Little by little, Saab is shaking off its debilitating torpor of the 1990s; rebuilding the brand while finally fitting into the GM jigsaw puzzle and inching its (long) way back towards a black bottom line.
Having hit a five-year high in '06, Saab sales are up all over, thanks in large part to the expanding model range and inclusion of some very timely fuel technology.
Locally, this now brings diesel variants to the 9-3 range, not only in the Sport Sedan and SportCombi lines, but also for the Convertible, making it the market's first such oiler.
The diesels' launch also gave Saab apt opportunity to demo the company's advanced BioPower flex-fuel capability to the local press, pollies and burgeoning ethanol industry.
Although it's still early days for ethanol use in Australia, Saab's BioPower models are already available and increasingly popular across Europe and other countries where this 'greener' alternate fuel is established.
As any ethanol advocate will happily tell you, Brazil is the ethanol epicentre, where over 75 per cent of new cars have flex-fuel capability.
But diesels and BioPower alone won't lift Saab to name and fortune. That'll also need some catchy new models. They're coming. The USA has welcomed some already.
The Impreza-based 9-2X (colloquially labelled the 'Saabaru') hit town several years ago. Having helped Saab over a hump, the mid-size 9-2X SUV served its purpose and slipped from the '07 line-up.
However, the newer, larger 9-7X maintains Saab's growing presence in the commercially critical SUV market and is effectively an attractively European-ised cross between the sibling Chevrolet Trailblazer and Buick Rainier.
Due later this year, with sights set beyond the US to Europe, Australia and elsewhere, is the all-wheel drive 9-6X which, spies report, is built upon the Subaru Tribeca platform and running gear. However, that tip conflicts with Subaru's Toyota connection and Saab's strengthening family ties with Opel.
Fast forward to 2009 when GM's plan sees Saab add the 9-1, a small-medium model closely related under the skin to the next Opel/Holden Astra. The current 9-5 continues until 2009, and the 9-3 until 2010, when there'll be new models carrying those designations.
But that's then, and for now we've got the 9-3 diesels to drive and BioPower to contemplate.
The six-speed manual 1.9-litre turbodiesel engine is essentially the same 110kW/320Nm unit found in the manual Astra CDTi. On the road, it performs well, feels refined and is never abrasively noisy. Saab also uses this punchy engine with the $2500 optional six-speed automatic transmission, unlike Holden's sissy 88kW/280Nm substitute.
The diesel is offered at two levels -- Linear and Linear Sport -- in all three models. The manual diesel's price range extends from $44,900 for the Linear sedan to $69,400 for the Linear Sport Convertible.
The TiD sedan and wagon duos ask $2000 more than the equivalent 129kW/265Nm 2-litre petrol models, while the TiD Convertibles raise the ante by a further $500.
Regardless, the optional automatic costs $2500, but the diesels' version has six speeds versus the petrol models five.
On Saab's figures, the diesels are shaded by their petrol siblings for raw acceleration through the gears, but turn the tables for in-gears rolling response. And it's no contest in fuel consumption where the TiD sedan, for example, officially registers 5.8 and 7.0 litres per 100km (manual/auto) where the petrol editions post 8.3 and 9.6lt/100km respectively. With either fuel, the SportCombi and Convertible versions are only slightly less economical.
Fuel consumption as such isn't ethanol's strong point. So its 'economy' aspect depends upon ethanol-petrol blends being significantly cheaper than petrol. On the one hand, ethanol is an octane enhancer and enables appropriately tuned engines to develop more power than possible with straight petrol.
For instance, burning E85 (85/15 ethanol/petrol blend, 104RON), the UK-specification 2.3t BioPower 9-5 here for Saab's flag-flying exercise claims maximum outputs of 154kW and 310Nm, against 136kW and 280Nm on premium (95RON) petrol.
It follows that the Biopower versions (on E85 remember) are decisively superior in acceleration tests. They gild that performance in laboratory tests by showing the same combined-cycles fuel consumption as the petrol siblings.
But, Saab admits, in the real world flex-fuel cars can chew through up to 30 per cent more juice than their petrol powered stablemates.
BioPower's party trick is that it cheerfully adjusts to petrol or E85 or anything between, in the same tank at the same time, without so much as a burp.
The overriding attraction of ethanol is that it reduces exhaust C02 emissions (by up to 80 per cent, Saab says), comes from renewable/sustainable sources, requires no major re-engineering in cars, can be distributed and marketed through existing infrastructure, is cheaper than petrol and reduces reliance on fuel imports.
Of course it's not perfect. Naysayers proclaim (rightly) that ethanol and BioPower won't single-handedly save the planet. But it's a start, a definitive first step. Which is exactly what every journey needs.
Sooner rather than later, in the circumstances.