WardsAuto talks to Saab about the new 9-4X

WardsAuto has had a talk with Saab's Anders Svensson about the new Saab 9-4X. As we previously have been told, there are no plans for a diesel option for Europe. The car will only come with V6 petrol engines:

“You never know what can happen, but there is no current plan” for a 9-4X diesel, says Anders Svensson, Saab’s vehicle line executive.

Svensson also tells WardsAuto that there are no current plans to replace the V6 2.8 turbo with the new V6 3.6 litre:

Saab also will continue to use the 2.8L V-6 for the 9-4X and other models, despite GM’s decision to dump the engine from the SRX. GM Holden in Australia builds the engine, and the U.S. parent uses it elsewhere globally, but Cadillac will offer a 3.6L direct-injection V-6 as optional on the SRX in ’12. 

The car was developed together with the Cadillac SRX by an international team:

The 9-4X did benefit from GM’s decision to bring Saab engineers onboard early in the development of the Theta Epsilon premium platform to offer some European flavor.

“This was done the right way,” Svensson says. “Much better than in the past, where there were silos for (GM’s global) regions. This was an international team.”

 Svensson also tells us that the spirit is high in Trollhättan:

 “We spent one year on a rollercoaster in the dark,” he recalls. “You didn’t know the next turn, or if you were headed up or down, and that was very, very hard on morale. Over this last year, it was a big, big difference. You don’t have to convince anyone why sometimes we have to do a little bit extra hours or effort.”