Oct 12, 2022
Saab Phoenix concept. Rare sighting from before the shutdown.
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Saab Phoenix concept. Rare sighting from before the shutdown.
Saab PhoeniX concept:- D.O.A (Dead On Arrival)
Former Pininfarina intern and Bertone designer Jason Castriota, recruited in 2010 as Saab Automobile’s Executive Design Director. His ‘aeromotional’ design theme is inspired by Saab’s aviation roots and draws expression from Ursaab (which we covered a couple of days ago). We’ve come across some confusion of the concept renderings seen above of the revival Saab Sonett that it looks like the Saab PhoeniX concept. Let us clarify that it’s because the PhoeniX concept was the blueprint Sonett revival that was intended to be a production version of the PhoeniX. More clarification on this:- https://saabworld.net/wp/the-last-saab-9-1-sonett-and-9-3-designs-by-castriota/
By branding the PhoeniX-based sports car as a new Sonett, Saab was linking its future direction to its heritage. Deploying an innovative driveline, with an electrically-driven rear axle mated to a sophisticated 200 hp, 1.6-liter gasoline turbo engine. The result is an intelligent, hybrid all-wheel-drive. Saab bankruptcy in 2012 ended this project and it’s remnants sold to the highest bidder; National Electric Vehicle Sweden (NEVS) and when they too filed bankruptcy (covered 2 days ago), all this concept energy and effort weren’t taken up by it’s new Chinese owners.
Design language and propulsion:- ⬇️
Saab press release from February 2011 Saab PhoeniX concept: The Future is Already Here Aeromotional’ design inspired by Saab’s aviation root
Jason Castriota has been a busy man.
Stylish Saab 2+2 concept, designed to rival the Audi A5, planned prior to the company's collapse
The Saab That Could've Been
Though most of the final days of Saab's existence were laden with stories of the impending financial collapse, there was still some great design and engineering work going on, which was mostly hidden until now. From "The Story of the 9-3 Phoenix":
Jason Castriota’s mission from Saab was to design a car that captured the historical roots of the company while bringing out something new that could be based on the new flexible PhoeniX-platform that Saab had developed for a couple of years. Another criteria was that everyone needed to instantly see that the car was a Saab, without looking at the logo, while at the same time feel that the car was ground breaking and new. Having these criteria in mind you can understand the difficult job Jason was given, considering the long and important history of different designs that Saab has. To keep thing simple, Jason was given free reign to create a car within certain limitations and this is what he accomplished.
Read more about this great story at Saabsunited.com
Saab PhoeniX.
I Saw A Picture Of This In The New York Times, It Was An Article About Future Cars And Gas Usage. I Looked More Into The Vehicle/Concept. It's An Absolutely Beautiful Automobile, And Definitely A Different Look For Saab.