Saab Wants to Buy the R56 Platform
Hot on the tail of our story about the 3rd generation MINI codename, the F56, Autocar is reporting this morning that ailing automaker Saab has made “an audacious bid to buy the rights to the outgoing BMW MINI platform.” The Swedish automaker wants to get into the premium small car game, but without all that pesky engineering.
Having already licensed the current generation of 1.6L engines, it looks like Saab just needed a car to put them in. The target Saab model would be the 9-1, and be intended to compete against the F56 generation MINI and the Audi A1. It’s a bold move, but Saab will have to survive as a company long enough to take delivery of the new platform in 2012. With recent plant stoppages and suppliers complaining about non-payment for parts, Saab is clearly in trouble. Would a MINI clone be too little too late? Perhaps. I also wonder just how competitive a six year-old chassis and engine platform could really be against contemporary offerings from Audi, and especially the evolved MINI — a car likely to be lighter, more efficient and more powerful than the current generation. It seems Saab might only be able to compete on price, but if that’s the strategy, can they actually build a “premium” car that’s significantly price competitive? Time will tell.
<p>Does not sound like a formula for success, in fact it sounds much like what GM imposed on them that ran them into the ground.</p>
<p>I think the swedes would be better served to develop their own tech. BMW fans like to dis Saab and Volvo, but the swedes are much more practical engineers than the germans, hence the reputation for long lived high milage cars.</p>
<p>I think the R56 platform has some life left for sure and with Saab in the situation that it is in good for them. They’re reaching out for help and trying to find the best they can find for their dollars to stay alive. I really want to see them survive.</p>
<p>Yeah, would like to see them survive as well. The R56 platform was way ahead of the game I feel and certainly has years left in it. Fule economy wise, etc.
However until Saab can bring something to production based around it … well, it might be too late.</p>
<p>Yeah, would like to see them survive as well. The R56 platform was way ahead of the game I feel and certainly has years left in it. Fule economy wise, etc.
However until Saab can bring something to production based around it … well, it might be too late.</p>
<p>I guess all the R53 superfans should have purchased the R53 platform when MINI was done with it. I guess this the only way Saab can build a MINI fighter, now all they need is a time machine!</p>
<p>I guess all the R53 superfans should have purchased the R53 platform when MINI was done with it. I guess this the only way Saab can build a MINI fighter, now all they need is a time machine!</p>
<p>Actually the R53 and R56 platforms are pretty much the same. The R56 has some added rigidity and in total (the R56) lighter.</p>
<p>SAAB has something that Mitsubishi (and now Honda) have that could be much more aggressively underscored with much more imaginative advertising and effective marketing — their aircraft lineage. This is particularly true for SAAB. Of course, I recognize that there is also an aircraft link with BMW/RR that MINI could market if necessary. Obviously, management at SAAB has failed to effectively underscore this potentially powerful connection. I do not think that Swedish automotive engineers/designers (see Volvo C30) are lacking anything that a well conceived and executed ad campaign could not make fly successfully. I also do not think investing in retro MINI technology is the answer. The answer is for SAAB to do its own thing and to possibly collaborate with another manufacturer, including MINI to develop its own distinctive product rather that recycle a soon-to-be dinosaur platform.</p>
<p>Actually SAAB used to heavily advertise on U.S. television attempting to exploit their aircraft heritage… “BORN FROM JETS” they said. It was a laughable campaign because there was nothing about the cars by that time that was especially sexy or interesting. (I knew a SAAB fanatic at that time who was revolted by the direction the brand had taken). I am personally skeptical that that heritage means much of anything in either a literal or romantic sense to today’s customer — is there a single thing about a modern SAAB with is borrowed from a jet? I doubt it.</p>
<p>Mitsubishi’s aircraft heritage is even more problematic. “WE BUILT THE ZERO AND BOMBED PEARL HARBOR WITH IT” doesn’t seem like a good approach to the U.S. market… but I could be wrong.</p>
<p>They can change that to, “Saab, Re-Born from MINI!”</p>
<p>I think it would be competitive enough. The reviews of the Audi A1 have hardly been stellar, and remember it’s just a tarted up VW Polo, with the same crappy suspension.</p>
<p>SAAB – Made from MINI leftovers.</p>
<p>Somewhat Audaciously Almost British</p>
<p>The R56 is a mature design. The bugs in the beast have been, mostly, squashed. The engine design has been optimized. A little development money could be spent to tweak the design for a new market segment. If the factory equipment and tooling come with the deal, Saab might just make a killing.</p>
<p>The R56 is a practical design. It’s relatively fuel efficient. Saab can probably tweak down the price and feed the demand for a stylish, inexpensive car — just like the 1950’s Mini.</p>
<p>The parts suppliers are in place, they just need to re-route the ships to Stockholm.</p>
<p>While I concur that a Mini re-branded as a Saab might be a challenge to market to enthusiasts, there is an argument to be made that Saab might be on to something. Remember the old air cooled VW bug? They were making that car until 2003, all over the world.</p>
<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_Beetle" rel="nofollow ugc">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_Beetle</a></p>
<p>Hey BMW… be sure to get a Cashier’s Check from Saab.</p>
<p>Could we see a MINI based Sonett? I guess we can hope not…</p>
<p>If SAAB was going after the mass market, it wouldn’t be a such good move. But they could develop a quirky premium car out of it and do well – the sort of market that they appealed to before GM bought them.</p>
<p>They really have little choice – it would take too long and be too expensive for them to develop their own platform that would meet all of the current regulations. And being based on an older platform isn’t neccesarily a bad thing – the Ford Fusion is based on the previous generation Mazda 6.</p>
<p>No, I’m holding to this would never do SAAB any good in the long run. They have to engineer their own products, invest in them what is unique about their culture, and sell the cars on that basis. Volvo has managed to continue to do that, and Saab must do the same. They’ve already gone down the road of recycled GM platforms, SaabUVs, Saabarus, and Saablancias. These have never been successful for them.</p>
<p>If you don’t think the Swedes are successful industrialists, and excellent engineers you are not looking hard enough. They have one of the most efficient construction industries in the world if not the most, and you’ve been living in a cave if you’ve not encountered IKEA in your travels. The Germans by comparison are engineering naval gazers, needlessly complicating things because its elegant, or simply because they can. I think Saab needs to embrace and proceed on their uniqueness. Come up with their own B class.</p>
<p>A Saab using an old MINI platform will still likely handle better than most current cars. Take the inspiration from the classic 900 – unique styling and practicality; make it under 19k and you’ve got a hit.</p>
<p>We’d love to see a ‘new’ 96 sedan/coupe and 95 wagon and I think the R56 would make an excellent base for those.</p>