2011 / 2012 Saab 9-5 SportCombi spied undisguised

Saab 9-5 SportCombi spotted near Trollhattan

From a flurry of activity when Spyker finally got hold of Saab from GM nearly a year ago, news from Trollhattan has not been exactly flowing out in an endless stream. And good news hasn’t really been the keynote for the first year of Spyker’s ownership of Sweden’s second favourite car maker.

The new Saab 9-5 – although well received in terms of design and equipment – was a bit of a let-down in terms of dynamics and comfort. But Saab has addressed the suspension on the 9-5 and given it a re-tweak, and we’ve also had new engines and XWD options extended.

Despite those efforts, Saab’s sales for 2010 were actually down on the already woeful 2009 figures at just 31,696 cars sold, despite an original target of 45,00 cars for the year. That said, the last quarter of 2010 saw sales significantly up (by 129%) which does auger well for projected sales of 80,00 in 2011 and 120,000 in 2012 (and profit).

Saab’s push to recover can’t have been helped by the departure of Adrian Hallmark – Executive Sales Director – to JLR in October. Adrian was busy restructuring Saab’s sales operations before he got an offer he couldn’t refuse from Carl-Peter Forster. His departure must have put a bit of a hole in Saab’s efforts to restructure their sales and dealer network.

But 2011 does look far more promising, with the sensibly fettled Saab 9-5 being joined by a recently tweaked Saab 9-3 and the launch of the recently revealed Saab 9-4x later in the year (why so long?).

What we also get is a car that could be said to personify Saab – a new SportCombi. The 2012 Saab 9-5 SportCombi gets a debut at the Geneva Motor Show next month.

We have already had a rendered image from Saab of the 9-5 SportCombi after details of the launch last month, but now we have a photo of the 9-5 SportCombi out in the wild, thanks to the guys over at Saabs United.

Things, finally, seem to be looking more promising for Saab. Fingers crossed.

Image Source: Saabs United

By Cars UK