Saab’s Lars Hägerborg: Brand has a Buyer. Allegedly.
In an odd interview in automotorsport, Lars Hägerborg of Saab Sweden claims they now have concrete facts about a new owner. As we all expected this really doesn’t mean the end of Opels re-badged as Saabs (not to mention Chevy SUVs) as Lars says GM’s mind-NSFW game, er, cooperation will last at least another five years. Supposedly GM Powertrain Sweden will continue to share parts and tech with the other GM divisions but will keep “the best bits to themselves.” Judging by the turbo I4s that Saab has been cranking out lately, I’d say they can keep whatever they have and nobody will mind. Next in the process is lining up some government bailout funds to (as Lars says) “[be] a loan that allows us to move forward.” Lars also whined that the automotive press is too harsh on Saab for their abject failures and that we should instead focus on the future and their new [vaporware] models which are yet again later than expected. The new models of course being the Opel in a Saab suit 9-5 and the “Chevy in a Saab suit” 9-4. Good luck Saab, you’re gonna need it.
If you’re in NZ, in the North Island and/or willing to travel there to have a blat around on the track in your precious beast (sorry, no drifting will be allowed) then come one, come all (as long as you’re not a cock, obviously… if you go, and it’s latered discovered you are one. I will find you and kill you.)
Random Retro Snap: Toyota Crown
Toyota Crown, Tidy as a tidy thing.
I apologise for the horrendous picture quality, it was taken on my phone and I thought that it was on a better resolution, sadly, it was not and this is what I ended up with. Despite how it might look.. all pixelated.. it’s not like that in real life and is infact the second tidiest Toyota of that size and era that I see kicking about down here. It’s parked in the disabled spot and driven by an old man. Brilliant.
CARB So Crazy: California To Ban Black Cars?
Autobloggreen recently got its paws on a presentation (PDF, read the whole thing) from the California Air Resource Board’s public “cool cars workshop.” And let’s just say the thing exudes the kind of bureaucratic overreach heretofore only imagined by folks sporting the latest in tinfoil chapeau. Here’s the logic: cars that get hot when they sit require greater air conditioning, which increases fuel consumption and (tada!) air pollution. And since architectural surface coatings are 25-35 percent reflective, there’s no reason not to require similar levels from auto paint, right? Skyscrapers, cars; potato, potato. CARB will require vehicle surfaces to reflect at least 20 percent of solar energy by 2012, a figure that no black auto paint can currently achieve. One third of OEM palettes must meet the 20 percent mark by then, and all OEM paints must meet the goal by 2016. Oh, yes, and by 2016 even collision repair shops have to use the special paint. The only mitigation for these rules are if you sufficiently increase the Rd factor of your cars windshield glazing. And just to keep a song in your heart, “other compliance options are under investigation.”
Piston Slap: David the Explorer questions TTAC’s Used Reviews
TTAC’s own David Holzman writes:
I was struck when I did my old Beetle review by how much worse the steering and handling felt than I remembered. The ’67 Imperial also seemed a lot floaty-boatier than I would have expected. Thus, I found very interesting your implication [in the Piston Slap question about the Explorer] that ride could deteriorate badly in less than a decade. Are old car reviews doomed to vastly underrate the cars relative to how they drove when new—unless they’ve recently been overhauled?