MODIFIED LIMITED HANGOUT

It was a very slow death.  But Saab's car division, long separated from their legendary aircraft division, has finally died.  Or at least it is heading that way.  

You could argue that Saab was the Subaru of Europe.  It was born out of an aircraft company.  It had a strong cult following.  During the 1970s and 1980s, driving a Saab or Subaru was an act of left-wing subversion - something a small New England college professor might do.  But there are key differences.  Subaru's cult following slowly went mainstream as word got out just how valuable their all wheel drive systems are (Subaru produces three systems and all of their cars have at least the basic, part-time AWD system).  Subaru never shied from making hatchbacks, while Saab slowly phased-out their iconic hatch designs.  Both companies have occasionally designed aviation-inspired cockpits.  

But Subaru stuck to a unique engineering and design philosophy in 1972 (with the Leone 4WD wagon) and stuck to it.  Saab lost its way in the early years or GM ownership.  It found its way back to greatness only in the later years of this decade thanks largely to its last two chief designers, the German Michael Mauer and the Englishman Simon Padian.

Saab was one of the best makers of front-wheel drive cars.  Like Citroen, Saab stuck to front-wheel drive and made it better with each car generation.  I think Citroen, Peugeot, Volvo, and Saab are the best engineers and implementers of front-wheel drive in the automotive world.  Alfa Romeo learned a lot on how to switch to front-wheel drive from Saab.  The two automakers even occasionally shared platforms.  For example, the Saab 9000 shared its chassis with the Alfa 164.  And the last-generation Saab 9-3 shared its platform with the Afla 159, which is still sold in Europe today - notably the distinctive and award-winning wagon version.

Saab was the first automaker to introduce heated front seats....in 1972!

Saab's classic cars all had the number 9 in them.  The 99.  The 90.  The 900.  The 9000.  The 9-3.  

Saab did make the unconventional move of producing Sweden's first convertible in 1986, which somehow became the favorite luxury coupe in Provincetown, Massachusetts until Saab folded.

Improved reliability came late, well after General Motors bought the brand in 2000.  But by then, the design shifts away from hatchbacks began to seal Saab's fate.  The Saab 9-3 was briefly offered as a sedan only until the beautiful 9-3 SportCombi entered the lineup in 2005. Saab fans were thrown a bone with the 9-2X hatchback, which was actually a Subaru Impreza dressed as a Saab.  GM had planned to dress-up the Subaru B9 Tribeca as the Saab 9-7X, but by then, GM had sold their share of Subaru to Toyota.  

From 2007 onward, Saab offered the fourth-generation Haldex AWD system in its 9-3 and 9-5 vehicles.  It was Saab's best engineering move in years.  Saab finally had an all wheel drive system from the world's leading manufacturer of AWD systems (and Haldex is a Swedish company, to boot).  

The 9-3 and 9-5 today are better than ever.  The 2010 9-5 (pictured above) is ready to to be produced in Europe.  And there is a beautiful 9-4X crossover waiting to be built in Mexico (on the line that recently stopped producing the Saturn Vue). But GM's bankruptcy reorganization has forced it to sell Saab.  So far, it has been unsuccessful, and time is just about out.  If Saab isn't sold it will have to wind down.

UPDATE, December 30th 2009, 11:00 EST:  GM has announced that it will fill orders for the new 9-5 sedan and 9-3 convertible.  But it still intends to either sell Saab or shut it down. 

UPDATE, January 9th, 2010:  The wind-down commences.  Saab is gone.

David Plotz's famous essay about all the bad anniversaries in August has many valid points. But this past week reminded me of all the dramatic anniversaries of late December.  Not all of them are negative, but most are. Let me try to count them:

December 15, 1995: The Dayton Accords are signed in Paris, formally ending the Bosnian War (1992-1995).

December 16-25, 1989: The Romanian Revolution.

December 21, 1988: Pan Am flight 103 is blown out of the sky by a Lybian bomb, and falls in Lockerbie Scotland.

December 22, 1979: The Boston Bruins invade the stands of Madison Square Garden and subsequently beat the crap out of a few unlucky fans after one of their teammates, Stan Jonathan, is assaulted by a fan.

