General Motors has always been the king of the rebadge. The initial thought process is as simple as it is flawed: Take one car, plaster on several different badges, sell it as several different models under several different brands, and make several times the money. This can work with vehicles that don’t have a ton of character, but what about the weird stuff? Let’s take a closer look at the Saab 9-2X, a neat little wagon made by one of Japan’s weirdest mainstream car brands and sold by one of Sweden’s weirdest car brands. Welcome back to GM Hit or Miss, where we unravel the patchwork quilt of GM’s pre-bankruptcy product planning and separate the high-thread count cotton from the scratchy stuff.
An Unlikely Marriage
Back in 1999, GM bought a 20 percent stake in what was then known as Fuji Heavy Industries, the parent company of Subaru, for the purposes of vehicle collaboration. Straight away, the two firms went to work, and after several years of pondering, created the obvious rebadge you see above – the Chevrolet Forester. It was exactly what it sounded like, a second-generation Subaru Forester with Chevrolet badges, and it was sold exclusively in the Indian market starting in 2004.
The Chevrolet Forester wasn’t the most auspicious start to this partnership, but I reckon that was partly because GM had no idea where Subaru’s vehicles would fit into its lineup. The MBAs eventually remembered they had a branch in Sweden known for hemorrhaging money, yet producing cars with an absolutely rabid fanbase. Just ship the two weirdos together, what could possibly go wrong?
The Swedish Connection
On paper, Subaru and Saab sound like similar carmakers. Fiercely unorthodox, pathological about safety, and with a penchant for turbocharging. Both grew legendary through rallying and both served a well-educated, left-leaning clientele. However, as soon as you hopped behind the wheel of an Impreza, you’d learn that it was nothing like a 9-3 or 900 at all.
The Subaru Impreza wasn’t just unrefined compared to a Saab 9-3, it was unrefined compared to a Mazda 3. Interior materials were rather cheap for such an expensive compact car, road noise was abundant, and the frameless windows sounded great in theory but occasionally produced irksome leaks. For those in northern climes like the Saab stronghold of New England, Subaru rustproofing was more of a suggestion than an actual process, a stark contrast to Swedish seriousness around corrosion-prevention.
In an attempt to prime the Impreza for Saab duties, the engineers had to implement some extensive changes. Let’s start with the most obvious – the insulation package. The 9-2X brought in heavier floor insulation, fender insulation, insulation under the shift boot, and a new headliner backing with better sound-damping properties. The rear quarter trim insulation and tailgate insulation were re-worked, and a new rear engine mount was done up to damp powertrain vibrations.
In addition to the massive selection of NVH-quelling measures, the Saab 9-2X also got heaps of chassis parts to ensure it drove better than an Impreza. Brand new dampers and springs altered ride quality, while stiffer anti-roll bar bushings, shorter rear bump stops, and aluminum forward rear lateral links were all tiny changes that noticeably affected how the car drove. In addition, the steering ratio was quickened up from 16.5:1 to 15.5:1. Paired with a strategically-reinforced front subframe, it made a huge difference in how the Saabaru steered. Oh, and the toe settings on a 9-2X are slightly different than the toe settings on a standard Impreza.
With all the mechanical bits squared away, it was time for the designers to turn a very Japanese car into something more Swedish. Up front, the 9-2X got new fenders, clean new headlamps, a fresh hood with a streamlined intercooler scoop on Aero models, Saab-like grillework, and a frowny new bumper that added aggression. Around the back, changes were similarly extensive, with everything bolted-on being brand new. The license plate migrated from the bumper to the tailgate, necessitating a new tailgate with a recess and license plate lighting. The rear lights lost their distinctive circles in an effort to clean them up a bit, and a new rear bumper sported a jaunty bit of black trim. Topping it all off were fresh allow wheels, new side skirts, and deletion of the Impreza’s roof rails for a sleeker look.
After spending all that money making the Impreza drive more Saab-like and look more Saab-like, there wasn’t a ton of money left over for the interior. Nevertheless, Saab persevered with its own special active head restraints, nicer carpets, metallic trims, and slightly nicer trim on the door cards. Unfortunately, the 9-2X still felt like an Impreza on the inside, and there was the trouble – Saab clients weren’t fooled one bit. The 9-2X didn’t even have a key in the console, let alone all the interior styling cues that made a Saab a Saab. It didn’t matter that the Aero trim made 227 horsepower from a turbocharged boxer motor, or that the 9-2X was much nicer to live with than a similar Impreza. It just didn’t feel Swedish.
