Filed under: Ethanol, Flex-Fuel, Saab, Geneva Motor Show
Geneva '08 Preview: More Saab concept details trickling out
Details continue to trickle out the concept that Saab will unveiling in Geneva next week, although images are still restricted to the one shown above. It's now being reported that the car will be called the 9-X
Update: It was just pointed out to me that the source article actually calls the concept 9-X BioHybrid, rather than BioPower which implies that the BioPower engine is paired up with a hybrid system. That would probably be GM's mild hybrid setup since the Two-Mode would probably be too large to fit in what is supposed to be a small car.
Gallery: Saab Aero X concept
[Source: World Car Fans]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
1985 Gripen 7:58PM (2/29/2008)
I highly doubt the "X" will be in the eventual name of this car but we'll see. "X" in Saab nomenclature is reserved for all-wheel-drive (or Saab's revolutionary "cross-wheel-drive" (XWD) system) applications. This car is slated to come in below the 9-3, so I doubt they could make an XWD version inexpensive enough to sell in any quantities. Perhaps the concept will have a hybrid engine and therefore technically be AWD.
The Saab BioPower 100 concept (http://www.trollhattansaab.net/archives/2007/03/saab_biopower10_1.htm)_ used E100 (pure ethanol) to eek 300 bhp out of a 2-liter inline-4-cylinder turbocharged engine. That's 150 bhp/liter! Prior to that they showed a "BioPower Beast" concept whose 2.3-liter turbocharged inline-4-cylinder engine output 310 bhp while running on E85 (135 bhp per liter).
http://www.trollhattansaab.net/archives/2006/01/the_biopower_be.html
There's no reason to believe a turbocharged 1.4-liter 4-cylinder Saab engine won't be able to output around 190 bhp running on E85 and if it has a hybrid system, even more.
Reply
1985 Gripen 8:05PM (2/29/2008)
As a follow-up to my last comment, the engine in this concept is likely to be direct-injected, rather than port-injected like the prior BioPower concepts so it'll probably be closer to 200 bhp when running on E85 even w/o a hybrid assist system.
Saab has also been put in charge of GM's global dual-clutch transmission development (BMW buy theirs from Borg-Warner and Volvo buy theirs from Getrag), so if they develop it in time that should also help increase fuel economy of the production model.
Reply