Saab, the company with a reputation for safe and reliable automobiles, with a notable competition history is all set to unveil its new 9-X Air BioHybrid concept in October at the 2008 Paris auto show. Celebrating 25 years of convertibles, the 9-X Air BioHybrid is a step ahead of the 9-X BioHybrid Concept hatchback unwrapped last March at the Geneva Motor Show, in the development of an all-new Saab 9-1 to expand the lineup.
The car is billed as a design study, with a unique canopy top, wraparound windows, and a driver-centric cockpit. The gauges appear frozen in ice replacing the original concept’s closed roof with a flat-folding canopy top. The 9-X Air is a four-seater, two-door convertible styled and uses powertrain, a turbocharged 1.4-liter that runs on E85 bioethanol fuel, and it is coupled with hybrid technology producing 197bhp. It is a mild hybrid system, saving fuel with its start/stop capability, but cannot propel the vehicle on electricity alone. The mild hybrid system is expected to be on the market in GM vehicles in 2010 as the next generation of the system in such cars as the Saturn Vue and Chevrolet Malibu hybrids.

Not only this!! With more cars to be launched in near future, the brand is essentially seeing a real overhaul over the next 14 to 18 months as indicates Mr. Mark McNabb, GM’s North America & vice president in charge of the premium channel.

Via flylyf