The problem with setting two endearingly weird brands up on a blind date is that the resulting product generally attracts more endearing weirdos. Saab showrooms weren’t overflowing with budget luxury shoppers hankering for a 9-2X, but they were occasionally patronized by Subaru people who could tell you all about Group N bushings and engine case halves. The 9-2X was a more livable, more stylish, better-appointed version of the Impreza they knew and loved. For those who’d grown up and stopped daily-driving EJ205-swapped GC8s, the 9-2X Aero was absolutely perfect.
The Failed Follow-Up
While the 9-2X wasn’t quite as Saab-ish as some hoped, that didn’t stop GM from trying. One product from this weird era of collaboration that almost saw the light of day was a Saab-badged version of the Subaru B9 Tribeca. Keep in mind, this whole project was in progress around the same time GM was working on its Lambda crossovers. It would’ve been incredibly easy for GM to develop a Saab-badged Chevrolet Traverse, but nope.
Mind you, it’s not like the styling team didn’t try its absolute hardest with this one. The 9-6X looked very little like the B9 Tribeca, with a new front clip, new quarter panels, new tail lights, a new tailgate, and a new rear bumper adding significant distinction. Alas, GM sold its 20 percent stake in Fuji Heavy Industries in October of 2005, and the whole project went kaput.
Mind you, it wasn’t all for nothing. Ever wonder how Subaru managed to pull an extensive Tribeca facelift out of thin air just two years into the model’s run? Take a closer look at the quarter panels, tail lights, rear bumper, rear license plate recess, and front fenders of the 2008 Tribeca. Now do the same with the 9-6X. Notice anything?
Making The Call
Beyond the obvious signs that the Saab 9-2X didn’t feel as genuine as a 9-3, GM executives missed something greater: Saabs aren’t cars people accidentally buy. You almost get the sense that the whole deal was set up by someone with a business degree who had never dodged a cone, spun a wrench, or even been the slightest bit interested in non-American cars in their lives. The Saab 9-2X is one of those rare cases where a good car is a complete miss because it absolutely failed at hitting its target. Entry-level premium car shoppers leased Volvo S40s, Acura TSXs, the occasional Volkswagen Jetta, but Subarus wearing Saab badges were barely blips on their radars. The Saab 9-2X was brilliant since it was a second-generation Impreza with the one thing that car was missing — refinement. Unfortunately, a refined Subaru isn’t quite the same thing as a full-on Saab, even if that Saab shares its underpinnings with an Opel Vectra.
However, there is a silver lining here. Remember how GM sold its stake in Fuji Heavy Industries? The buyer was none other than Toyota. In a way, we have the Saab 9-2X and 9-6X to partially thank for the brilliant Scion FR-S, Subaru BRZ, Toyota 86, and all the other names this sublime affordable rear-wheel-drive coupe has gone by. Talk about an unusual lineage to have.
(Photo credits: Saab, Chevrolet, Subaru, Saab Museum)
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It’s a hit, because it was better than other GM cars of that size. It’s a miss as a Saab, because no nightpanel!
I always liked this and think it’s a shame the Saab community looks down on them. I don’t think GM could have built a better small car at this time. It’s also notable that they seem to sell for a fair bit more than their other Saab contemporaries nowadays.
The Saab community in Detroit does not look down on 9-2Xs, at least not the Aeros. They know these are nicer and generally less abused than the beaten-to-a-pulp Subaru Imprezas of the era. I get a lot of positive responses when the Subaru boys patrolling Woodward Ave. see my black slicktop ’05 9-2X.
In Oct. 2020, I bought a 26k mile 2005 Saab 9-2X Aero, a one-owner, car from Maryland. I paid a shit-ton of money for it, $12k. I pumped in another $1,000 for the timing belt service and some new brake pads. The car had never been touched. Since then, I haven’t spend a dime on it for maintenance except for oil changes and wiper blades.
