Other news from the motoring industry
An early glimpse of the SAAB 9.5 reveals a sleeker larger model
These are the clearest images yet of the next generation Saab 9-5 – and perhaps the best we will get prior to the car’s public appearance, pencilled in for later this year.
Since it is still undergoing testing, a lot of camouflage covers most of the important bits of the car, such as the character lines, shape of the rear and so on. Nevertheless, it can be made out that the roofline is much smoother as it sweeps to the rear, making it look almost coupé-like. Some styling
cues from the 9-4X Bio Power concept should also appear in the final design.
The 9-5 will gain some extra weight, height and length over the current model. The wheelbase is also being increased by 14cm to make the car a large model. It should fit nicely into its competition
cluster, which consists of cars such as the Mercedes-Benz E-Class, Audi A6 and Volvo S80.
A 2.0-litre petrol turbo engine making 210bhp will be sold with a choice of manual and automatic transmissions. A higher 2.8-litre V6 will be available in the European market while the US gets an even bigger 3.6-litre V6.
Diesel is expected as well as a hybrid model, provided parent company General Motors finds a buyer for the car firm. The public unveiling of the next 9-5 will happen at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September.
Emerging car markets have 'stopped in their tracks'
The motor industry is caught up in a catastrophe that has spread across the globe as even the key emerging markets that manufacturers had banked on for growth have now ground to a halt, according to Christian Streiff, chief executive of Peugeot-Citroën.
Streiff said he expects sales at Europe’s second-biggest volume carmaker to fall 20 per cent in 2009 and sees further pain in 2010, as there seems no end in sight to the sector’s crisis.
"What is striking at the moment is the worldwide catastrophe in the car industry because
the Brazilian market, the Chinese market and the Russian market have stopped in their tracks, just like the European market. That makes for a fall of over 20 per cent," Streiff said.
Streiff was speaking after signing a deal with the French government that provides €3 billion in preferential-rate financing for Peugeot as well as for domestic rival Renault, the conditions of which have met with criticism from other EU nations. In exchange for the government loans, Peugeot
and Renault promised to safeguard French jobs.
"The outlook for 2009 is terrible. The group is starting the year with a fall of more than 20 per cent compared to a year ago in all countries combined," Streiff said. "We are working on the assumption
that the market in 2010 remains difficult."