General Motors and Chrysler may be going through merger hell right now - but that doesn’t stop Saab (GM is their partial owner) from pumping out some amazing design concepts for your viewing pleasure. Saab recently showed off their official 9X Air concept pictures to the public, along with a press release detailing some of the more exciting features and specifications.

From the Saab Press Release:

Designer Anthony Lo and his team have achieved this execution while still offering the four season, four seater practicality pioneered by Saab when its first convertible concept was premiered at the Frankfurt Show exactly 25 years ago.

Designed in parallel with the Saab 9-X BioHybrid concept, the 9-X Air shares its distinctive frontal styling, together with its highly efficient powertrain. The small, 1.4-liter Saab BioPower engine combines a series of steps for more responsible performance: engine rightsizing, turbocharging, the use of biofuels and hybrid technology.

Running on E85 fuel (85% bioethanol/ 15% gasoline), the engine delivers a sporty 200 hp (147 kW), giving zero to 100 kph acceleration in 8.1 seconds and projected CO2 tailpipe emissions of just 107 g/km over the combined cycle. Compared to gasoline, the overall environmental impact on a source-to-wheel basis of using E85 is even more beneficial.

Check out the latest photos of Saab’s 9X Air concept - a convertible coupe with hybrid powertrain and room for two passengers in the back. 9X Air is trying to shoot for a 40-plus miles per gallon fan club - with the help of lithium-ion batteries to power up the 1.4-liter turbocharged engine and E85 flex-fuel there should be no trouble achieving this rating. Whether or not this turbo-hybrid powertrain makes it into the 9X has yet to be seen, but with all the pumped-up hybrid competition coming soon (Chevy Volt, Cruze, Honda Insight, to name but a few) Saab will have to turn out all the tricks in order to grab attention at your local dealership.

The two-seat sports coupe has a canape, which slides open like Tim Burton’s Batmobile - it’s twin-turbo, BioPower V6 engine is fueled by bio-ethanol, a sustainable energy source that is easy on the the environment, cutting fossil CO2 emissions. Adding green power to the performance and responsibility that Saab already brings to the automotive industry.

Depth-perception glass dashboards give the appearance of 3D when you look upon its gauges. You may have to stop yourself from driving the vehicle into space. We are not sure if the fighter-jet canape will sell in the open car market, but we hope more production design models make it on the streets in years to come.

Let’s look at a history of how the 9-1 has come along from articles from around the web.

On 12/20/07 TopSpeed.com presented a sketch of what it’s calling the 2010 9-1X.

02/08 A Vienna newspaper says “Hey, we have a sketch too!” Only they say it in Austrian.

02/15/08 - Saab places a teaser image of the 9-1X concept on its website.

2/18/08 TrollhattanSaab.net displays an image of the 9-1 draped.

04/23/08 TrollhattanSaab.net asks Eric Geers of Saab some questions, gets some answers.

Geer states: We are very confident we will make the car. There are a number of steps in the process that have to be taken before you can call a program ‘final’ and that’s what’s happening now. We wouldn’t have shown the 9-X Biohybrid in Geneva if we hadn’t any serious plans with it.

Doesn’t sound like 2009 to me.

05/08 A video appears of the Saab 9-4X and 9-X. Audio isn’t in English.

05/23/08 Edmunds.com reports that Saab is still debating whether the 9-1 will be two or four doors. Do they go with 4 doors to increase utility, along with justifying the price tag, at the expense of styling. Or do they stay true to the design of the concept (2-doors) which limits utility, and possibly gives the price tag the perception of being too high.

The answer is 2 doors, BTW.

Doesn’t look like 2010 either if the number of doors is in question.

Let’s hope the 9-1 is closer than it looks, though I don’t think it is. It’s been a quick run from sketch to concept to possible production vehicle. I’m guessing 2011 or 2012.

This vehicle platform will better meet new and stricter environmental guidelines in the U.S. and Europe, and its smaller size will position it to compete with other recent luxury small cars like the Audi A3.

We’ll post design concepts as soon as we get them.

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