablog.ru/2011/07/01/intervy...ya-saablog-ru/

Here is a link to view the article in English through Google Translate. ...

There is a nice summary of Saab events from the last few years on the Car and Driver website. I think we can agree on how the last few years have been quite a struggle for our favorite car brand and its people. We are thankful for all the effort all Saab employees and other parties have put in but I think many of us are looking forward to a stable future without production halts, last-minute deals and what-the-heck-is going-to-happen-now thoughts.

From the Car and Driver blog:

Roughly once per month—and every month since February 2010—Saab almost goes out of business. With greater frequency, news is delivered of collapsed funding ...

Victor Muller and Vladimir Antonov both are in Stockholm today. Muller is meeting with the Chinese NDRC (National Development and Reform Commission). This agency determines which foreign automakers may initiate collaborations in China.

Antonov met with IF Metall Federal Chairman Stefan Löfven but details of that meeting are not know yet.

All in all a very important day for the long-term future of Saab. Perhaps more details are going to be available before the weekend. Go Muller! Go Antonov!

Google Translate of an article on Nyheterna.se:

Finance News can now reveal that Victor Muller on Thursday, sitting in secret meetings with the Chinese government in Stockholm. ...

The new pre-launch brochure for the new Saab 9-5 SportCombi is available. It is very interesting to see there is not going to be an Aero version with the 2.8T V6 engine. The 2.0L 220hp engine with automatic transmission is the only available engine/transmission combination. The 2010 9-5 sedan was introduced as an Aero version only and it is nice to see they will offer the less expensive model for 2012.

Saab's Cross Wheel Drive system is also going to be standard equipment, according to the brochure. With other optional equipment like Navigation and Panoramic Moonroof being standard on the SportCombi, pricing must be close to US$ 50,000. Unless ...

Trollhättan, Sweden: Swedish Automobile N.V. (SWAN) announces that it entered into a EUR 25 million convertible bridge loan agreement with Gemini Investment Fund Limited (Gemini), thereby securing additional short-term funding.

SWAN entered into a EUR 25 million convertible bridge loan agreement with Gemini with a 6 months maturity. The interest rate of the loan is 10% per annum and the conversion price is EUR 1.38 per share (the volume weighted average price over the past 10 trading days). SWAN may at any time during the loan's term redeem it without penalty and it intends to do so once the funding from Pang Da and Youngman ...

Here is a another video about the Saab 93 and other things I found at Filmarkivet (www.filmarkivet.se). Click at the link below and go forward to 02,23 for a reportage about the "new Saab 93". They show how to sleep in the 93 and how to make it a van. Nice old footage in winter environment.

Unfortunality the language is only in Swedish...but its worth to see.

Original full length video here:
NUET Nordisk tonefilms journal

Added by Wulf: I downloaded the video, cut out the part about the Saab 93 and uploaded to SaabWorld's YouTube account. ...

Trollhättan, Sweden: Swedish Automobile N.V. (Swedish Automobile) announces that Saab Automobile AB (Saab Automobile) have reached a conditional agreement with respect to a sale of 50.1% of the shares in Saab Automobile Property AB (Saab Property) with a transaction value of SEK 255 million (EUR 28 million).

A consortium of Swedish real estate investors, led by Hemfosa Fastigheter AB (the Consortium), will purchase 50.1% of the shares in Saab Property for a total consideration of SEK 255 million, reflecting an adjustment to the transaction price for a one year lease free period. The property consists of 483,000 m2 building space. The investors ...