The serious business has begun for the development of the new Saab 9-4X after it was caught entering the Nurburgring circuit in Germany by the good folks at Bridgetogantry.com presumably to do a bit of high speed testing on the new SUV.
The base for the new model will be General Motors' mid-size SUV Theta platform which is currently used for the Saturn Vue and Opel Antara, but it will be heavily revised to a more premium level and will be shared with the Cadillac BRX/SRX.
Sources have claimed this particular prototype has a 284 horsepower V6 engine under the hood mated to an automatic gear box. The dimensions of the model stand at a length 495cm and 192cm wide bringing an estimated kerb weight to around 2180kg.
Styling follows the same theme as the 9-4X BioPower Concept with the aggressive half oval grille remaining intact, but obviously the overall profile of the vehicle had to be heavily toned down for production.
It should makes its world debut at next year's Detroit Motor Show before production commences at the GM factory in Mexico.
