2006 Saab 9-3 2.0t on 2040-cars

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Vampire Weekend burns for Saab

Or is it the other way around?
Could Vampire Weekend be trying to tell me something? A just-launched music video for the indie rock band's new single Diane Young features what looks like a pretty mint black Saab 900 Turbo Convertible being torched in slow-motion. In fact, with the exception of a brief, flickering cameo by a 900 three-door of a similar vintage, that's all that there is to the nearly three-minute long video. It's both sad and oddly beautiful.
Coincidentally, I have a similar-looking turbocharged black Saab convertible sitting in my garage, and I've been reluctantly pondering its sale this very week. Admittedly, mine is a later model (2001 9-3 Viggen), but tri-spokes and more tapered rump aside, it looks eerily identical. And while mine isn't mired in flames (I love it too much to torch it), through no fault of its own, it's been sitting motionless far too regularly. Thankfully, I see a better future for it than the droptop seen above.

China's Evergrande says it will start making electric vehicles in June

BEIJING — Chinese property firm Evergrande Group will start producing its first electric vehicles in June as part of a goal to become the world's largest new energy vehicle (NEV) company within the next three to five years, according to its chairman. Hui Ka Yan made the comments at a conference in the eastern city of Tianjin over the weekend, according to a statement published on the company's website on Tuesday. "The new energy automobile industry has a huge market prospect. Evergrande has completed the entire industrial chain layout in the field of new energy vehicles," Hui said. He also said that Evergrande plans to start selling its first electric vehicle model globally "soon," which will use electric car production technology from Swedish car makers Saab and Koenigsegg, and drive systems from Netherlands' e-Traction, according to the statement. Evergrande, China's second-largest property developer by sales, has been aggressively expanding into the automotive space in search of new areas of growth as the Chinese property market slows. Its subsidiary, Evergrande Health, invested in vehicle manufacturer National Electric Vehicle Sweden AB (NEVS), which picked up the assets of Saab, and Chinese auto battery maker Shanghai CENAT New Energy Co this year. It is also the majority investor in Swedish super car brand Koenigsegg. Not all of Evergrande's investments have gone smoothly, however. Last year, Evergrande Health bought 45 percent of Chinese electric vehicle firm Faraday Future as part of a $2 billion plan but the deal eventually turned sour. The companies have since ended their legal fight. Sales of NEV vehicles have remained a bright spot in China's car market, jumping 61.7 percent in 2018 to 1.3 million vehicles even as the overall car market contracted for the first time since the 1990s. China's biggest auto industry association predicts NEV sales to hit 1.6 million this year. Auto News Green Plants/Manufacturing Koenigsegg Saab NEVS

Are orphan cars better deals?

Most folks don't know a Saturn Aura from an Oldsmobile Aurora. Those of you who are immersed in the labyrinth of automobilia know that both cars were testaments to the mediocrity that was pre-bankruptcy General Motors, and that both brands are now long gone. But everybody else? Not so much. By the same token, there are some excellent cars and trucks that don't raise an eyebrow simply because they were sold under brands that are no longer being marketed. Orphan brands no longer get any marketing love, and because of that they can be alarmingly cheap. Case in point, take a look at how a 2010 Saturn Outlook compares with its siblings, the GMC Acadia and Buick Enclave. According to the Manheim Market Report, the Saturn will sell at a wholesale auto auction for around $3,500 less than the comparably equipped Buick or GMC. Part of the reason for this price gap is that most large independent dealerships, such as Carmax, make it a point to avoid buying cars with orphaned badges. Right now if you go to Carmax's site, you'll find that there are more models from Toyota's Scion sub-brand than Mercury, Saab, Pontiac, Hummer, and Saturn combined. This despite the fact that these brands collectively sold in the millions over the last ten years while Scion has rarely been able to realize a six-figure annual sales figure for most of its history. That is the brutal truth of today's car market. When the chips are down, used-car shoppers are nearly as conservative as their new-car-buying counterparts. Unfamiliarity breeds contempt. Contempt leads to fear. Fear leads to anger, and pretty soon you wind up with an older, beat-up Mazda MX-5 in your driveway instead of looking up a newer Pontiac Solstice or Saturn Sky. There are tons of other reasons why orphan cars have trouble selling in today's market. Worries about the cost of repair and the availability of parts hang over the industry's lost toys like a cloud of dust over Pigpen. Yet any common diagnostic repair database, such as Alldata, will have a complete framework for your car's repair and maintenance, and everyone from junkyards to auto parts stores to eBay and Amazon stock tens of thousands of parts. This makes some orphan cars mindblowingly awesome deals if you're willing to shop in the bargain bins of the used-car market. Consider a Suzuki Kizashi with a manual transmission. No, really.