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Nicolas Cage flogs Saab-based Senova from Beijing Auto [w/video]

BAIC has officially pulled the covers off of its new Senova D Series sedan for China. The four-door is based on the old Saab 9-5 and boasts a turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine. Local buyers can get their hands on the machine for around $22,745 at current conversion rates. Other engine options include a turbocharged 1.8-liter four cylinder as well as turbocharged 2.3-liter four-cylinder, and a wide range of safety equipment comes standard on every trim except the very base model. Those goodies include a tire pressure monitoring system, active head restraints, blind spot detection, driver fatigue detection and parking sensors.
The Senova nameplate serves every model based on former Saab architectures, including the Epsilon, GM2900 and GM2400 platforms as well as engine and transmission tech. In order to promote its new products, BAIC has hired Hollywood staple Nicolas Cage to serve as the company's brand ambassador. Cage stars in the Senova-heavy Town of Car Legends action-packed video short (directed by Olivier Megaton of Transporter 3 and Taken 2 fame) which you can view by scrolling below.

NEVS announces 200 layoffs as it says Saab restart will 'take time'

For a fleeting moment a few weeks ago, the news from Saab-owner National Electric Vehicle Sweden appeared almost positive. The company had its reorganization plan approved (a day after it was denied), and the automaker was actually showing a real, running vehicle, albeit one with a top speed of 75 miles per hour. But those tiny crumbs of potential goodness have been swept away because NEVS has announced layoffs of as many as 200 factory employees in September "due to lack of work."
Workers probably shouldn't get too eager to return to the factory either, because company's "decision to re-start production will be further delayed" by an unspecified amount of time, NEVS says in a press release. To begin assembling cars again, the company needs to find long-term funding and a new majority owner. Those seem like two very steep hurdles for the embattled automaker to clear.
Despite not producing cars since May, NEVS still claims it's negotiating with a new owner, possibly Mahindra, but according to Reuters, the Swedish company owes about 400 million kronor ($56 million) to creditors. According to its layoff announcement, getting rid of these workers is one step in the business' reorganization plan to be presented on October 8. Scroll down to read its full release.

Junkyard Gem: 2004 Saab 9-5 Arc Wagon

As I work on my project of documenting automotive history via the machinery I find in car graveyards around the country, blank spots in the junkyard record keep showing themselves. I've remedied the lack of discarded BMW 3- and 5-Series cars in recent months, through the E46 and E39 respectively, and now I'm trying to move past the 900 in the Saab timeline. We've got the 9000 covered, and now it's the turn of the 9-3 and 9-5. Here's an '04 9-5 Arc Wagon, found in a Denver yard recently (I shot a 9-3 on the same trip and you'll see it in the near future). General Motors took over Saab in 2000, after more than a decade of 50% ownership, and so the 9-5 (or 95 if you prefer) had plenty of Opel/Holden/Vauxhall DNA in its cells. Its closest American-market relative (other than the 9-3) was the Saturn L-Series. However, you couldn't get a Saturn with a proper Saab engine under the hood, and by "proper" we mean one descended from the original Triumph Slant-4. This 2.3T turbocharged version sent 220 horsepower to the front wheels, making this a nicely quick wagon. It appears that this car endured some lean times as it approached the end of its road, with the kind of leaky-side-glass repair you do only when you know you're a car's final owner. You could get the 9-5 Wagon as the Linear, Arc, or Aero models in 2004. The Aero was the factory-hot-rod version, while the Arc was more about luxury. The leather seats in this Arc still look pretty good. Even though this car's ancestry is more German than Swedish, it has the traditional Saab console-mounted ignition switch. When it came time for The General to sell Subaru Imprezas with Saab badging, however, the ignition switches stayed in the non-Saab locations. At least the Saab-badged Chevy Trailblazer had the switch in the Trollhatten-approved location. It doesn't look as quirky as the early Saabs, which were born from Flying Barrels, but it stood up well against the competing cars offered to America's ever-shrinking pool of station wagon shoppers. Built in Sweden by Swedes! Would this have happened with an Audi wagon?   Featured Gallery Junked 2004 Saab 9-5 Arc Wagon View 26 Photos Auto News Saab Automotive History Wagon Junkyard Gems