Autoblog

It is no secret that the automotive industry is hurting for sales to close out 2008. Over the past few months incentives have been thrown out left and right to draw in more buyers. The deals have not done enough to bring folks into the showroom, though. With all the media talk of bleeding Detroit, consumers know that the domestic manufacturers have been holding out on their best offers. Perhaps the memory of 2005's employee pricing incentives has kept many waiting on the fence. With 2009 models heading to dealerships as we speak, General Motors is hoping to end the stalemate. It will be testing the waters of employee pricing yet again beginning Wednesday, August 20th and running through September 2nd.

The employee discount program will apply across all 8 GM brands. Buick, Pontiac and GMC dealers will mark down 91 percent of their inventory on all 2008 models, along with the 2009 Pontiac Vibe and G5, Chevy Cobalt and HHR and, surprisingly, the Cadillac CTS. Chevrolet dealers can unload 90 percent of their 2008 inventory with all 2008 models eligible for the employee price. Cadillac, Saturn, SAAB, Hummer will each have their own stipulations as well, but it is certain that the discount will be widespread. The price reduction varies from vehicle to vehicle, but is typically on order of a few thousand dollars. Additional incentives will also still be offered on some slower selling items, such as, you guessed it, trucks and SUVs. So the question is, will employee pricing get you off the fence and into a dealership?

[Source: GM]

Saab's rumored decision to downsize its engines gets some confirmation today, as reports indicate that the Swedish brand's next 9-5 will get just 1.6-liters of displacement for its base engine. However, power should still be up to par, as the mill will get a high-pressure turbocharger to boost output. Despite the small-bore engine, the next 9-5 will be built atop the Epsilon II platform which underpins the latest Opel Insignia and which will cause the new 9-5 to grow in size compared to the current car. The 9-3 will move down to the Delta platform, shared with the Chevy Cruze and other mid-size derivatives.

In addition to the little 1.6, the up-level Saab will get at least one diesel engine along with the 2.8-liter V6 from the GM parts bin. Its Swedish heritage will remain intact thanks to the continued usage of Saab's BioPower engines, which combine high-pressure turbocharging with small, E85-fueled four-cylinder engines and an all-wheel drive system similar to the one just released on the latest 9-3.

[Source: Channel 4]

The Saab 9-3X will be a soft-roading version of the Swedish brand's bread-and-butter sedan and wagon, a.k.a. SportCombi, and word has it that the all-wheel-drive wonders will be making their debut at the Paris Motor Show in October. Unlike the performance-oriented Turbo X, the 9-3X will use its Haldex AWD system for tackling particularly deep potholes, traversing heavily packed snow and otherwise offering its owners the sure footedness that comes with all four wheels turning at once. Based on our previous spy photos, we expect the 9-3X to look the part with fender flares, a lifted suspension and faux skid plates. Seriously though, adding AWD to the 9-3 in a mini-SUV package is a smart move right now and one that's been paying Subaru dividends for some time.

Also on the docket for a Paris debut is a new 9-3 concept that should preview what the next iteration of the sedan and wagon will look like. Our flights are booked, hotel rooms reserved and appetite for pasta at a fever pitch, so we'll bring you live coverage of these two reveals as they happen from Italy in early October.

[Source: Channel4]

As if selling a quirky Swedish brand wasn't hard enough, Saab dealers will now have to do it with a smaller powertrain warranty. Effective immediately for 2009 models, all powertrain warranties on Saab vehicles will be reduced to four-years or 50,000 miles. Most media outlets, including Automotive News, are reporting that Saab's current warranty is seven-years and 100,000 miles for its powertrains, but that's inaccurate. Saab's powertrain warranty has the been the same as the rest of GM's brands since they were all increased in September, 2006 to five-years or 100,000 miles. So the new Saab powertrain warranty lops one year and 50,000 miles off the old one. The brand will keep its free scheduled maintenance offer for three-years or 36,000 miles, however, to remain somewhat competitive with other entry-level luxury marques. GM noted that no other brands are reducing their warranties, just Saab, so you better hope your brand new 9-3 was built on a Wednesday.

[Source: All Cars, All the Time]

General Motors CEO, Rick Wagoner, mentioned in passing that several parties have expressed interest in purchasing HUMMER and that GM is moving as quickly as possible to seal the deal. "We have some interested buyers," Wagoner told reports while attending the opening of a new GM engineering and development center.

The sale of HUMMER would help fund GM's attempt to boost liquidity to the tune of $15 billion by the end of 2009. Other brands could be cut or paired down, but Wagoner insists that Saab will continue to soldier on. "Saab is a critical part of our European portfolio and has the potential to be quite a good moneymaker for us." He went on to say that the next Saab will be built in North America, although it wasn't divulged what model would be produced or where.

[Source: Reuters]

The midsized sedan has been growing in all directions for decades, but soaring fuel prices have customers begging for something smaller. GM is heeding the call as it is preparing a smaller batch of next generation Saabs. The next 9-3 was originally slated to be underpinned by the Epsilon II, but in March GM decided to instead utilize the lower-medium Delta architecture. The Delta platform will also be used for the next-gen Chevy Cruze, which is slated to eventually replace the Cobalt. The end result will be a smaller, lighter, more efficient Swedish sedan.

