Saab Aero X Concept

To get the right ambience on the night it unveiled the Aero X at the Geneva auto show, Saab decided to surround the car in walls of giant ice blocks and trucked in 60 tons of the stuff from northern Sweden. It nearly didn't make it, as there was a disagreement about import duties when the trucks crossed the border into Switzerland. Geneva in late February is plenty cold, so why the big fuss over Swedish ice? Partly because it had the right balance of clarity and fissures, reminiscent of the etched and layered glass used in the lamps and instruments of the Aero X. But partly because Saab, a brand seemingly headed for oblivion a year ago, at last has fresh confidence in its Swedish identity and its independence.

The Aero X exists solely because of that confidence. Not just within Saab's management, but all the way to the top of GM. Otherwise, the Detroit brass-hats would never have let the Swedes eclipse all their other divisions at Geneva.

The Aero X will never see production. It's a show car in the old-fashioned sense: a pure ideas machine, an attention-getter for the public, a motivator for the staff. Its exact form--the forward-opening pillarless canopy, the low-slung roof, the 23-inch rear wheels--is an impossible dream, but if they'd built something possible it would've been boring. That said, there are elements we will see in future Saabs. The new 9-5, due in 2009 on an Epsilon II FWD/AWD platform that willll also underpin new Chevys and Saturns, is now in full-size clay form. It uses the Aero X's nose, the distinctive curved hood crease, and similar forms along its flanks. The A-pillars will probably be black to replicate the canopy look. It's a fastback, too.

The design team was led by Anthony Lo, head of advanced design for GM Europe, a job he stepped up to, having held the same post at Saab itself for six years. "I was so familiar with Saab, it just felt like the right moment to get this car out," he says, his voice full of the relief of ending what must've been years of frustration as Saab languished. "We wanted to take Saab heritage and go a long way further. But not so far that the car would be like a spaceship. It had to be like a good sci-fi movie, something that takes your breath away but is also believable."

Alex Daniel, who headed the exterior design, explains further. "We did some much wilder sketches but pulled it back. People want a show car to relate to reality. If it's too wild no one really cares about it."