Saab 9-4X in non-production colors: Crystal Red

I love it! I wish I could have got that color instead of black.

This was one of apparently 60 9-4x's that GM sold at the Manheim auction on 12/22/2011. Here's a link to a story about it at LeftLaneNews: Saab fans flood GM’s Facebook page; GM sells off 9-4x fleet. Note that the VIN is identical.

Saab calls this color Crystal Red. I believe it was one of many 9-4x colors rendered unavailable because of the major earthquake in Japan last March. Most manufacturers had to deal with a much smaller set of available colors, not just Saab. There's a substance called Xirallic that was in short supply after the earthquake which I guess is used to add a bit of "glitter" to some metallic finishes. The 9-4X pictured above predates the quake by about a month.

Crystal Red has been used on GM cars since the 2008 model year. It's also called Crystal Claret. It's been seen on cars from Cadillac, Buick, Saturn as well as the Chevrolet Corvette, Tahoe, Cruze, Camaro and Volt to name a few.

I think I saw this very 9-4x on a transport headed east on I-80 somewhere in Nebraska in late October. I was driving home to Colorado from Minnesota where the day before I had purchased my new 9-5.

Thanks 900EMS, that's interesting info. I wonder how much they sold for at auction.

Meanwhile, used car auction giant Manheim shows more than 60 2011 Saab 9-4x crossovers in its Detroit-area GM company-owned car auction scheduled for Thursday. Some have less than 100 miles, while others show as high as 12,000 miles, but all are being auctioned by GM Remarketing. Included in the auction are several pilot production 9-4xs, which include VIN 00005, or the fifth consumer 9-4x built (pictured is 00010).

The 9-4xs were likely those used by Saab’s North American office for marketing purposes, although it’s unclear why they are being offered by GM.

Another Red 9-4X but in Aero trim. This is serial #2 (VIN 3G0FNUE62BS800002). Perhaps we should start a registry lists as these 9-4X will be highly sought after and very collectable 10 years from now.

2011 New Saab 9-4X Aero at Saab of Memphis, TN, IID 7618331

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