The Saab 9-4X only stayed in production for a little more than a year before it was discontinued in late 2011 by Spyker N.V. – the company that General Motors had sold the Swedish premium brand to just months prior. The mid-size crossover’s brief production run meant that just 814 examples in total rolled off the production line at the GM Ramos Arizpe plant in Mexico, according to data obtained by the Saab Museum in Sweden.
With less than 1,000 units built, the Saab 9-4X is a rarer sight than most exotic cars, so we were a bit shocked to see one pop up for sale at a small dealership in Massachusetts this week.
The dealership, Universal Auto Repair and Sales, is asking $14,779 for this 2011 Saab 9-4X, which would normally be a high ask for a ten-year-old crossover, but we can see why they’d ask a little bit more for this rare piece of GM history. This is also a relatively well-kept example, carrying a clean CarFax report and showing just 85,195 miles on the odometer.
Power in the 9-4X came from a standard naturally aspirated 3.0L V6, which was rated at 265 horsepower and 223 pound-feet of torque. There was also the 9-4X Aero model, which came with a turbocharged 2.8L V6 engine producing 300 horsepower and 295 pound-feet of torque. This example may not have the more desirable turbocharged engine, but it’s the Premium trim level, so still comes well-equipped with navigation, a panoramic sunroof, keyless entry, keyless start, Bluetooth and a rear-seat entertainment system, among more.
These later Saab models were attractive vehicles, in our opinion, and while the brand was never very profitable under GM’s guidance (it actually lost $5,000 on every vehicle it sold during that time) we do wish the brand had survived – whether that be under GM’s guidance or Spyker’s.
Check out the listing at this link.
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Comments
That interior beats Chevys interior today
Was this built on the same platform as the Equinox? Or if not, what was it the sister car to?
SRX
Similar size to the Equinox but I believe it was developed with the Cadillac SRX.
Mechanically identical to the SRX and built at the same plant.
This vehicle was developed at the same time as the new Cadillac SRX was being developed except Saab made some modifications to the vehicle to ensure that it lived up to the reputation as the other vehicles that they had at that time. Just like when they developed the Saab 9-7 and 9-7X earlier. I still have a 2009 Saab 9-3 Sport Sedan today, my wife is now using it as her daily driver and I have a 2018 Buick Regal GS since I wanted something that was similar to my Saab.
JP454 and Jofa,
Isn’t the Equinox and SRX on the same platform?
Dan,
Equinox was Theta platform and SRX / 9-4X was Theta premium. Theta premium was a combo of Epsilon II and Theta. Equinox wheelbase was a couple inches longer than SRX / 9-4X.
We owned a bunch of pre-GM Saabs back in the day. Reliability wasn’t that good, but they were fun cars. And I feel both the interior and exterior styling have held up quite well compared to other vehicles of the same era. Take a 2001 Saab 9-5 for instance… with just a bit of revision, it wouldn’t look totally out of place today.
GM had a hard time capturing Saab design untl just before bankruptcy. This is a sharp looking vehicle.
Saab was a wasted opportunity for GM. It never had an adequate dealership structure in Europe or the US & should have been sharing floor space with Opel in Europe and Cadillac in the US.
It’s a pity GM can’t, like Hummer, revive Saab. Saab by Cadillac? Buick? GMC? Saab would be a great way for GM to sell EVs in Europe, too
I don’t believe that GM owns the name any more. I think they sold it to a Chinese company. There was (is?) supposed to be a Saab EV sold only in Europe.
SAAB the defense contractor owns the name. They let the car company use it after they parted ways but pulled rights after spyker went caput. The tech either remained with Gm or was sold to others.
The only way we could see SAAB as a nameplate again would be if the defense contractor allowed it, as they do for SAAB/Scania big rigs.
Had a SAAB 9-5. Great car – ahead of its time in interior, interior space, and ride quality was good. However, reliability a junk box, and an expensive junk box to fix at the time. Never again…