But I went shopping and found an NOS Lamco triple gauge package, a somewhat rare factory accessory. I found NOS Saab rubber floor mats, and chrome sill plates — essentially all the weird optional stuff no one ordered.
I’ve never owned a Saab or a Subaru before. Here’s what I can tell you:
These 9-2Xs are great cars. I’ve never seen a check engine light in the 16k miles I have added.
The car is spunky and handles well. There’s plenty cargo room. The car is comfortable and well made. I am not worried about rust because the car isn’t winter driven.
My personalized license tag reads: 92X WRX, and I get plenty of admiring looks and compliments.
Finally: In the Autopian universe, I am staking my claim as having the weirdest garage of anyone on here. Next to my 9-2X lives a 1993 Rover 220 TomCat coupe, a Honda-Rover collaboration. I imported that car from the U.K. in 2021.
So, yeah, I like car company mashups.
A lot.
Thanks for the info, have wondered if a nice 9-2x Aero is getting too old for a daily, I really like the package, perfect size/utility/performance for a daily for me.
I don’t know how I never got around to trying it, but the summer the Saabaru was released, GM Canada set up a 100ft tall ferris wheel which you could ride from within one of four 9-2x’s on the Toronto waterfront.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uEPZ-aPkS4&t=4s
These cars are just another verse in my song of disappointment with GM. I was actually excited when I heard about this back in the day. I thought it was a great marriage. To me, it seemed like both brands were aimed at the same customer: snow country people. I was dreaming of a SAAB built with Subaru mechanicals and 4WD. Sadly I forgot, I guess, that GM was not an engineering company in those days- they were a styling company. Their riff was taking whatever mechanicals they had already available and putting a pretty body on it to differentiate it from (whatever) so that’s where they spent the money. And GM interiors of the day? Let’s just say you could sure tell that the accountants had the VP of Interiors kitty-whipped into submission. He got NO money.
To be fair, after reading this article I see I had forgotten how much “International Harvester” crude the Subies of the day were, and how far into Yuppiedom SAAB had travelled by that time. I guess it was too much a country-mouse/city-mouse match-up to actually work, but I wanted it to…
Funny that you mention New England. In Vermont I think everyone gets a Subaru title issued with their birth certificate, and Saab is what you step up to if you’re feeling aspirational. (At least, that used to be the case, and even now you’ll see a lot of them on the road. Not sure what the go-to is now; maybe a nicer Subaru.)
I tell everyone that the state bird for Vermont is a Subaru.
The other go-to for Vermonters is Volvo 240’s. But those are also fading fast.
Love these cars
I always loved the 9-2X, but maybe because I loved both Saab and Subaru from this era. 00’s Subaru is best Subaru. So Saab getting an entry level car as a gussied up Impreza never bothered me much. My aunt had one in red, and it was a genuinely nice car. I got to drive it a couple of times and while it wasn’t as refined as the 900 I had in college, it certainly qualified for the premium, quirky small car badge that is Saab.
Our local Subaru dealer was also a Saab dealer (best dealer ever IMO) so you’d actually see these around town a lot.
I spent quite a bit of time looking for a Saabaru about 5 years ago but they were hard to come across and sold quick. It is exactly the right kind of weird that I find attractive.
The Saabaru was the best of both worlds. It looked actually good, and kept all the Subaru-esque stuff. We used to have a 2003 WRX, and I can only see the appeal of the Saabaru – a (slightly) more refined WRX.
For what it’s worth, I think the Saabaru’s suspension changes (the aluminum parts for example) were eventually used on the WRX as well, a model year or two later.
One thing I remember was, back then, an interview with a Saab executive (or was it a reporter claiming to have heard that), stating Saab’s displeasure of having to make that vehicle, and the “difficulties” they had of making a vehicle (almost) worthy of Saab’s brand out of it, and all the things they had to change of it to make it “good enough”. It sounded really condescending.
This reminded me of the mid-nineties, when Rover went for sale and Honda, after having collaborated with Rover for almost two decades, was expecting (pretty much rightfully so) to be chosen as their buyer. And Rover struck a deal with BMW at the eleventh hour instead.
