Shear English - A revived Saab is set to roll out a new-model offensive that includes its first SUV - the 9-4X - but it won't be available with popular diesel power when it arrives to Australia later this year. Instead, the Mexican-built mid-sizer will be powered by a choice of two GM Holden-built V6 engines to appeal to petrol-oriented US buyers - the Cadillac SRX-based vehicle's biggest target market.
A diesel-powered 9-4X was believed to be a hot topic at Saab's Trollhattan headquarters with the vehicle's sales success in Australia - and particularly in Europe -likely to be handicapped by the absence of an oil burner, which accounts for the majority of sales in the premium SUV segment.
"One of our challenges as a small company now is currency hedging and balancing currency risk, which gets quite difficult for us," says Saab Cars Australia managing director Stephen Nicholls. "We knew that we're building that car in the [North American] dollar zone, so we can sell it in the dollar zone to take away quite a bit of that risk".
The US market is expected to account for more than half the 9-4X's sales volume while Mr Nicholls points to the Chinese market as another opportunity for the 9-4X where SUV sales are booming. "Europe, Australia? Yes, there would be an opportunity for a diesel, but we just have to say that we're not playing in that half of the field, we're playing in this [petrol] half instead".
Saab will pitch the petrol V6-powered 9-4X against the likes of the Audi Q5, Lexus RX and Volvo XC60. Saab's national marketing manager Adrian Givoye also admits to being taken aback by BMW's aggressive pricing strategy of its all-new X3.
"Yes, diesel is number one in that market segment, but Lexus sells a decent number of vehicles purely based on their [petrol] V6 platform. The other Japanese brands such as Mazda's range-topping CX-9 and Nissan's Murano are still doing well, too."
The Commodore-based V6 engines will comprise a 195kW/302Nm 3.0-litre naturally aspirated unit and a range-topping 224kW/400Nm 2.8-litre turbocharged V6 as seen in the new 9-5 sedan. Both will be mated to a six-speed automatic transmission and Saab's XWD all-wheel-drive system. No official fuel economy figures have been announced.
To plug the diesel gap, Mr Nicholls spruiks the brand's forthcoming 9-5 wagon, the 'SportCombi', which arrives in showrooms around October mirroring the sedan's powertrain offerings.
"There are some people now who are looking at an SUV and saying, 'Actually, maybe I still want a car', and I think there could be a number of people who could be attracted to come back and look at a SportCombi diesel, if that's what they really want," says Nicholls.
"I wouldn't say that we've got it covered, but there are reasons to be optimistic that that will give us a chance to what we might've otherwise missed without the 9-4X diesel."
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