The New 9-5, Credits to Saab

The newly-released Saab 9-5 is 70 percent a creation of the engineers working for the Swedish manufacturer, a company official said, emphasizing that Saab has the ability to produce new models using its own resources. Such a thing was possible mostly thanks to GM's investments in Saab, director of vehicle engineering Mats Fagerhag was quoted as saying by just-auto.com.

"I have 900 engineers in Sweden and I have all the capabilities and knowledge that I need to continue to develop models," he said. "GM was all about volume and that dictated the decision making. What we can do with Saab now is to focus on premium rather than price and volume."

As for the future, the new 9-5, now on display at Frankfurt, is just the beginning, he said. In the future, the company will roll out a bunch of new models, some of them smaller than the 9-5, but all of them better matching the market demands and relying on environmentally friendly models.

"Downsizing is definitely on the agenda but we also need to produce safe and environmentally-friendly cars. We have a good starting point," said Fagerhag.

The new 9-5 is based on the same platform as Opel's flagship Insignia, in spite of obvious exterior look differences.

"What we did was develop a menu of components - a bandwidth or basis for a car - with, for example, a choice of two front and two rear suspensions, different HVAC systems to cover the requirements of the different brands. The Insignia and 9-5 are different cars from the same family. They look different, feel different and drive differently. The 9-5 has a wheelbase 100mm longer than the Insignia," Fagerhag concluded.