Five minutes with Peter Augustsson, Saab chairman, president and CEO - International Trends - Brief Article - Interview

Automotive Industries, April, 2002

Peter Augustsson wears quite a few hats these days. Besides holding the top three jobs at Saab Automobile AB he's also a General Motors Europe vice president

Underneath all the titles Augustsson has an exciting but tough job. He's charged with leading a Saab renewal that, in the words of GM Europe president Mike Burns, will see more products in the next five years from Saab then they've had in the last 25.

One of the most important -- the new 9-3 -- hits dealerships later this year. Augustsson recently spoke with Automotive Industries about new products, the importance of diesel engines and the tough global market.

Q. What kind of variants will we see in the new 9-3 family?

A. Today in the 9-3 range we have three entries. Going forward we will have more than three entries. We will for sure have a convertible. But then the total range will cover what we have today but will also add variants.

Q. What elements from the concept 9-3X will make it onto the production 9-3?

A. Maybe 30 to 40 percent of what you see you will see in production cars going forward. You will see one entry (in the range) coming as a crossover type vehicle. One entry will have AWD but otherwise (the vehicles will be) traditional front-wheel cars.

Q. Has the addition of the diesel engines helped the 9-5 in Europe?

A. In the U.K. the diesel is very, very important as it is in France, Italy, Belgium and so on. The higher up in size and also the higher premium segments the higher the diesel penetration is. I guess we will sell somewhere between 10,000 to 15,000 cars a year with the diesel in the 9-5 segment

Q. Was Saab caught off guard by the diesel demand in the last couple of years?

A. We have been forced to focus more on what we are doing with new products and financially. We needed to prioritize and get out the new range of 9-3s. We have known the diesel market has come, so to speak. We are not totally surprised. In some markets diesel has taken off quicker than what we thought I think everyone was surprised in a way.

Q. How do things look for 2002?

A. In the later part of this year we will come with the new 9-3. It won't have much impact on this year because of the changeover but it will have a substantial impact on next year moving forward. From a market viewpoint I think this year is very uncertain. But we have some tools that will hopefully bring the market higher. My guess is that we will have 130,000 to 135,000 cars for the year.