This was seen as a betrayal of sorts by the Japanese, and to add to it – Rover’s management was jubilant, stating that they had finally found a “Worthy” partner. They were quite proud of having pulled it off.
The MG F was released shortly after, and in an interview with the designers the reporter noted that the taillights (quite beautiful) looked like the 2nd gen Legend Coupe’s taillights. The designer’s comment was “They stole them from us, we had them in a prototype and they just poached them“. It was not a gentle thing, it was really bitter. It went on and on about how the Legend Coupe looked so good because everything nice on it was designed by Rover or something.
I was surprised to see such snobbery from a brand that was basically dead at the end of the 70’s and was saved by Honda via expensive transfusions. The “worthy” partner struck me specifically – I had gone several Rover 200 series back then, and I remember everything Honda on it being good and trouble free, and everything British on it (other than the interior finish) being puzzling crap. The idea that Rover would cosider themselves better than Honda in any field sounded hilarious to me.
My thoughts went – “karma is a B. This won’t go well“.
What do you know, five years later BMW parted the company, kept Mini, sold the juicy parts (LR) and Rover is now a distant memory.
I got the same uneasy feeling when I read about Saab’s reaction back then. They were still in business. Not for long, alas. I wonder if karma tipped the scales on this.
In Rovers’ case, haha, yes, well deserved. With Saab, I can’t help but wonder if some of the consternation arose from having previously had a decade of trying to ‘Saab-ify’ Opel parts only to have an about-face and have to suddenly start working with Subaru parts all of a sudden. I wonder if an Astra-based 9-2X would have been a better idea just so that they’d still be working in the same realm of Opel OEMs instead of being suddenly forced to work with Fuji Heavy Industries, but GM has always had a bad habit of ‘surprise’ brand collaborations (Suzuki becoming Daewoo, Saturns becoming Opels, Pontiac becoming Holden, Holden never knowing if their small cars would be Opels or Daewoos, etc. etc.)
IIRC a lot of the improvements over the WRX was from the STI parts bin, I know the quicker steering was.
Honda owned 20% of Rover, British Aerospace Systems Plc (BAE) owned the other 80%. BAE didn’t even want to be in the car business in the first place, but the British government had pressured them into buying what was then Austin-Rover Group off of them in order to complete the re-privatization process without selling it to a foreign buyer (Ford was interested, but it was a political non-starter, and the UK government were BAE’s biggest customers, so had a lot of leverage over them).
When BAE announced Rover was for sale, Honda immediately offered to double their stake, from 20% to 40%, but BAE wanted to sell the entire thing, and Honda wasn’t interested in buying the entire company, as it was against their corporate policy to do overseas acquisitions at the time. The fact that they were even willing to buy 40% of Rover was considered a big deal for them at the time.
Although never sold in Europe, one of these came up for sale in the classified adverts in Switzerland a few years ago. I think it was brought in by someone in the US military. Since I drive a Subaru in northern Sweden, it appealed to the illogical middle ground of my automotive Venn diagram. Although Switzerland is not the EU or EEA, it would have been much easier to import it to Sweden than from most other countries where it was originally sold. Perhaps luckily, I didn’t have either the Swedish crowns or the Swiss francs to make it happen, but it would have been a delightful oddity to confuse/annoy Swedes with.
Subaru, for what its worth, has a modest but strong brand in rural Sweden. I can count about a dozen in my dispersed community of a 100 households around here, which is not insignificant.
When Saab died, it seems like most of their loyal owners shifted to Volkswagen brands first. Volkswagen and Skoda do big business here, and pleasingly with their wagons.
It wasn’t really a Saab even by the standards of Saab in the 2000s but everything I’ve heard about them both contemporary and since was that they were a much better car than the sum of its parts would suggest just because of how well Saab chose from the various Subaru parts bins (so long as you didn’t need any body work); plus last I knew they were basically always cheaper than an equivalent Impreza for a better car that I also thing is much better looking.
Perhaps badge debasement to Saab fans but I’d definitely wouldn’t kick it out of bed. Can’t say the same for the Oldsmobile Bravada with a 9-5 front end that GM also tried.
