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What could have been: Saab 9-3

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Interesting to see what the next Saab 9-3 was going to look like.
This is apparently the most advanced prototype they were able to produce of the “next” 9-3 sedan.
Frankly I don’t think this could have saved the brand. After a truly modern 9-5 sedan and great looking wagon. This looks a bit odd. The wrong mix of modern and retro.

Sad…

You can read the whole story HERE.

Conversation 7 comments

  2. It's a Saab, Vince… it is supposed to be odd. In a sea of look-a-like cars with me-too styling, it would have been nice to have something quirky and unique. If Saab had never strayed from that idea in the first place (in other words, never been touched by General Motors), it wouldn't have ended up obsolete to begin with. At their best, they were always incredibly quirky cars for incredibly quirky people. And that's what made them awesome.

  3. The problem with this design is that it not only would have followed the thoroughly contemporary 9-5 and 9-4x, but it was obviously designed to be quirky for quirky's sake, not because it was functionally necessary to be.
    It is nice to see the 5-door hatch revived, but it was awkwardly concavely shaped (as in the '70s and '80s 99 models) to be barely more capacious than a regular sedan. The '95-'98 900 5-door had a more convex shape to the hatch that made the space inside infinitely more useful. The roofline and the taillights on this were obviously designed only to be a tribute to retro '80s Saab, but neither were thoughtfully integrated.
    I think this 9-3 design would have repelled as many of the SAAB faithful as it would have attracted.. and would have not likely appealed to anyone outside of that group.

  5. What would have saved was allowing a Chinese buyer. That's the direction car manufacturer ownership is going. GM, Toyota, Mercedes, Renault and the rest of the stable ones aren't interested in taking on other struggling marques anymore. Neither are the central governments these brands come from. Either they fall into Indian or Chinese hands, with the slippery slope the engineering world is afraid of looming ahead, or they fall into the history books. It's that simple.

  6. This looks a bit too cartoonish, but I don't doubt this would have sold better than the GM saabs. Nicely done, too late

  7. Finally a chinese company owns saab.
    A long ago there was a upside story about saab sale.
    At first spyker wanna buy saab.
    It were worser they must sell the saab museum, but the swedish government bought it back.
    In germany saab tries a comback with new models. Finally you can buy the saloon.

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