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Saab has halted development of the next-generation 9-3 while company strategists consider a plan to build the new model on a smaller platform.
GM insiders say that pressure from upcoming fuel economy and CO2 emission regulations in Europe and the US have forced Saab - and owners General Motors - to look at radically downsizing the model.
The new 9-3 may be built on a version of GM’s upcoming ‘Global premium compact’ platform, said senior Saab sources. This chassis also underpinned the Saab...Read the full article

I know Saab are at the mercy of their GM owners but they do seem to be the masters of procrastination. At a time when their fellow Swedes Volvo worry about their 3-series rival being too small Saab decide to make their 3-series rival smaller still. Does it mean we have to put up with the current 9-3 for even longer? Their cars seem to have SL-rivalling life-spans and are therefore subject to Rover-rivalling facelifts. It's a shame but we seem to be back to the days when the 99 got longer and longer in line with its lifespan, slowly turning into the 900 with its concertina bumpers and mad overhangs. And their imminent shot in the arm is a mid-size SUV I mean crossover I mean truck. Wooly thinking or what?

Wolsley you have great humour in your reply and I have to say you are totally right on your assessment. 

So it's official then, Saab as a brand, no, more importantly as an identity is essentially dead, thanks to Americans who can't see beyond their noses.

 

Saab is dead, long live Saab.

Saab is dead, and good riddance.  They have given us nothing but rubbish all my life

So you were born some time after about 1992 then? 

You're an idiot. Saab have long done the best they can with very little development funds, and they're far from "dead". The facelifted 9-3 is a perfectly decent car, and much faster and better equipped than the opposition when you factor in the easily available discounts

The clean-sheet new 9-5 is imminent, and should be a fine car, and they're finally expanding from the limitations of a two-model range within the next two years, with the 9-1.