Saab 9-6x

[2o6]

I love reading about design proposals, and late-term stillborn projects and cars



I forgot this was a thing





The rebadged B9 Tribeca - Saab 9-6x

http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2011/07/the-once-and-future-saab-9-6x/

[giant_mtb]

Wow, I didn't even know they were still selling Tribecas.  Never see 'em around here.

[Rich]

Wow, I didn't even know they were still selling Tribecas. 

?  They don't, or at least it's not listed on the Subaru.com site

[68_427]

I loved the interior of the B9

[veeman]

When the B9 Tribeca first came out, Subaru heavily marketed it.  I remember commercials of it where an ugly as sin SUV was driving and passing other SUVs which would all turn into "Dust in the Wind."  I didn't understand what was so revolutionary about this SUV.  It only had AWD but all competing SUVs could also be ordered with AWD if so desired.  One of the few missteps by Subaru in America.

[Madman]

Another reminder of what could have been.

Along with the stillborn 9-3 Phoenix.






And the little 9-1, which was to have used engines from BMW's MINI subsidiary.

[ifcar]

When the B9 Tribeca first came out, Subaru heavily marketed it.  I remember commercials of it where an ugly as sin SUV was driving and passing other SUVs which would all turn into "Dust in the Wind."  I didn't understand what was so revolutionary about this SUV.  It only had AWD but all competing SUVs could also be ordered with AWD if so desired.  One of the few missteps by Subaru in America.

One of the other ads said something like "Drive like you've never driven." With that piece of advice being thrown around, thank goodness for its high safety ratings.

[Raza]

If the cars in this thread are an indication of what future Saab designs were actually going to look like, I'm almost glad they died before suffering the indignity.

[veeman]

If the cars in this thread are an indication of what future Saab designs were actually going to look like, I'm almost glad they died before suffering the indignity.

I agree.  The Saab 900, back before GM wrecked the company, was a great looking car.  They were expensive though and Mercedes and BMW had that market of expensive, unreliable, costly to maintain but beautiful, great driving, very safe in terms of crashworthiness for their time, cars.  Turning a Trailblazer into a Saab... the indignity.  No matter what GM did, the company was destined to die.  Too expensive and dynamically, they couldn't match the RWD BMWs or AWD Audis of that time period according to car mag reviews.  And they never had the panache of owning a Benz.