Geneva 2011: slight facelift for the 9-3

The 9-5 scored a small break with other models in its style and its new vintage, the 9-3 will be entitled to a little facelift to approach it (a little). Nothing too revolutionary to predict as the most important innovation, a more massive grille visible on this copy red picture taken in its production unit just before the current model in the catalog.

The only visible cliché is currently not very explicit, but let us hope to have more news soon that if restyled Saab 9-3 has actually show next March in Geneva.

New Saab 9-5 SportCombi: single image to begin

This version of the Saab renewal will have its world premiere in the upcoming Geneva Motor Show in early March.

While his presentation had been announced for this afternoon , it was not until a few extra hours to explore this unique official photo available yet. A photo, however, sufficiently eloquent to realize that the SportCombi seems to be an aesthetic success.

Orders will be open from March when the first deliveries will take place from September to the declination which reproduce the basic features of the sedan.

Top Gear: Saab 9-X Air Concept

Saab may have stagnated into GM-branded middle-of-the-roadness in recent years, but when the engineers from Trollhatten are left to their own devices, they can still come up with some pretty nifty technology.

Like this, the 9-X Air Concept. Forget the standard Saab concept face and eminently sensible 1.4-litre turbocharged engine (E85 powered, naturally) and take a look at that roof instead.

The Air Concept is, essentially, Saab's guess at what the next-gen 9-3 convertible will look like when it goes on sale around 2013, and it features a very cool folding soft-top roof.

There's a two-piece fabric cover with a solid glass rear screen, which descends when the roof is folded back and then raises back up to cut out turbulence in the cabin.

Shunning a fashionable folding hard top is good news for weight, while a glass screen eliminates the need for one of those huge cumbersome deflector-thingies that fit over the rear seat. Neat, eh?

Saab reckons the added lightness should allow the Air Concept to hit 60mph in just over eight seconds while returning a healthy 107g/km of CO2.

We'll get to fiddle with the Air Concept's clever roof at the Paris show early next month, if the Saab engineers let us near it...