It’s been a fairly standard practice in the automotive industry to make every new iteration of a model slightly larger than its predecessor, but General Motors’ Saab division is looking to reverse that trend. In the face of record high fuel prices, Saab is looking to downsize its entire future lineup.
The next-generation Saab 9-3 was originally slated to ride on GM’s upper-medium Epsilon II architecture, but the Swedish automaker has given the go-ahead for a smaller Delta-based 9-3, according to Automotive News. The Delta platform is GM’s lower-medium platform and will underpin other GM small cars, such as the upcoming Chevrolet Cruze.
The 9-3’s switch to the Delta platform also means that the upcoming Saab 9-1 will have to downsize. Slotting in below the 9-3, the 9-1 will now likely ride on GM’s Gamma platform – the same that underpins the current Opel Corsa. Saab has yet to officially confirm the 9-1 will be Gamma-based, but Carl-Peter Forster, president of GM Europe and chairman of Saab Automobiles, called the notion “imaginable”.
In keeping with its new fuel-efficient theme, future medium and small Saabs will use turbocharged four-cylinder engines.
No word of the fate of the Saab 9-5, but it remains possible that it could use the larger Epsilon II platform.