That seems to happen often and can be to the benefit of the less brand conscious used car buyer. Years ago, my mother was in the market for a small minivan type thing, for used dollars. I convinced her that she would get the most bang for the buck with an Isuzu Oasis (remember those)? Honda Odyssey, Honda reliability, Isuzu resale value. She scored hers for probably a couple grand less than an Odyssey would have been. Years ago, if you wanted a Corolla, a smart shopper would buy a Geo Prizm, and so forth.
Or a Pontiac Vibe instead of a Toyota Matrix
I’m a lifelong fanatic for both brands, so the 9-2X will always hold a special place in my heart. Plus, I think it does look better than the same year Imprezas. I was unaware that Saab/GM really did much at all to change it up, but I do know a lot of fans of the Impreza of this era actively seek out the 9-2X.
I dig the 9-2x, if nothing else, for the fact that it corrects the cardinal sin of the FWD-based Saab drivetrain layout. It’s a lot easier to make a 9-2x RWD than any other Saab, and that makes it good in my eyes.
Not even reading it, it was a hit. Will follow up after reading it.
Follow up:
YUP, I’m one of those New Englander weirdos.
I had a 9-2x Aero for 15 years. Was it a good Saab? No. Was it a nice sleeper wagon? Oh Yes and the hood scoop was not a give away that it had lots of power!! Was it a blast in the snow? Very much so. I am sure there are more than a few drivers in the mountains of Colorado that are glad I no longer have the Saabaru, as they would get passed in the snow very quickly. I taught both of my kids how to drive in the snow in the Saabaru. If the 9-2x was quieter than the WRX it was not by much, I ended up with 2 layers of Dynamat on the roof and a layer on much of the rest of the car to help make it quieter and the Stage 2 tune a bit less loud. It’s final moment was to protect me when a driver pulled in front of me at 45mph. All of the safety designs worked well.
I can comment on this, my ex wife and I had a 2006 9-2 Aero, at the time we got it in 2009, it was off lease, from California, very clean, had 33k on it, all options and CPO warranty added another 2/24k on it. A similar WRX then was 16k+, we picked up the 9-2 for $12.5k. Was great to own, fun, nicer seats, fuel Econ in Chicago stop/go was 16mpg on a good day but it did mid 20s highway if you were easy. It was fail bought new at msrp, but with a solid discount or lightly used it was a pretty good deal. I’d imagine new body panels are becoming unobtainum now, someone backed into ours while parked and a set of new headlights (xenon’s with motorized levelers) took months to find – and this was 2010.
Then in 2009 I bought myself a 2008 Saab 9-3 Aero XWD Sportcombi, smoke beige. Yup a brown wagon, I was that guy. At the time it was an 41k sticker car with gm discount and all is came down to 28k with tax. Saab fire sale… And I really miss that car too, traded it for a 2012 Volvo S60 R Design, so I guess I kept it kinda weird.
I have a soft spot for Saabs, I’m still hunting (casually) for a last gen mint 9-5 Aero. I have a kinda crazy idea to make it into a tribute last gen 9-5 SportCombi, allegedly a few body-in-white last gen bodies escaped the crusher in the bankruptcy in the US. I lived near the final Royal Oak HQ Saab has, maybe lore, maybe not…
I’ll probably catch hell for this comment, but as a 30-year owner of a Saab 900 Turbo, and a guy who’s had considerable seat time in both the 9-3 and the 9-2x Aero, I actually found the 9-2x to be closer in spirit and performance to my beloved 900 than the 9-3. Not saying the 9-3 was worse or anything like that, just that the 9-2x stirred more familiar driving vibes.
Agreed–there’s definitely a reason that, when my first classic 900 Turbo was totaled in an accident, I decided to pick up a Subaru instead of a 9-3.
I did find another 900 Turbo later (and another, and another…) but we’re still a joint Subaru-Saab household 🙂
I remember when the 9-2X made the news indirectly, as it was the car in which CNET editor James Kim and his family were driving when they went missing in Oregon in 2006. His wife and young children were rescued, but Kim tragically died of hypothermia. I was actually a regular reader of Kim’s articles at the time, so it was a surreal experience to follow that story in real time.
Another problem was that for the money you could get the legacy gt wagon instead
Not necessarily. Mine was cheaper than the Impreza it was based on. At one point in 2005, GM had a weird “you only pay what our employees would pay” promotion going on. The 9-2x qualified. The Impreza… didn’t.
