Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Would reviving the Viggen help or hurt Saab?



Viggen is loosely translated from Swedish to mean "torque steer that will bust your elbows." Actually, Saab borrowed the Viggen moniker from a fighter jet for a top-dog version of the 9-3 that bowed in 1999. The Saabophiles at Turbonines have been dreaming as of late about a new Viggen, and they've even got Photochops to illustrate their points. The basic premise is that the "Hirsch Edition" Saabs being created for the German market carry plenty of even higher-end dressing up than the TurboX range topper we get here in the States, and it'd merely be a matter of diverting some of those vehicles this way with some new badging. We've tried the TurboX and mostly liked it, and Turbonines goes on to advocate for installing some of these goodies in ports, which would further reduce federalization costs. Of course, no matter how you slice it, the only-600-in-the-US TurboX can still be had, so adding another vehicle to Saab's lineup that would occupy the mid-$40,000 price point and get its teeth bashed in by Audis and BMWs might not be a smart move for GM's tiniest of sellers.

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