Photo: Kleber Silva on Behance
Remember Saab? I rarely think about it as well, and that’s a shame considering how much potential the Swedes had before the GM era.
Born from the necessity of motorizing the Swedes in the aftermath of World War II, the automotive division of Svenska Aeroplan Aktiebolaget rolled out the Ursaab with a two-stroke engine from DKW. The 92 followed suit, and with the passing of time, the company introduced more conventional powerplants such as the B-series engine inspired by Triumph’s slant-four.
The downfall of Saab can be traced back to 1978 when the automaker joined forces with Fiat for a flurry of cars that didn’t sell exactly well. The parent company had enough of the car-making division by 1989, which is why Saab was spun off into its own legal entity with the help of General Motors.
The Detroit-based overlord made it clear that rebadging is the desired way of integrating Saab into General Motors, but guess what? The Swedes had their own agenda, preferring to reengineer GM platforms and subassemblies to their liking. Add extremely woeful sales to the mix, and you’ll understand why the forward-thinking manufacturer ran out of money by the year 2010.
The 9-4X is one of the final vehicles developed under the ownership of General Motors, launching for the 2011 model year as a mid-size luxury crossover derived from the Cadillac SRX. The vanilla exterior styling and lackluster underpinnings didn’t help this fellow, and build quality was a little poor as well because GM had just filed for Chapter 11 reorganization.
Had the automaker survived to this day, the 9-4X would be just as uninteresting as its predecessor. Pixel artist Kleber Silva imagined the mid-size crossover with the platform and body shell of the GMC Acadia, a model that sold 72,538 units in 2020 compared to a high point of 111,276 in 2017.
To whom it may concern, the Acadia has been recalled for issues ranging from brake calipers that leak brake fluid to separating driveshafts and fracturing fuel pump flanges. With a quality record as terrible as that, the Saab 9-4X revival won’t extend past the design study in front of your eyes.
The downfall of Saab can be traced back to 1978 when the automaker joined forces with Fiat for a flurry of cars that didn’t sell exactly well. The parent company had enough of the car-making division by 1989, which is why Saab was spun off into its own legal entity with the help of General Motors.
The Detroit-based overlord made it clear that rebadging is the desired way of integrating Saab into General Motors, but guess what? The Swedes had their own agenda, preferring to reengineer GM platforms and subassemblies to their liking. Add extremely woeful sales to the mix, and you’ll understand why the forward-thinking manufacturer ran out of money by the year 2010.
The 9-4X is one of the final vehicles developed under the ownership of General Motors, launching for the 2011 model year as a mid-size luxury crossover derived from the Cadillac SRX. The vanilla exterior styling and lackluster underpinnings didn’t help this fellow, and build quality was a little poor as well because GM had just filed for Chapter 11 reorganization.
Had the automaker survived to this day, the 9-4X would be just as uninteresting as its predecessor. Pixel artist Kleber Silva imagined the mid-size crossover with the platform and body shell of the GMC Acadia, a model that sold 72,538 units in 2020 compared to a high point of 111,276 in 2017.
To whom it may concern, the Acadia has been recalled for issues ranging from brake calipers that leak brake fluid to separating driveshafts and fracturing fuel pump flanges. With a quality record as terrible as that, the Saab 9-4X revival won’t extend past the design study in front of your eyes.
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