Press Report : MINI engines to be used in Saab 9-3 replacement

Rick Kranz, Automotive News Europe, 29th September, 2010

TROLLHATTAN, Sweden – BMW AG and Saab Automobile AB signed an agreement today for BMW to supply engines for Saab’s next-generation 9-3. Under the agreement, BMW will supply Saab with a four-cylinder 1.6-liter turbocharged gasoline engine starting in 2012.

The engine is currently used in the MINI and will be adapted to meet Saab’s specific requirements – Saab’s version is expected to produce 200 horsepower.

Making the announcement at Saab’s headquarters, Saab Chairman Victor Muller said the agreement ‘improves our business plan and shows we are in charge of our destiny. This will raise the profile and the premiumness of the Saab brand.” The engine supply contract was signed here by Muller, Saab CEO Jan Ake Jonsson and BMW board member for sales and marketing, Ian Robertson.

The engine will be assembled in BMW’s Hams Hall plant in England. A feasibility study is being conducted for an E85 version. The contract’s length and engine volume were not announced but Jonsson said this ‘is a long-term contract for hundreds of thousands of engines.”

Jonsson added: “BMW’s engines and their fuel savings innovations are widely regarded as a benchmark in the premium segment.”

(This agreement) improves our business plan and shows we are in charge of our destiny. This will raise the profile and the premiumness of the Saab brand.” Victor Muller, Chairman, Saab Automobile AB

Asked why Saab isn’t developing its own engine, Jonsson said ‘it is too expensive to develop your own engine.” Saab currently purchases engines from General Motors Co. and Fiat.

Robertson said BMW will continue to seek buyers for its engines, a strategy started in 2007. BMW AG has an agreement to supply a six-cylinder diesel engine to Carbon Motors in the United States. Engine deliveries will begin later this decade and will be used exclusively in a purpose-built car Carbon Motors wants to sell to law enforcement agencies.

Robertson said that BMW is exploring other opportunities with Saab, ‘but it is too early to say anything.”

“The Saab 9-3 model was built on an Opel Vectra, which was quite a downgrade. A deal with BMW would help the brand,” Keijser Capital trader Peter Jurgens said earlier this week when reports surfaced of an imminent engine deal.

Jonsson told Reuters he still expects Saab to sell about 45,000 cars this year and about 80,000 units in 2011.

[Source: Automotive News Europe]

[Editor’s Notes: 1) Reuters contributed to this report. 2) Any AROnline readers wishing to learn more about the Saab 9-3 replacement should read two articles which were published by Autocar on the 21st June, 2010: New Saab 93 to rival Audi A3 and Next Saab 93’s tech revealed. ]

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Clive claims that his interest in the BMC>MG story dates back to his childhood in the 1960s when the family’s garage premises were leased to a tenant with an Austin agency. However, back in the 1920s and 1930s, his grandmother was one of the country’s first female Garage Proprietors so cars probably run in his genes!

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