This is the new Saab 9-4X, the firm’s first dedicated SUV, caught testing virtually undisguised in Lapland.
The Saab 9-4X will not go on sale until early spring 2010, soon after the new Saab 9-5. But this test car gives us a good idea of its looks. So thin is its disguise that only the front and rear lights are fake, but the production car will use units very similar to the concept car’s.
Our spy shots also show the Saab 9-4X’s interior for the first time. Fitted with the steering wheel from an Opel Insignia (the Opel badge remains on this test hack), the cabin retains Saab’s characteristic mesh air vents with toggle controls and the night panel function, although everything else is new.
There is also a rotary switch to the left of the gear selector that controls the three-setting ESP.
Underneath the Saab-designed body sits GM’s TE platform, an Epsilon 2 chassis (used by the Insignia) modified for use in an SUV, although the engine remains transversely mounted.
This platform is shared with the new Cadillac SRX, and both cars will be built at GM’s Ramos Arizpe plant in Mexico.
Add your comment