irishcar.com

12 July 2002: Saab Ireland is hoping to sell close to 1,000 units of the new 9-3 Sport Sedan next year, with about 150 of these being diesel powered versions. The car is being launched in Ireland in late September.

That's a siginficant increase on the 500-600 units of the outgoing model in Ireland over the last year.

The new Saab is built on the newest GM Epsilon platform, which also underpins the latest Opel Vectra, but in the Saab car is considerably more sporty in execution.

That's what the essence of the new 9-3 is, sporty. And in as many markets as it can use the title, Sport Sedan will be the term that brings the old 9-3 into a new and very focussed market.

(In Ireland, perhaps we'll get it called the Sport Saloon, so that it is not confused with an archaic term for a carriage carried by people. Though Saab HQ could well counter that by mentioning that a saloon is a Wild West pub!)

Power for the new car comes from a series of new 2-litre all-aluminium turbocharged petrol engines, ranging in output from 150bhp-210bhp. A 2.2-litre turbodiesel outputting 125bhp is also to be available.

The new car is aimed straight at young professionals in the 35-45 year-old executive bracket, engaged in business and commerce, whose car of choice may currently be a BMW 3-series. The new Saab's targets are also the Audi A4, which has been picking up sales towards a 40 percent increase in Ireland in 2002. The Volvo S60 is also in its sights.

Introducing the car to Irish motoring journalists in Stockholm last night, Saab President Peter Augustsson noted that Saab is this year heading for an 11 percent rise in sales in a market that has declined by 7.5 percent.

He said the long-term intentions of Saab are to focus on more exciting products and the 9-3 was just the first in a line of new models from the company. The overallplan is to bring annual sales up to 200,000, which would put the division in 'sustainable profit'.

And a Saab USA representative told IrishCar.com last night that the new 9-3 will go a long way towards bringing the current 40,000 sales of Saabs in the US up to 70,000 by 2005.

Prices for Ireland have not yet been decided.