Our ride for this day-long drive of some 1,058km was a 2010 Saab 9-3 SportCombi rental from Avis, which got fuel economy of some 10.5 litres per 100km running at occasional overtaking speeds on 85% ethanol.

And the reason I’m here? I’ll get to that later in the week but it’s 15% northern exposure and 85% helping a friend – a long and slightly sad tale that will finally get its happy ending tomorrow.

I can tell you this much: the Avis rental is staying here and we’re taking another Saab model from the same year back home.

–

You should be able to listen to it on the embedded player, below.

If it doesn’t show there (it may drop off the playlist in the coming days) the you can go to the SBS Radio website. The interview should be here.

–

My thanks to Johan Gabrielsson from SBS for the opportunity to talk about Saab and the role of that social media is playing within the company.

–

My name is Steven Wade. Those who know me – and many who don’t – call me Swade. I’ll be your host on a journey into the heart of this wonderful carmaker. Some of you may be familiar with my previous work at a site called Saabs United, where a community gathered to support Saab as they were sold by General Motors to become an independent company back in 2009/10.

Saabs United continues in good hands, but Saab has decided to take a big leap of its own into the social media space, and I’ve been fortunate enough to be invited along for the ride. To work for one’s favourite company, in such an exciting industry and at such a unique time in history is an enthusiast’s dream. I’ve been on board with Saab for just two weeks and I’m already bursting at the seams over the things I’ll be able to share with you here. I’m even more excited about the things I can’t share, but we’ll get to those eventually.

Saab is blessed with a passionate and engaged enthusiast community. Rather than just have you read press releases, we want to bring you Saab’s story from the inside, and from an enthusiast’s point of view.

• How do we design and build our cars?
• Who are some of the people involved?
• What goes on behind the scenes?
• What happens at Saab events around the world?
• How can you connect more with Saab?

We don’t want you to just read more about Saab. We want you to experience more, too. We’ll give you plenty of information about official Saab events around the world and how you can participate.

A conversation needs two or more people. We invite you to connect with us here at Inside Saab via the comments section of the site. You can also connect by being a fan of Saab Cars on Facebook, or following Saab’s official twitter feed. We’ll add more outlets for connection as time goes on.

Saab has a rich history, filled with superb, iconic vehicles and stories of innovation, determination and triumph over adversity. These are still challenging times for Saab, but they are also exciting times as we build on our independence and bring you an all-new range of Saab vehicles and technology.

You’ll be able to read about it all, right here on Inside Saab.