A Saab official made it clear that the 9-1X is not the Mini-fighter I wrote about here and in the May issue of Motor Trend. I knew that, already. First, the c-segment 9-1X is a larger car than a Mini-fighter, as it's based on the Opel/Saturn Astra platform. More importantly, the drawings I saw on the boards at GM were clearly of a car early in its development. I'm sure this Mini-fighter, which would be on a b-car platform, perhaps from Daewoo, hasn't been approved for production yet, nor has it been assigned a specific division.
If GM chooses the design with the Nomad-style profile, it almost certainly would have to be a Chevy (although Pontiac briefly sold a two-door wagon with a similar body in the mid-'50s). That would be a hard sell for a division designed to sell basic small cars like the Chevrolet Aveo.
So, the first thing is that I never expected to see the Mini-fighter as early as the Geneva show. If it appears as a concept, it could be built in time for the Paris show this fall, but it doesn't seem likely to make it to any show earlier than Detroit in January '09. Second, while it could morph into a kind of modern Saab 96-like car, it seems the best fit would be as an Opel/Saturn/Vauxhall.
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