This is a tricky one to tackle. How do you cover technology without covering stuff that you’re not actually allowed to talk about that much – future stuff?

Nevertheless, I’ll give it a try.

Saab have always had a good record of punching above their weight when it comes to innovation. Whether it’s early developments like heated seats, headlamp washers or dual-circuit braking systems, or the latest in vehicle safety or all-wheel-drive systems (Saab pioneered the XWD system from Haldex that’s now used in a range of vehicles around the world) – Saab has a great record for such a small company.

In terms of today’s technology, there’s a whole bunch of stuff on the burner that I can’t talk to you about because it’s slated for future release.

There has still been a fair bit happening, however, and a lot to talk about.

ePower

Saab has been developing it’s ePower electric vehicle in conjunction with partners to research electric vehicle technology. We’ve managed to show that you can produce a full size vehicle with an approximate 200km range with zero emissions from the tailpipe. That research and experience is going to play a key part in future vehicle development at Saab as we work towards building vehicles that are kinder to our environment and put motoring on a more sustainable footing for our buyers.

e-AAM

A number of staff from Saab left the company last year to take part in a new joint venture company co-owned between Saab and American Axle Company, called e-AAM. The company is developing a new electric all-wheel-drive system that will form the basis for a hybrid driveline that will be used in the replacement for Saab 9-3, now due in 2013.

IQon

Some people thought this was just a pretty video. Vapourware. I can tell you from personal experience that it’s not.

Saab’s IQon system is a new, Android based in-car infotainment and control system that will bring some of the application based technology that people enjoy in their smartphones in to their motor vehicle. This is a very exciting development and there are working systems in test vehicles right now. The future’s so bright for this technology that you really can’t see the horizon on it. It’s that good.

Low emissions TTiD engines

Saab wanted to do this a few years ago and were told that it couldn’t be done. Six months or so into our independence, we did it with the Saab 9-3 Sport Sedan. A few months later we announced that we’d done it with the 9-3 SportCombi as well – sub 120g/km CO2 emissions in a full-sized and full-powered vehicle.

Saab’s new TTiD low emissions range offers a full 180hp (as well as 130 and 160hp variants) and a low 119g/km of CO2 in emissions. Such figures were previously only available with much smaller cars, with much smaller engines. Saab offers it in a full-sized, full-powered wagon.

That sub-120g figure is just one example of Saab identifying and meeting it’s market needs through innovative engineering. The sub-120g figure means big savings for personal and fleet customers in terms of registration or road taxes in many of our important markets.

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Again, there’s a whole bunch of stuff under the covers that I can’t talk about now because it’s slated for future release.

These are just intended to be a sample of what this company has done, and what it’s capable of doing in the future with the right investment, the right partners and a good healthy dose of the Saab Spirit that saw us develop so many innovative technologies over the years.

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They say that the biggest asset any company has is its people and Saab are no different in this respect. I’ve been connected to Saab people for a number of years now and it never ceases to amaze me, how such a small niche player in a little town in western Sweden can have such an attraction for supremely talented individuals. But it does.

The first week I started working here in Sweden, I was researching a story in our Technical Development Center. In one of the lunchrooms at TDC I met one of our more senior workers, a man whose name I can’t remember right now. He’d worked at Saab all of his adult life, 41 years if I remember correctly. He was impeccably dressed with his work coat over a shirt and tie. I imagine he’s been impeccably dressed in a similar manner for every work day of those 41 years. He and his wife both owned 1984 Saab 900s, which I didn’t see but could imagine were impeccably maintained as well.

As I sat there listening to this man’s experience, I was pleased to hear him say that he couldn’t imagine a better place to have spent his career than at Saab. I was a new guy who had loved the company for a good decade or so from afar and it was music to my ears to hear a veteran of the company confirm my thoughts as to what it would be like to work here. This was a chance meeting and I wasn’t equipped to do an interview. It’s to my own detriment that I haven’t chased him down to tell his story in full, but it’s indicative of the type of people we have here and the dedication that many show to this company.

People want to work here. I can remember chatting with a few designers back when Saab’s design functions were part of GM’s design center in Russelshiem, Germany. There were a number of brands that had design work done there. The brand they all wanted to work on was Saab, because it’s such an interesting brand, so different from the rest.

The fact that our people are dedicated and loyal is one thing. The quality they have even more than that – by the boat load – is talent.

It’s the talent of our people that has seen rival companies in our sector/area deliberately advertising similar positions during our months in crisis.

It’s the talent of our people that has enabled us to sell engineering services to competitor automotive companies.

It’s the talent of our people over the years that has seen Saab be ranked consistently as one of the safest vehicles that your money can buy, both in simulated and real life analyses.

It’s the talent of our people that saw us named as Center of Excellence for structural design, electronic management systems, engine turbocharging, transmissions and electric drivelines, chassis development and safety systems within the GM family. Not a bad CV for a little company out the back of nowhere in northern Europe.

It’s the talent of our people that has seen us develop IQon, the information/entertainment system that will debut with the new Saab 9-3. This is not just a promotional video. It’s a working system (around 60 of you saw a video of it in action before I was asked to pull it down) that’s well on its way to a real life debut.

It’s the talent of our people that saw the formation of e-AAM in conjunction with American Axle to develop the eXWD system that will debut in the new Saab 9-3 as well. That’s a working system, too, well and truly on its way to a real life debut.

There’s so much more in the way of technology and development that we could talk about here, but there’s another post in this series on that.

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Saab also has one of the most efficient automotive plants in Europe. We’ve won LEAN production awards in recent years for our manufacturing system.

It’s not just lean, either. It’s also flexible.

The Saab production line in Trollhattan will soon build two completely separate vehicles in five different body styles – all on the one production line.

• Saab 9-3 – sedan, sportcombi, convertible
• Saab 9-5 – sedan, sportcombi

This flexibility and modernity is one of the legacies that GM left for us, one that we’re very thankful for.

The Saab facility is unique amongst car manufacturers in that the whole vehicle design and manufacturing task can be carried out on the one campus. Here at Saab’s estate in Trollhattan we have technical development, design center, prototype lab, panel pressing, paint shop, final assembly, climate wind tunnel, test track, full safety labs and crash test facilities, as well as our administrative, marketing, financial, sales and aftersales offices. Everything can be done on site.