Saab's first-ever crossover, the 9-4X is finally heading to dealer showrooms.
The first Saab 9-4X crossover scheduled for retail sale has rolled off the assembly line at a General Motors plant in Ramos Arizpe, Mexico.
Saab Automobile chief executive officer and president Jan-Ake Jonsson was on hand to see regular production begin, just three months after the 9-4X was unveiled at the 2010 Los Angeles Auto Show.
“This is a great day for Saab,” said Jonsson who survived the maker’s brief insolvency before Saab was sold to Dutch automaker Spyker, a year ago. “The arrival of the 9-4X is another important step in the fulfillment of our business plan. This sporty and distinctive product will significantly broaden the appeal of our brand.”
The 9-4X gives the newly-independent company access, for the first time, to the growing, mid-size crossover segment. An earlier attempt to target the large SUV market with the 9-7X fell far short of expectations, in large part because there was little differentiation between the Saab model and similarly-sized GM offerings.
The Swedish maker is hoping to do better with the 9-4X, which it contends can offer customers a progressive design, luxury-segment comfort and crossover versatility — alongside car-like driving qualities.
Whether buyers will see this as a fresh, alternative choice remains to be seen, however, as the 9-4X is still based on GM technology, though the look, inside and out, is much more Saab-like.
Peter Doerrich, who is now Saab’s chief engineer for mid-sized vehicles, said that starting in 2005 he was the leader of the GM team that engineered both the Cadillac SRX and the Saab 9-4X. The exterior of the Swedish crossover was set apart with special details such as the distinctive rear lift gate, as well as the classic Saab grille.
“Right from the start, I made sure it had a lot of Saab in it,” said Doerrich, who elected to return to SAAB when it became independent
From the beginning, the Saab version was planned so it would fit in Saab’s line without being described as a Cadillac clone, he noted after presenting the 9-4X at the annual Los Angeles Auto Show.
“I made sure it had Saab DNA,” said Doerrich, who noted it was one of the most carefully designed vehicle on which he has ever worked
The 9-4X also features Saab’s XWD all-wheel-drive system, as well as an adaptive chassis control and the maker’s efficient GM 2.8-liter turbo engine.
Saab sales feel far short of what analysts had expected last year, barely nipping 6,000, a number that the company admits is unsustainable – though Jonsson also stressed that it was a tough year for the maker considering it sustained a 7-week shutdown before the sale to Spyker was completed. And the launch of the Saab 9-5 sedan was knocked off schedule because of the need to slowly re-start the company’s primary assembly line in Trollhattan, Sweden.
This year, the goal is to roughly quadruple sales with the 9-5, 9-4X and an updated version of the small 9-3 model.
Though GM sold off Saab last year, the ties between the two makers will likely take years to untangle, officials at both companies caution, at least until the current line-up of Swedish models is completely replaced by products no longer dependent upon GM platforms and components.
Paul A. Eisenstein contributed to this report.