With the 9-3 shrinking, Saab will also need to down-size its planned 9-1, which was originally scheduled to be Delta-based. Speculation has Saab reaching into GM's global architecture bin to use the Gamma platform that currently underpins the Opel Corsa. The idea has legs, too, as the Swedish automaker calls the idea "imaginable." Both vehicles are said to contain small, efficient turbocharged powertrains, which is in line with what Saab already uses. We're all for smaller, more agile Saabs, and killer fuel economy wouldn't hurt either.

[Source: Automotive News - Sub. Req.]

Click any image for a slightly larger shot.

Earlier in the week, a handful of tiny images from General Motor's presentation to employees leaked onto the Web, providing a glimpse into the future of Cadillac, Chevrolet, Buick and Saab. As the General's spinmeisters try to console both Wall Street investors and tepid consumers after Black Tuesday's depressing announcements, they've finally released these all-too-small pics into the wild images began surfacing on other sites, sourced from GM's own media portal where the video of Wagoner's presentation was posted.

Aside from GM's plans to reduce white collar expenditures by 20 percent, eliminate salaried employees' health care after age 65 and a cut its way to liquidity to the tune of $15 billion by the end of 2009, Bob Lutz dropped the bomb that the current iteration of the Beat isn't coming to the U.S. and that the 40+ mpg Chevrolet Cruze won't be immediately available to North American consumers after it debuts at the Paris Motor Show.

Regardless, the images give us a sneak peak at the stillborn (Stateside) Cobalt replacement, which features tautly drawn headlamps, deep swage lines and a grille that apes its big brother the Malibu. The Cadillac CTS Sportwagon features a massive D-pillar reminiscent of that found on the CTS coupe concept and taillights that stretch from the edge of the roof to the lower fascia. The Caddy SRX's design is precisely what's been predicted, while both the Buick sedan and Saab 9-4X – a supposed competitor to the BMW X3 – are hardly compelling.

Check the images in the gallery below and give us your own opinion about GM's supposed saviors.


[Source: AutoObserver]

Saabs with the latest Haldex bits tucked underneath are a hoot to drive, as we found out the two times we sampled the Turbo X. That hardware will also be available on the 9-3 Aero, and Saab's got another trick up its sleeve in the form of the 9-3X. Rather than go the lowered, Vaderized route of the Turbo X, the 9-3X is angling for the table scraps left over by the Audi Allroad, Volvo XC70, and even the luxed-up versions of the Subaru Outback. Raised suspension and skid-platey accents butch it up, along with extra cladding and exhaust tips big enough to flank some bumper nutz. The official unveiling will most likely be in Paris in October. With the pending 9-4 and tweaks to the 9-5, it's going to be a busy few months for Saab. Thanks for the tip, Swade!

[Source: Trollhattan Saab]

This has been a big year for GM's organization alignment, with President Fritz Henderson opening up about the brand issue snafu and the appointment of four brand czars. HUMMER was meant to join forces with Cadillac and Saab in a premium channel, but while HUMMER is still in the family, it's apparently been put out on the lawn. GM Inside News (GMI) reports that GM is treating HUMMER as a goner, saying that the H4 program is on life support for handover to the next buyer, and the H3 GMT-700 program is kaput.

The bigger hearsay is that GM's board is considering euthanizing GMC or Pontiac. Those two brands were to be aligned in a brand channel with Buick (PBG). Getting rid of GMC could make some kind of sense, since it's entirely brand-engineered vehicles with some of the worst mileage numbers in the fleet. Shunning Pontiac would be a surprise to us since the Solstice and G8 have given it a nice brand awareness boost and it's got some products in the pipeline. If GMC or Pontiac did go, the GM board would consider folding Saturn into the PBG channel to maintain sales volume. In corporate-speak, we believe this is called GM's "gloves off" phase. Thanks for the tip, Dan!

[Source: GM Inside News]

Click above for high-res gallery of Saab 9-4X spy shots

Yes, even crossovers need their suspensions tuned, and what better place for Saab to stretch the legs of its upcoming 9-4X crossover than the Nurburgring in Germany? The 9-4X was, of course, already previewed by the Saab 9-4X Biopower concept revealed last January at the 2008 Detroit Auto Show, and then we also saw our first spy shots of the covered crossover back in April. Here we see the sloped roof 9-4X being thrown around the 'Ring during its development process. The engineers are no doubt striving to instill the 9-4X with that certain bit of Saabness the brand's current off-roader, the 9-7X, is completely missing. You should consider the 9-4X a cross between the late Subaru Impreza-based 9-2X and Chevy Trailblazer-based 9-7X, as its got enough ground clearance to go soft roading but should show off some deft moves on a flat surface. The 9-4X will be built on a unique version of GM's Theta platform, oft referred to as the Theta Premium platform, that will only be shared with Cadillac's upcoming crossover based on the Provoq Concept that will replace the SRX.

[Source: KGP Photography]