December 22, 2001:  Richard Reid completely fails to detonate PETN in his shoes on a transatlantic flight.

December 25, 2009: Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab completely fails to detonate PETN in his briefs on a transatlantic flight.

December 25, 1989: Billy Martin dies when his friend, William Reedy, drives his pickup off the road in upstate New York, plunging 300 feet down a hill and into a tree.  Both Reedy and Martin are dunk at the time of the crash.  Reedy, owner of two saloons near Tigers Stadium, survives the crash and lives until July 2009 when he succumbs to pancreatic cancer.

December 26, 1919: The Red Sox trade Babe Ruth to the Yankees.

December 27, 2007: Former Pakistan Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto is assassinated on her way out of a political rally.  She was considering going back into politics to challenge the military junta that was in-charge under General Pervez Musharraf.

The effort to produce explicitly Christian license plates in Florida failed.  But the effort by the Sons of Confederate Veterans to have a plate produced in the Sunshine State is going forward following a legal victory. While I find a plate with a Confederate flag to be in poor taste, I agree that it does not violate the state or federal Contitution.  Apparently, Sons of Confederate Veterans has successfully established Confederate plates in nine other states. So I expect this proposed plate in Florida to go into production soon.

And I like the prospect of plates that reflect my rebellious political beliefs.  So if, say, New York State ever approved a 'Choose Life' plate, I would lobby Planned Parenthood to sponsor a 'Family Planning' plate.  It's only fair.  The 'Choose Life' plates are knocking on our door.  Pennsylvania and Connecticut both offer them.

Five years ago, Planned Parenthood sponsored plates in Montana and Hawaii.  The Hawaii plate failed to attract the required 150 customers.  The Montana plate is still in production.  The Montana plate is not as subversive as my 'Family Planning' idea.  It has the more diplomatic phrase, "Pro-Family, Pro-Choice".

I learned a few things in college.  One of them was a checklist of identifying characteristics of fascism.  There are certain ingredients in fascism that make it undeniably fascist.  Not all fascist societies had all the ingredients, but they are key to identifying the system in question.  

It's a weird analogy, but think of asian cuisine.  You see stir-fry chicken dishes all over east Asia.  But if the dish has lemongrass in it, you know it is southeast Asian.

It is similar with political systems.  You could examine two similar systems that have a totalitarian, military junta in-charge, a strong propaganda infrastructure, and state-ownership of industry.  You're pretty sure one of them is communist.  But if the other has added flavors such as xenophobia, constant scapegoating of immigrants and ethnic minorities, and an explicit rape/humiliation claim to motivate and anger the people, then that one is fascist.

Case in point:

I am very late reporting this news, but since I addressed it in a previous post, I figured I should try to compare how New Moon performed on Utah movie screens compared to Twilight just over 12 months ago.

Here are the ten highest-grossing screens for the opening weekend of New Moon (November 20-22), courtesy of Variety:

1. New Moon, Larry Miller Megaplex 20, South Jordan, UT
2. New Moon, ArcLight, Hollywood, CA
3. New Moon, Larry Miller Jordan Commons 16 & IMAX, Sandy, UT
4. New Moon, AMC Garden State 16, Paramus, NJ
5. New Moon, ArcLight, Sherman Oaks, CA
6. New Moon, Regal Pinnacle 17 & IMAX, Knoxville, TN
7. New Moon, Regal E-Walk 13, New York, NY
8. New Moon, Edwards Long Beach Stadium 26 & IMAX, Long Beach, CA
9. New Moon, AMC Burbank 20 & IMAX, Burbank, CA
10. New Moon, Edwards Ontario Palace Stadium 22 & IMAX, Ontario, CA

Last year, four of the top ten screens were in Utah.  This year, there were only two, but both were in the top three screens nationwide. Obviously, Utah had more competition because the rest of the country's women and girls have gone Twilight Saga crazy.  But still the Utah megaplexes beat out their counterparts in the LA and New York metro areas.  Simply amazing.  

And yes, women.  Friends have reported seeing night time audiences in New York City comprised entirely of women in their 30s.