2004 Saab 9-5 Arc Sedan 4-door 2.3l on 2040-cars

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Former Saab chairman Muller faces summons in tax inquiry

Former Saab Chairman Victor Muller may be called in for questioning as part of an official inquiry into suspected tax evasion by three of the automaker's former executives. A prosecutor has officially named former CEO Jan-Ake Jonsson and two other executives in the investigation, and official court documents say that Muller will be called in by the Financial Crimes Unit. According to Reuters, prosecutors are currently looking into allegations that the executives worked to dodge taxes between 2010 and 2011, when the automaker finally went into bankruptcy.
The Truth About Cars reports the investigation may center around the $540,000 paid as consulting fees to Latin America Tug Holding NV, a company Muller owns. It's possible that the Swedish authorities believe the Saab executives were using the tug boat company as a tax haven, and that the automaker should have paid taxes and social security contributions on the money. Muller has not been charged.
Meanwhile, Muller is defending his earnings in a new interview with Automotive News. Having come under fire for his $773,000 salary at Saab, the Spyker CEO said his pay was commensurate with an executive running a company with 4,000 employees.

Vampire Weekend burns for Saab

Or is it the other way around?
Could Vampire Weekend be trying to tell me something? A just-launched music video for the indie rock band's new single Diane Young features what looks like a pretty mint black Saab 900 Turbo Convertible being torched in slow-motion. In fact, with the exception of a brief, flickering cameo by a 900 three-door of a similar vintage, that's all that there is to the nearly three-minute long video. It's both sad and oddly beautiful.
Coincidentally, I have a similar-looking turbocharged black Saab convertible sitting in my garage, and I've been reluctantly pondering its sale this very week. Admittedly, mine is a later model (2001 9-3 Viggen), but tri-spokes and more tapered rump aside, it looks eerily identical. And while mine isn't mired in flames (I love it too much to torch it), through no fault of its own, it's been sitting motionless far too regularly. Thankfully, I see a better future for it than the droptop seen above.

The Saab 9-3 that never was finally shows up

Looking back on the life and [slow and painful] death of Saab, it's impossible to not stop and think of what might have been with the quirky Swedish automaker. As it turns out, SaabsUnited has decided to shed some light on what the company's future might have looked like, including some images and information that include full-scale mockups of the 9-3 Phoenix, which you see above.
In its waning years, Saab's lead designer Jason Castriota was working feverishly to deliver new products that built on the heritage of the brand while doing so at a lower cost and in a shorter time period than previous models. In the end, though, it sounds like the earliest that we could have seen any of these plans come to fruition was 2014. In addition to hatchback and convertible 9-3 variants, Castriota also created the Sonnett - a sporty-looking 2+2 that never made it past the design study phase.
Regardless of whether you're a diehard fan of the brand or if you were just pulling for the underdog, you'll want to head on over to SaabsUnited to check out a little more of what the future could have held for Saab.