But I love the thought…
Yup, they languished on lots and at the ports… Then suddenly sold out. Maybe because it went from $31k to $22k with no negotiating?
I traded my 9-2x (plus some cash) to my brother-in-law for a Chevy Volt about 6 months ago. It was the first new car I purchased once I got a “grown-up” job.
I bought the car under the GM “Employee Pricing For Everyone” promotion. I got it for less than I would have had to pay for the Imprezza it was based on.
It was a fantastic car… and I miss it. It took me, then my wife and I and ultimately my young family… everywhere. From snow in upstate New York to Key West. Between DC and Ohio. Reliably. And enjoyably.
After 17 years… it needed a lot of work. The headgaskets were leaking badly (bit of a pain to replace on a horizontally opposed 4-cylinder) and there was something going on in the rear – a shuddering/grinding whenever I made a tight turn. For the last year I had it it was a FWD car (you can disable the AWD by pulling a fuse). That solved the problem… but wasn’t a great solution.
If the car had been an Aero (and a stick)? I would have kept it and rebuilt it. And probably never have gotten the 944 turbo I’ve since rebuilt.
I knew the car was a failure as a Saab the moment I bought it. Saab was dead by the time I purchased my second “new” car… but I would have bought the Outback anyway!
We had our rear axle replaced under cpo warranty, that shuddering was your rear diff failing, ours got so bad that sharp slow speed turning sometimes made the car lurch violently like your were a 16 year old kid learning to drive a clutch for the first time in San Fran… had a passenger get sick from it once.
I figured it was the differential… but was always puzzled why “turning off” the AWD (by removing a fuse) made the problem go away….
At any rate… it clearly wasn’t the CV’s… so I knew that whatever it was had to be an expensive pain in the ass to fix. Which just wasn’t worth it.
Yeah, I was in Michigan at the time, where everyone and their uncle had a GM employee discount. Both these 9-2x and whatever the SAAB version of the Chevy Trailblazer (9-7x?) were thick on the ground from a combination of employee discounts and manufacturer/dealer discounts because they weren’t selling. The 9-7x? was a REALLY nice GMT360 that could sometimes be had for less than the equivalent Chevy.
Did the Saab get different seats, or just headrests? Asking for a friend.
Different seats. Their was a “panel” inside of the seatback that, when pushed upon by a body being forced into the seat, moved the headrest forward (towards your head). Sort of cool.
yeah fronts different, better leather, like Miller said it has a better headrest restraint that cradles your head better in an accident, you know Saab safety and all.
Ah, the Mark of Excrement struck again! Not much else to say, this article is a perfect summary of corporate stupidity.
Agreed.
“Saabs aren’t cars people accidentally buy.”
Well… Several years ago I went to look at a guy’s advertised collection of two-stroke 96 parts and made him an offer for all of it. He then asked whether I’d be willing to take his non-running but complete two-stroke 96 as part of the deal for the same overall price as he simply wanted to be rid of it. In view of the additional logistics I hesitated but ended up taking everything.
I no longer have it but it was the white one at the center of this photo:
https://live.staticflickr.com/5643/20823528894_a801a7a6a3_b.jpg
Steering wasnt just quickened, it was the STI steering rack put into the WRX basically. That better steering rack makes worlds of difference the cars response.
Yep, the 9-2X got the 06-07 WRX steering rack a year early. Part number 34110-FE580 if earlier WRX owners want to do a little junkyard digging.
Don’t these Subaru boxers have just a left and right engine mount? Did they add another mount just for GM?
These Imprezas, and therefore the Saab 9-2X, actually have three engine mounts — two on the bottom and one on the top that ties the engine to the firewall. That last one’s job is to mitigate motor and gearbox pitch. It’s pretty well-hidden under the top-mount intercooler on turbocharged cars, so I wouldn’t be surprised if most people don’t know it’s there.
I’m certainly aware of the top mount. There’s a lot of perishable rubber under the intercooler that I knew I had to go after when I bought my 02 in 19. The wrong leak unchecked can melt your pistons.
Guess I’m saying that I would hope any owner who does their own wrenching would be aware of it