What is it?
Saab Aero X
What’s special about it?
A Pontiac Solstice-based reincarnation of the Sonett may not have panned out for Saab, but GM’s Swedish outpost hasn’t given up on the idea of offering a two-seater sports car down the road. In Geneva, Saab showed the Aero X concept, which explores future possibilities for design and performance.
I would like to see this car. No, I would like to DRIVE this car…
You don’t have to stare too hard at the Aero X to see the emphasis designers put on Saab’s aircraft heritage. Long, low and smooth-bodied, the Aero X looks like it would have an extremely low coefficient of drag.
Front-end design elements, including the three-port grille and oversized intakes, are more exaggerated than we’re accustomed to seeing on Saabs, but the family resemblance to the nose on the 2006 Saab 9-5 keeps them from seeming over-the-top. The smoked headlight lenses are particularly distinctive, and Lo says designers drew emphasis from the glass industry in southern Sweden where homegrown Saabs are built.
Elsewhere on the Aero X, subtlety goes out the window. Or, rather, around it. There are no A-pillars, just one curved expanse of glass. Getting inside the car is much the same maneuver as getting into a fighter jet, as the entire canopy pivots up and rearward.
Inside the Aero X, surface treatment is minimalist. There are no buttons or dials. Nor is there any wood trim or carpeting because, says Saab, you wouldn’t find such frills in a jet cockpit.
Surprisingly, though, the two-seater has plenty of cargo space, thanks to its double-deck hatch design. A conventional trunk area resides above the cargo floor, a pull-out drawer lives beneath it. “For rigidity purposes, we decided the floor had to be very high,” Lo told us, “so we created the drawer system below it.”
Engage the throttle, and you have 400 horsepower and 369 pound-feet of torque at your disposal, courtesy of a twin-turbocharged 2.8-liter V6. Usually, garden-variety six-cylinders don’t produce such big numbers, but this one runs on 100-percent ethanol. You see, ethanol has a higher octane rating than gasoline, allowing engineers to advance the ignition timing as on the 9-5 BioPower concept shown at this year’s L.A. Auto Show. Additionally, the compression ratio is raised to 12:1, compared to 9.5:1 on the 250-horse version used in today’s 9-3.
A seven-speed, sequential manual transmission with a dual-clutch setup, as in Audi’s DSG, feeds power to all four wheels via a permanent all-wheel-drive system. Saab’s computer simulations suggest that a 0-to-60-mph time of under 5 seconds would be possible.
Saab’s concept rides on its own purpose-built platform with a 110-inch wheelbase and an idealized 50/50 weight distribution. The suspension is a double-wishbone front/multilink rear design with electronic damping control, a bit of technology never seen on a production Saab. We’ve never seen wheels so massive, either — 22 inches in front, 23 inches in back.
