Watching any of the media this holiday season, the bad news after bad news makes anyone want to find a respite. When it comes to Saab, for us it means a preference for imagining what could or should be rather than what may not be. So our minds turn to better days and one word comes to mind most quickly… Viggen. The idea of a new Viggen is not terribly novel in the land of Saab enthusiasts – most have probably already wished for it. However, we’ve taken the time to throw together a few computer-generated images of what a current 9-3 Viggen might look like and devised a way that it could be brought to market with low development cost – important in these times. Next, we also throw around the idea of a next-generation 9-3 Viggen and even a Viggen family of Saabs. Now we know a new Viggen is likely the last thing our friends in Trollhattan need to wory about, but perhaps the following can offer just a bit of an escape.

First, a little history… Introduced in 1999, the Saab 9-3 Viggen was the modern highwater mark for performance from Trollhattan. Named after the Saab JA-37 Viggen fighter jet, the Viggen was sold in 2-door, 5-door and convertible configurations, with a 2.3-liter four-cylinder engine making 238-hp and 258 lb. ft. of torque. Naturally, the cars were front-wheel drive as that’s all Saab offered at the time. Torque steer was not surprisingly prominent, but that wasn’t anything a rescue kit couldn’t fix. The Viggen had decidedly bold looks and was sold in far-from-conservative colors like Lightning Blue or Monte Carlo Yellow. And, were you a dedicated Saabophile or simply a general car enthusiast, you probably knew of the Viggen . The yellow and blue badged 9-3 was sold for just three short years, but in that time the Viggen name went further than anyone may have expected in broadening Saab’s appeal beyond the expected brand enthusiasts.


Multiple levels of performance are a staple marketing strategy within the showrooms of competitive brands. At Audi there’s ‘S’ and ‘RS’. At Subaru there’s ‘WRX’ and ‘STi’. Placing a Viggen model above the Aero would help add to the depth of Saab’s core product – the 9-3. It would also get as much, if not more, attention as the Turbo X and do so with a name that would resonate with younger buyers. Likely few in the rally generation born of Playstation know the Saab 99 was a pioneer in turbocharging nor what the letters SPG denote.

It’s important to note… a new Viggen wouldn’t have to be an RS 4 competitor. Audi has recently arrived from a long-faught, decade-long comeback and has built up some serious hardware. Saab is just beginning its own comeback and has fewer resources. You’ve got to walk before you can run though and leveling a Viggen against the likes of the BMW 335i, Audi S4 makes more sense for Saab.


So how would Saab go about it? I see a fast and easy path here that is more realistic for Saab’s current lack of resources and reliance of extended production of the current 9-3. The current version of the chassis with XWD and four-door or wagon configuration has much more mainstream appeal than that of the old 9-3 Viggen – good for winning over a few sales from competitors. Applying the jet-inspired title and familiar cues like colors, more power, bigger wheels and that triangular badge to this new car would dial up its ability to draw attention.

The broke status of GM doesn’t leave much on the table for going crazy building a low-volume performance model for a usually low-volume brand. However, we already know that Swiss-based dealer/tuner Hirsch has been tapped for special ‘Hirsch Edition’ models in the car-crazy German market. The Hirsch name has little-to-no cache beyond Saab fanatics in the States where the aftermarket parts are available if you shop at Elkparts, but are still less widely known. Still, the Hirsch stuff is top notch, even better than OE quality when it comes to the touch and feel of their interior bits, and they’re already in the Saab system.


The Hirsch engine upgrade for the 9-3 Aero XWD bumps the car to 300hp and includes a stainless steel dual exhaust. Hirsch offers upgraded brakes and more aggressive suspension for a higher performance level and improved looks. That’s still a power deficit compared to the 335i or S4, but it’s in the ballpark.

On the outside, we’d go for more of the same Hirsch theme. The Swiss firm has a great-looking new body kit and wheel design. Former Saab designer Taras Czornyj designed both. Considering this is the same man who penned the current 9-3, it’s no surprise that the look is factory clean in appearance.

Inside, Hirsch makes those great-looking leather trim pieces that we mentioned above for areas such as dashboard, door panels and center console. Touch these off with alcantara suede segments in the seat centers and some real carbon fiber trim or Hirsch carbon fiber-look leather trim and you have a 9-3 on a new level of tune and a new level of material quality born not from jets… and also born from the partsbin of Saab Germany.


The key here is ease. Due to the ‘Hirsch Editions’, the parts are already in the system. Few changes would need to be made and Saab could have an offering with very little cost. Install some of this stuff at port as Volkswagen has done with its SEMA-body kitted Passat and you can keep federalization for the U.S. even lower. New models, and particularly headline-garnering ones like a Viggen, with little cost are more of the bang-for-the-buck types of product that GM and Saab could really use right about now.

So could it be done? With established parts already in the system and using strategy like port installs of certain parts, it could theoretically be done at a minimized cost. Still, with Turbo X models still in dealers unsold (largely because they were all optioned high and priced accordingly), we could see why product planners would be skeptical. On top of that, the executives at Saab likely have bigger fish to fry. Still, you can’t help but seeing how dynamic a new Viggen could be or perhaps the eventual value of a Viggen family of performance cars positioned above Aero after Saab has regained its health.

Follow the Photo Gallery link below for a wide selection of computer-generated imagery depicting a new Viggen.