Date: Fri, 09 Mar 2007 10:42:29 -0500 From: Fred W <malt_houndnospamo.com> Subject: Re: Why the number 9?
Fat Sam wrote: > johannes wrote: > >>Fred W wrote: >> >>>Dave Hinz wrote: >>> >>>>On Thu, 08 Mar 2007 16:54:45 GMT, Fat Sam >>>><samandjanetknoxnospamco.net> wrote: >>>> >>>> >>>>>I've wondered this for a while now. >>>>>What's the signifigance to the number 9 in Saabs naming convention? >>>>>All their cars seem to feature a number 9 in the title....900, >>>>>9000, 93, >>>>>95..... >>>> >>>> >>>>Saab numbered their models sequentially. So the Saab 91 was the >>>>"Safir" (link here: http://www.fcfk.com/safir/ ), the next thing on >>>>the design >>>>board was the Saab 92 ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saab_92 ) >>>> >>>>Once they got into cars, they reserved the 2-digit 9x range for >>>>them. >>>>The 99 turned into the 900. By then marketing folks were in charge >>>>rather then engineers, so it got a bit wodgy and we ended up with >>>>9-3 >>>>and 9-5 which have only vague meanings relative to the original >>>>naming scheme. >>>> >>> >>>Yes, I do believe that the marketing people looked at the BMW models >>>and said: This 9 competes with the 3 series so let's call it a 9-3. >>>That one competes with the 5 series, so 9-5. If not intentional, >>>what a huge coincidence, eh? >>> >> >>The new naming 9-3 and 9-5 is a bit ugly IMO, it doesn't even match >>what is written on the cars, that's more like 9 with a smaller 3 or 5 >>hovering above, easily seen as 93 and 95, or perhaps it is 729 and >>59049? Hence, total confusion. Added to that is that 900 and 9-3 >>models straddles between different shapes. > > > Really interesting stuff guys. Thanks for all the replies. > > Particularly interesting what you said Johannes, about the 9-3 and 900. > I have noticed that it's quite remarkably difficult to tell the difference > between an early 9-3 and a late 900. > Is it effectively the same car, but Saab just decided to re-badge it? > > There were a few other changes, but the sheet metal was essentially untouched. Here: http://www.saabnet.com/tsn/models/1999/ -- -Fred W
