As if Michiganders haven't seen enough snow already this season, Saab was happy to dump a load of fake flakes from the rafters of Cobo Hall, providing the Saab 9-4X BioPower Concept's grand debut with a light dusting.
After GM Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner made it clear that E85 ethanol is the short-term fix for weaning us off our 1,000-barrel-of-oil-per-second habit, Carl-Peter Forster, President of GM Europe announced the arrival of the 9-4X BioPower.
Forster said the 300-horsepower turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder 9-4X is the right vehicle for those who want to "embrace nature."
Nature, maybe. Snow in Cobo, not so much...
-- Kelly Toepke, News Editor
billt9 says:
02:45 PM, 01/13/08
It's a clean design in a good way. I like.
stovt001 says:
02:54 PM, 01/13/08
Huge step up from the 9-7X. It looks about what a large modern Saab should look like. And it looks to be smaller than the 9-7X. Good things all around, in my opinion.
firstwagon says:
05:55 PM, 01/13/08
Embrace nature? What a load of crap.
Making it tall and heavy only makes mileage worse. E85's get terrible mileage and the advantage to the enviroment is very questionable.
It's looks like a nice crossover but lay off the BS green spin.
ateixeira says:
10:16 AM, 01/14/08
I don't like the rear half. This should be roomier, to compete with the XC90. It appears too small to do that.
dhmadwi says:
04:49 AM, 01/19/08
I want one. Finally a new SAAB that's not a Chevy Trailblazer or a Suburu. It looks like GM has grasped the importance of investing in the SAAB brand. The rear half has fast back looks but the more vertical glass adds interior space. The front looks modern, fast, and not too overdone like the new 9-3. I hope it will lean toward sport car handling with SAAB utility. I think that crossovers make sense as long as they have interior room and utility, lean toward sport car handling and get better gas mileage, otherwise a more logical choice is the sport-combi. But Americans are not logical when it comes to cars.
I thought ethanol was not a sustainable fuel and has to be subsidized by the government, otherwise it would be too expensive because the process to manufacture it takes too much energy.
Seems like ethanol is GM's way to say they are green until they can make a better electric hybrid. Hurry up.