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Rare 9-5 SportCombi, 9-4X models being sold off in Saab asset auction

Saab lovers take notice. Swedish auction house KVD has some ultra rare Saab products on the block, and we're not talking about a 1950s Saab 92. Up for auction are a bunch of low-mileage Saab models being sold off as part of the bankrupted automaker's assets. Included in the lot of cars are models like the 2012 9-5 SportCombi (above), the 2012 9-4X (shown below) and even a 9-5 sedan driven by Victor Muller himself.
Discovered by PistonHeads, this Saab auction has numerous 9-5 SportCombi and 9-4X models, which should prove to be very rare cars. Only a small number of 9-4Xs were ever sold, and Saab closed up shop before the 9-5 SportCombi could even go on sale here. In addition to the rarity, many of the cars have fewer than 10 miles on their odometers and seemingly low reserve prices; a 9-4X 3.0 XWD Premium with just six miles has a current bid of 180,000 Swedish Krona (just over $27,000 USD) that has already met the reserve price. Some of the cars still have the protective factory shipping tape covering up the interior and exterior.
Other than the rare SportCombis and 9-4Xs being auctioned off, there's also a sharp 2012 9-3 Cabriolet with 11 miles on the clock and a V8-powered 2006 Saab 9-7X with just 3,003 miles.

New owners of Saab don't get to use the name

Saab won't be revived as a Chinese-backed electric car brand. Aerospace and defense company Saab AB has declined to let the new owners of the dormant automaker's old designs and factory use the name on new cars, Automotive News reports. It's a blow to fans of the Swedish brand, who hoped the name would be revived on new vehicles coming out of the same factory as models like the 99 Turbo. National Electric Vehicle Sweden, known as NEVS, bought major assets of the Saab operation in 2012 following former parent Spyker's decision to liquidate the company in December 2011. This not only included the Trollhattan assembly plant in Sweden, but the rights to the Saab 9-3 and the platform of its successor. NEVS built some new 9-3s using leftover parts and powered by the old 2.0-liter turbo engines, with the intent to raise money to produce new electric vehicles for Europe and China – and to use the Saab name. When General Motors bought all of Saab Automobile in 2000, it used the name under license from the Saab AB. That permission was then passed to Spyker in 2010 and later NEVS, albeit without the griffin logo. But when NEVS sought creditor protection in 2014, Saab AB revoked the naming rights. Following reorganization, NEVS in August announced a deal with Dongfeng Motor Corp. to develop a new lineup of electric vehicles, which was revealed in December to include five new models by 2018, some assembled in China by 2020 – the first of which being an EV version of the old 9-3. However, Saab AB told Automotive News that discussions have ended regarding the use of the Saab name on these vehicles. NEVS owner Kai Johan Jiang told a Swedish radio station the company will find a new name to market the cars under when they go on sale. It's similar to what happened to SAIC when it purchased vehicle technology from bankrupt British carmaker MG Rover. While it had the tooling to essentially make the Rover 75, the brand name at the time belonged to BMW and barred SAIC from using it, so the Roewe brand was created in China. It's unclear why talks broke down and also where NEVS will get a new name (there aren't nicer ways to spell Saab, and it was originally an acronym, anyway). Will Saab AB attach its name to another line of cars? Probably not. What it does mean, however, is that Saab fans have to cling tighter to their old cars now. Perhaps that's for the best. Related Video:

Motorweek looks back at 1983 Saab 900S

These days, Saab is a zombie marque. Technically, the brand is still shambling around under the ownership of National Electric Vehicle Sweden, and there are continued promises of an electric version of the 9-3. However, we all suspect that the company is never really coming back, at least not as the quirky Swedish brand of the past. That's what makes watching this latest Retro Review of John Davis and the Motorweek crew driving a non-turbo 1983 Saab 900S so special. This is a great chance to see Saab still alive and kicking. While not one of the more famous turbocharged examples, the naturally aspirated 900S is still a quintessential Saab in every other way. The reviewers definitely aren't sold on the looks though, and there are plenty of jokes at its expense. Although, only paying attention to the polarizing exterior styling makes missing the good handling and immense interior utility easy. Sadly, without the aid of forced induction, the 900 offers very lackadaisical acceleration. According to this clip, the sprint to 60 miles per hour is more of jog in a leisurely 12.2 seconds. At the brand's best, Saab provided the motoring world with an alternative. If you didn't want just another boxy sedan, the brand offered something like nothing else on the road. Plus, drivers found a well-tuned turbocharged engine that provided good performance for the day. It's a company worth remembering, despite the current state of things.