If you've been reading this blog for a while, you'll remember when I was struck by the resemblance between the Saab 9-2 and my Subaru wagon. I got some pictures of the Saab and compared it to my car and came to the conclusion that it was, in fact, a Subaru sold as a Saab. Thus the Saabaru moniker was born. Yesterday I was coming home from school and saw what I thought was a Chevy Blazer in the left turn lane facing me, except it had a Saab badge on the hood. Well, today I did some research and discovered that the SUV I saw was actually a Chevy Trailblazer reskinned as a Saab. Thus is born the Saabrolet moniker."Saab Cars has never made a dime of profit for Saab-Scania or GM after the company took it off the Swedish aerospace company's hands. Today's Saab lineup today: a 9-3 made from a GM platform that carries the Chevy Mailbu and others; a 9-7, an SUV spun off the Chevy Trailblazer; the 9-2, a reskinned Subaru WRX. And the 9-5, which is the last of the platforms originated by Saab's Swedish engineers."
(Quote from http://www.businessweek.com/, their "The Auto Beat" article dated January 10, 2006)
Saab's current 4-car lineup :
1. The 9-2 or Saabaru, exactly the same thing as my Impreza Wagon.
2. The 9-3 or Saabrolet, not exactly a Malibu, but an offspring of it.
3. The 9-5, the only real Saab left.
4. The 9-7 or another Saabrolet, basically the same thing as the Chevy Trailblazer
I don't know about the rest of you, but I love the new choices we have since all these "cross-the-pond" mergers. We can now pay $20,000 more for a Ford Crown Vic badged as a Jaguar, a Chevy Impala in Saab clothing or the really cool Chrysler Pacifica prancing aorund as a Mercedes or, just to annoy Danny, as a Jeep Compass. Yup. We're much better off than when there was a real difference between foreign and domestic cars and trucks. Much Better.
