From one Swedish company to another, I just wanted to pass along some congratulations to Koenigsegg for their recent supercar achievement. First, because they’re Swedish, and second, because they’re super-cool. They are the epitome of “Subzero”.

I was very pleased to read my news feeds today and see that Koenigsegg have just been awarded a Guinness World Record for the fastest car to accelerate from zero to 300km/h and then back to zero again.

0-300-0 in just 21.19 seconds.

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For those of you who don’t know, there is some history between Koenigsegg and Saab. A group fronted by Koenigsegg tried to buy Saab from General Motors back in 2009. That bid ultimately fell short when Koenigsegg pulled out of the deal in November 2009.

During that time, I had a chance to meet Christian von Koenigsegg at the Frankfurt Motor Show, when the Saab 9-5 was launched. In 2010, whilst on holiday in Sweden, I had a chance to visit the Koenigsegg facility in Ängelholm and take a tour of the factory.

I also got to go for a ride

We didn’t do the 0-300-0 run, but we came close…..

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The engineering in these cars is absolutely amazing. The “no-hands” run should give you an idea as to just how rock-solid these cars are. The acceleration is brutal and as you can hear from my reactions, the braking is just as enjoyable.

So, again, my congratulations to this outstanding Swedish company on being recognised by Guinness for their work.

For those who do love to shop, I thought I’d help you see the day in with a fanfare, provided by the Saab Black Turbo Orchestra.

I love a good exhaust note……..

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And a note to self……

I’ve got to get some seat time in a Turbo X. I’ve only driven it once and the more I see them, the more I want one. It’s truly an outstanding machine.

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Via Saabworld, here’s a great video from Autoweek.nl. They travelled to Trollhattan recently to have a chat with some Saab employees, as well as some of the locals. Their interviews gauged feelings about the recently announced Memorandum of Understanding with Youngman and Pang Da. It should be noted that the interviews were conducted before General Motors made their preliminary announcement of not supporting the deal.

The video is mostly in Dutch, however the interviews are conducted in English.

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Is it time for another poll?

Auto Express have also written a story about the Saab/Youngman/Pang Da deal, with their focus being on future Saab models.

They claim an image of the Saab 9-3 replacement vehicle in the story, however it should be noted that it’s not an official image and not one that we have any comment on. All images claimed or shown by magazines should be viewed as their own. We’ll show ours when we’re good and ready

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The Snap Up a Saab competition continues……

Seriously, if you’re within reasonable distance of Saab of North Olmsted and you haven’t submitted an application for Week 4 of this competition, you’re missing out on what is possibly your best opportunity to win a new Saab of your choice.

All it will take is a week’s hard work, showing the car around and getting your friends and connections to share the vehicle as well.

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Life with Saab has an interesting post about real-life fuel consumption figures in the Saab 9-5 TiD.

The author, Arild, has achieved fuel consumption figures under 5 liters per 100km. That’s 47mpg for you folks in the USA and 56mpg for folks in the UK.

That’s pretty darn good for a car with that much space. Sure beats the carrying capacity of a Yaris.

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And last but not least…..

A study of the modern history of the Saab front grille. Do you have a favourite?

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It was hard work printing, then pasting all those photos on to the paper, color matching them, etc. Paper cuts galore! But we got there eventually

Here’s a time-lapse:

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Thanks again for submitting your images. I hope you enjoyed the mosaics and please feel free to spread the word!

And I hope you watched the video right through to the end

For this week, however, here’s a quick run down of some key Saaby stories on the web.

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Life with Saab has what I think is a good outsider analysis of what’s expected to be happening today at Saab. I wish there were more to give, but ‘radio silence’ is the buzzword right now and as always, I’m a good soldier.

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There is some news buzz floating around the web about salaries at Saab. I can pass on that money has been received under the government guarantee applicable for companies in reconstruction. This doesn’t cover the full month of October, however, and calculations are being made to distribute the funds equitably, which will be done ASAP. Arrears will also be made up as soon as funds are available.

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Just Saab, a dealership with two outlets in Ohio, USA, recently participated in an autocross day with a number of their customers.

Saabs United has the full story at that link, with pictures.

The results are here (Saab’s in a separate class). You’ll be amazed at how the 9-4x performed in the Saab group!

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Anyone else see the guy on the Maptun Facebook page who tattooed his foot?

Ouch!

Actually, there have been a number of Saab tattoos turning up recently. Perhaps we need a feature investigation on this?

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Ericsson have sold their stake in the Sony-Ericsson communications venture to Sony, ending the Swedish company’s interest.

Sad for us, as we used to have a wonderful co-operation with them at motor shows, getting people to take photos of the Saab stand with the Xperia phones.

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And finally, a video mashup put together by Saablime that we’ve been liking for a while now.

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The following video series was posted on Youtube a few days ago. Whilst it’s called “Saab History 1946-2006″ it seems to cover the earliest days, then skip forward directly to the development of the Saab 900.

I’m pretty sure that this is a production sponsored by Saab a few years ago. In fact, I’m sure I have a copy of it on VHS tape and purchased from the Saab Museum back in 2007. So if you feel like you’ve seen it before, you might have this tape gathering dust somewhere in your living room, too.

Regardless, it’s a good series to watch. There is a lot of footage that you most likely haven’t seen before, as well as photographs and illustrations that are quite rare.

There are 12 episodes, between 5 and 10 minutes in length, which is why you should bookmark the page. Episode 9 appears to be missing at the moment, but that shouldn’t detract from your enjoyment. Watch one, then come back and watch another. The development of the Saab 9000 is quite comprehensive, for example, and will warrant a few viewings simply so you can appreciate all that goes into vehicle development.

Enjoy.

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Part 1 – Saab’s beginnings as an automotive manufacturer.

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Part 2 – Saab 900 development and evolution

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Saab 900 Convertible development

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Part 4 – Saab 9000 development

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Part 5 – Saab NG900 development

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Part 6 – Saab 9-5 Sedan development

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Part 7 – Saab 9-5 SportCombi development

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Part 8 – Saab 9-3 hatch development

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Part 9 appears to be missing from the playlist.

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Part 10 – Saab 9-3 Sport Sedan development

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Part 11 – Saab 9-3 SportCombi

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Part 12 – a bonus section showing the Saab “Monster”

Provided by Swedish Television.

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Kenneth Backlund and Kent Andersson from the Saab Performance Team put on a two-man precision driving show at the recent IntSaab 2011 event, held in Finland.

Enjoy!

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You’ll need to be patient with this one. It’s around 9.5 minutes long and it shows a few different things. I think your patience will be rewarded, however, with an exhibition of just how incredibly intelligent and effective Saab’s XWD really is.

The video starts off looking at Drivesense, the switchable vehicle setting that debuted in the Saab 9-5. Drivesense changes the steering, suspension and throttle response settings according to selections made by the driver: comfort, sport or intelligent. In the video, a display is connected to show how intelligent mode varies the inputs according to conditions (and how it delays those variations if required – e.g. not changing steering settings whilst you’re cornering).

Later on (at around 5:30 in the video), there are some amazing displays of grip thanks to the Saab XWD system. Consider the conditions (very wet), the speed and the way that Stefan is pulling the steering wheel. The car just never got out of control. Absolutely amazing.

Enjoy.

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