I was pushing my cart full of groceries to my car when I came across the Holy Grail of post-Millennial Saabs – this ever most obscure 9-4X. You may recall that one of my first posts here at CC was a Saab 9-4X Future CC on one that I spotted earlier this year. Since then I have seen several of these cars, but all sightings were of 9-4Xs that were either black or silver. This leads me to believe that they could have all been of these two exact cars, as all were in close geographic location.
I’m sad to say that I didn’t take down plate numbers to confirm this. Regardless, it’s exciting when I do see one of these. This is not just because of their rarity, but because I actually do like the styling of these cars – even if they are just warmed-over Cadillac SRXs. At least the SRX was a better donor-car than the 9-7X’s Trailvoyvadarainscender.
This production report I found says that only 457 Saab 9-4Xs were produced during the 2011 calendar year. Considering that 9-4X production started in February 2011, I think it’s safe to say that number is accurate. Even now that the 9-3 is back in production, given this car’s heavy GM underpinnings, I doubt we’ll see any more 9-4Xs coming off the assembly line. So keep your eyes peeled for one of these, 1 of 457 that is.
I have long wondered if SUV’s become 2040’s classic car equivalent of muscle cars today. The two-door Tahoe will be their Chevelle. The Trailblazer SS will be their Camaro SS. The Escalade will be their Buick Riviera. The Grand Cherokee SRT, their Challenger R/T. The Saab 9-7X Aero, their Roadrunner Superbird. And this car, their unknown AMC something-or-other.
It could happen.
I always wanted to see NASCAR change the bodies to full size SUVs for stock car racing. The cars running now you cannot tell them apart and the thought of Bristol on a hot summer night with 40 something Suburbans, Expeditions, Sequoias, etcetra running around it just makes me want to watch it.
there is a brown one at my local Buick dealer.
A well kept secret,I’d neither heard of or seen one.That’s what I like about this site,always something new to read about
Good find, Brendan! There is one around here as well somewhere, it is very elusive, only comes out after dark on a full moon….
Ugly looking thing but different I guess I’d never look at it parked anywhere, SUVs are just a blight on the landscape.
It’s funny how the badge-engineered Saabs are always reputed to be the best version of their donor platform (9-2x, 9-7x, 9-4x… I think a lot of people would say the same about the final 9-5, even though it was much more than badge-engineering).
So maybe Saab shouldn’t have been its own make but rather a GM option package. A semi-brand for people in the know, like FE3 or Z71.
“Sure, the Olds 98 seems like a boat, but you wouldn’t believe how it moves if you find one with the Saab package!”
[flees the hoard of pitchfork-wielding trolls…]
I think it may be more that the (our) general public is able to understand it better, i.e. no problem getting a 9-7 or probably even a 9-4 fixed almost anywhere (in the US at least), and the 9-2 is even easier.
I haven’t read enough foreign reviews about the badge-jobs to be able to compare to the prevailing opinions over here.
Reputed to be the best and being the best are different things. In the case of the 9-4x/SRX, GM reserved the most adequate engine for the Cadillac and stuck Saab with the ones nobody wanted.
How is that? They both offered the same 3.0 and 2.8TT. The SRX didn’t get the 3.6 until after Saab had gone out of production.
Without knowing exact production dates, I can only go by what I read in the magazines. There I read that GM stuck Saab with the two engines that buyers and reviewers found resistable. The turbo 2.8 was a laggy gas hog and the 3.0 na was lacking in torque for such a heavy vehicle.
“Without knowing exact production dates, I can only go by what I read in the magazines. There I read that GM stuck Saab with the two engines that buyers and reviewers found resistable. The turbo 2.8 was a laggy gas hog and the 3.0 na was lacking in torque for such a heavy vehicle.”
Come on dude. You can hate GM all you want, but at least admit when you’ve been wrong about something you think you may have read 3 years ago in a magazine.
The 2011 SRX and 9-4X were produced with the 2.8 TT and the 3.0. There were 570-something Saabs built both engines were optional. When the 2012 model year came out, Saab was no longer producing anything and Cadillac dropped the 2.8TT and 3.0 for the 3.6
Once in a while 30 seconds on wikipedia can be your fact check friend if you choose not to believe me. 🙂
We could talk of the one that got away and didn’t go further then clay models like the Saab 9-6x, a rebadged Subaru Tribeca with remeniscences of proposed 1962 DeSoto.
http://www.worldcarfans.com/111071835030/saab-9-6x-concept-unveiled—six-years-after-being-axed
I did not know about the 9-6X! The face is almost handsome compared to the original B-9…Farago at TTAC might have never become well-known with a prettier face….
This actually would have made sense for Saab except for the lack of a appropriate key placement. I test drove a 9-2X during the 2005 GM ‘Fire Sale’ – great looking Subaru and sure-footed but I needed more room.
As a Saabista, I was disappointed the 9-4X failed to decently launch in 2011 before Saab’s disappearance. I certainly would have looked seriously at one when I bought my car last summer. Not crazy about the blue tinted headlight things…
That’s hilarious that you posted this today. I saw a silver 9-4x today as well! In Kentucky. I believe there is a black one in town too. There used to be a decent sized Saab dealer here in Lexington, so I see new 9-5s somewhat frequently. I believe the dealer, which now sells Volvo, Cadillac and Subaru has one desolate 9-5 still sitting in the back collecting dust…
Yeah I actually have been seeing more 2011 9-5s around here in Massachusetts. The northeast was a big area for Saab sales. I don’t know if this is true, but I remember reading somewhere that Massachusetts accounted for the highest number of Saab sales.
Secor Saab here in CT still has one 95 left on the lot.
http://www.secorsaab.net/new-inventory/index.htm
95??
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ca/Saab_95_V4_1974.jpg
Or 9-5?
Mercedes-Benz of Boston also has a new, never purchased 2011 9-3 Convertible.
http://www.herbchambers.com/used/Saab/2011-Saab-9-3-16d4efc30a0a00640123ef320de12adb.htm
I saw this brown/taupe one about 3-4 months back
I’ve driven a few Saabs from a 2-stroke 96 to 99EMS and 99 Turbos. And then they became fairly common with 9-3’s and 9-5’s, and later the occasional Trollblazers and Saabarus. And I knew they sold these Saabillacs in Europe. But I never even knew this car was imported. I wonder if they never made it to the West Coast …
“I’ve driven a few Saabs from a 2-stroke 96 to 99EMS and 99 Turbos. And then they became fairly common with 9-3′s and 9-5′s, and later the occasional Trollblazers and Saabarus. And I knew they sold these Saabillacs in Europe. But I never even knew this car was imported. I wonder if they never made it to the West Coast …”
They were Mexican built ….
You are correct. They were assembled at GM’s large Ramos Arizpe plant in the Mexican state of Coahuila. Many of GM crossovers have been built here in the last decade and a half.
I didn’t realize these had even made it into production.
I like how these look too, as well as the SRX. One of the many unfortunate things about Saab’s demise is that they were building pretty good cars right at the end. I loved the 9-5 and wish they had stayed in business long enough for the production model 9-5 SportCombi to make it to dealerships.
The 9-3 is back in production?! What’s the story there?
Saw one of these during the mid-afternoon of 12-21-14 driving on Sauvie Island.