The sky's no limit for Saab

Evening Chronicle (Newcastle, England), Sept 26, 2008

Byline: By STEVE HUGHES

SWEDISH car company Saab has lifted the lid on what could be its next generation convertible, which will be seen for the first time at next month's Paris Motor Show.

It will be displayed as the 9-X Air concept car and is said to give a glimpse of what a future convertible from Saab could look like.

Featuring an innovative automatic folding roof arrangement, it uses canvas rather than steel in order to save weight and will come with a biofuel engine option based on a petrol unit of just 1.4-litres.

The most noticeable design feature is the pair of prominent rear pillars that curve upwards to mount the folding roof.

With the roof down, occupants are said to experience open-top motoring free from buffeting.

With the top up, the car looks like a conventional coupe.

It is fully automatic and folds in three small sections under a rear tonneau cover. The rear screen retracts automatically into the underside of the raised tonneau and then moves back into position to provide a complete glass surround for the cabin with the roof down.

This surround-glass feature, together with an active wind deflector on top of the windshield header rail, eliminates the need for a wind deflector. Separating the rear screen from the folding top also enables a larger glass area than is feasible with a soft top and integral screen.

In a further break with design convention, the 9-X Air dispenses with a boot lid. Instead, a storage compartment big enough to accommodate two golf bags slides out from underneath the rear light bar. To save weight it slides on rollers and underneath is a separate compartment for stowing smaller items.

Among the powerplants is a 1.4-litre engine that combines turbocharging, biofuels and hybrid technolog y.

Running on 85% bioethanol and 15% petrol, it generates 200bhp to give 0-60mph acceleration in eight seconds and CO2 emissions of just 107g/km.

Saab says it will be releasing more details of the car and the possible production timescale at the official unveiling at the Paris show on Thursday, October 2.

CAPTION(S):

INNOVATIVE ROOF - Saab's new 9-X Air concept car