[...] According to this post over at Leftlane news, General Motors is planning to build a small sports car based on the Saab Aero-X prototype. [...]

I bet they will take Saturn Sky/Pontiac Solstice/Opel GT and rebadge it to create a SAAAB! (If I’m right, GM is pathetic!)

There’s not a whole lota Audi TT market to fight for, because its such a transparently bad value. TT is an overpriced VW Golf R32, they both share the VW PQ35 platform and major mechanicals. You get a hell of a better car in a Infiniti G35 coupe, and its cheaper. For the same money you get a BMW 3 series and actually have some room.

Lets not make any judgements like that Jeff, we know nothing about the powertrain, tranny, or price, or anything yet. As for Northeasterner, yeah they will just stick a SAAB badge on a solstice. That Pontiac grill will look great on a SAAB. Get over your GM bias already, everybody uses PLATFORM ENGINEERING.

^^^^ I meant anti-GM bias

We know all about it Derek, its the exact same Golf PQ35 chassis, its the same 3.2L VR6 engine…although the Audi version may deliver a tad more power than the R32, its the same Borg-Warner sourced Dualtronic 6 speed transmission that you know as “DSG”, its the same Haldex AWD system that is FWD biased. And the president of Audi got in trouble last year around October for admitting Audi cars were a “bad value”. You’re much better off buying a 330i, G35, or R32.

I am talking about the SAAB my friend.

I almost forgot Derek, where’s BMW’s platform engineering?

Jeff, Dude, I’m not really sure what your trying to prove here, this is an article about a SAAB roadster taking styling cues from the AERO X concept. It will probably be based on Kappa platform from GM’s Solstice, Sky, and Opel GT. It will most likely come with turbo charged 4 and 6 engines like all SAAB’s and will probably start around 30 grand. Northeasterner ripped GM for “rebadging”. This will not be a rebadge. BMW does not have any overlap in their lineup because they are an expensive luxury brand. However, Toyota, Honda, Ford, GM, Chrysler all use the same platforms for different cars. Some are more blatant than others but no company is worse than another.

isnt the 6 series a mashup of 5 and 7 series bits?
a mini aero-x on the kappa platform would be cool, but i still wish gm would just do a low production halo car as close to the concept as is legal… not that they have the cash for such a risky project…

what made the Aero X cool was the opening ****pit. With that, it became more than a car as it was a statement with the likes of Lambo’s doors. Take that away from the Aero X and its a cool looking Saab, you appreciate it but you don’t envy it.

Specifically, BMW 1 series share platform with the new 3 series.

Just because a car shares bits and pieces from other cars does not mean that they overlap in the market.

thing2 – i dont think anyone ever expected Saab to keep the opening ****pit. I’m surprised that they’re even putting a version of the Aero-X into production – I thought it was intended to merely increase public interest in Saab and preview a new corporate front fascia.

“I’m surprised that they’re even putting a version of the Aero-X into production – I thought it was intended to merely increase public interest in Saab and preview a new corporate front fascia.”

Wouldn’t you agree that its less of a “version of the Aero-X” and more of a Saab with “a new corporate front fascia”?

does saab even have a corporate identity? and dont tell me its the “born from jets” bullsh!t

moody, the rumors had been it would be low production, as in expensive toys for people who like cars with money to burn that have no practicality whatsoever as a daily driver. To those wealthy car enthusiasts, the opening ****pit would add to the cool factor when driving down a car as outrageous as that down the main street instead of a more sensible car out of the collection you have in your garage. Those other cars you just use to go pick up groceries.

soh, it’s exactly the same concept (minus all the flashy bits) as the Aero-X minus the roof. So, yes, I think this constitutes a version of the Aero-X.

The mechanical complexity and cost that would go into using the opening top, however cool, as well as rollover issues with both the raising mechanism and the wrap-around glass (hence, no A-pillar) would seem to me to preclude its use in a production Saab. Plus, the whole idea of this thing doesn’t really fit with Saab; they’ve only made, so far as I know, three other sports cars, the various Sonnetts, from the ’50s to the ’70s, none of which were successful. Granted, I’d like to see one and I love the idea of the top, but I don’t find them realistic (at least at the price range which the Aero-X looks like it would fit, and which Thing2 believes it would). It seems to me that it would make more sense to make the Aero-X into grand tourer type cabriolet or coupe (which is exactly what Saab appears to be doing), because Saab is very good with their interior design and suspension.

Sorry if some of that is a bit contradictory – I’m really tired.

[...] According to Leftlane news, it might be coming in MY2009. Doesn’t that convertible in the picture look like a Corvette convertible? Wait, it’s RWD and has got 400hp, but from a twin turbo 2.8L V6. [...]

Platform sharing? Everyone does even bmw, 7 series = rolls royce, gm will probably use there next rwd platform for some re-badged saab. Hell just don’t get started on engine sharing…..

Derek, badge engineering and platform engineering are two VERY different things. When Audi or BMW or Honda share platforms, they do exactly that, share the underlying platforms. However, they generally don’t share sheetmetal, interior, and in some cases, powertrains. Badge engineering (read: GM & Ford) is you take an existing car and without doing any other work on it, you slap a new badge. 1-Series and 3-Series share platforms but you could never tell that looking at the car. However, look at Escalade and Tahoe, and you don’t need to be a car geek to see that it is basically the same car.

umm so the solstice and the sky (which share the kappa platform, which this story is about) are badge engineering?? Dude your stretching..

How would that be stretching, kid? They’re the same car.

the solstice and the sky looks as close as a A4 and a jetta, booth have the same platform and booth are sedans but thats about it…if you think the solstice and the sky look alike then i really can’t argue with you….

kid, the Solstice and the Sky are the same car! Same platform, same drivetrain, same number of doors… and don’t think that I don’t think that VW does badge engineering – look at their Skoda Octavia, SEAT Leon and normal Golf. They’re all the same car, more or less. The A4 and the Jetta, on the other hand, are quite different (even if a lot of the difference is due to more sporty suspension and a better interior in the A4) – what you’re saying is like saying a VW GTi 2.0T is the same as an A4, which it clearly is not.

The things that make the Solstice a perfect Pontiac make it a lousy Saab: low-cost engine, rearl drive, no practicality, low innovation. Simple and sexy, that’s what it is. Saabs are all about new technology (historically, if not recently) and they’ve always had the best traction you could get (ditto).

One things for sure, the Saabstice won’t sell up here in Boston, where even the characterless 9-3 absolutely litters the streets.

Moody, the price range i was thinking about for a ture to concept and then some low-production Aero X was 150,000 to 200,000. The limosine liberals would eat this up if they put that 400 hp pure ethanol engine. They’d just forget the fact that ethanol takes more energy (petroleum-based fuels) to produce than what the ethanol yields

Whoever just said that BMW uses the 7-Series platform for the Rolls-Royce Phantom is an complete and total asshat…

Mostly because the Phantom’s chassis is made entirely of aluminum and is alot bigger.