Saab Begets Buick, Sires Opel

Filed in archive GM , News on December 30, 2009

In my computer is a half-written blog about the downfall of Saab. I was about to finish and post it but there's no end to the ending. Sweden's Koenigsegg was buying Saab, then backed out. The Dutch firm Spyker jumped into the buyer's box, then backed out. GM backed out of selling Saab to anyone at all but suddenly Spyker is back in again, supposedly trying to raise the cash for a takeover although the last I heard, Spyker had had no luck at the bank and now General Motors is reportedly preparing to turn the new 9-5 into two cars, a Buick and an Opel Senator. According to those in the know, the 9-5, which has yet to be launched, is so good that the General doesn't want to waste an opportunity.

I suppose there's some logic in that idea for Buick needs all the assistance it can get for its revival and a dose of European technology would certainly help. Opel, now back in GM's bed, also needs a product boost. The Opel Senator was, for many years, its top-of-the-line executive sedan and coupe; motivated, like BMW, by a powerful inline six. A version of the Saab 9-5 could give the German company a worthy competitor to European, Japanese, and Korean luxury sedans.

Such bastardisation of a renowned Swedish marque might cause Saab purists to cry in their Carlsberg (woops... Carlsberg is Danish) but that's the way it is, and always has been, in the car business. If it happens, the pressure will be on GM designers in Germany and America to make the Buick and Opel versions distinct from each other (and from memories of Saab) while building on the 9-5's platform and architecture. The above image, taken in Stockholm, is obviously of a Saab although the folks at Jalopnik are suggesting it could be a Senator. To me it looks like a 9-5 prototype stuck in a snowbank. Which, sadly, is where Saab sits today.

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