A Belgian Magazine’s 2027 Saab 900 Render Echoes Castriota’s Lost 9-3

A few days ago, the Belgian outlet Moniteur Automobile published “Et si Saab osait ressusciter la 900?” (“What if Saab dared to resurrect the 900?”), written by staff reporter and tester Frédéric Kevers. The piece imagines a 2027 or 2028 return of the 900 nameplate, timed to Saab’s 90th anniversary or the 900’s own 50th, under an unnamed “bold new owner” partnering with the Chinese manufacturer XPeng for the underlying EV technology. Only the prospective new owner is left unnamed; the technology partner is stated explicitly.

The magazine frames the piece as speculation from the outset, not reporting. It is one entry in a recurring summer series in which the outlet’s editorial team imagines the return of discontinued “pleasure” models. The same slate of related articles published alongside it covers imagined revivals of the Fiat Barchetta, the Alfa Romeo GTV, the Chrysler PT Cruiser and other cars, all following a similar structure: an editorial design pitch, invented technical specifications and a closing line asking where to sign.

Reading the Render Against Castriota’s Project 540

The render becomes considerably more interesting when compared with Jason Castriota’s own description of Saab’s unfinished Project 540 production 9-3. A recent, extended Alrik Söderlind interview with former Saab design director Jason Castriota, covered in SaabPlanet’s “Jason Castriota Explains Saab’s Lost 9-3, 9-2 and Sonett“, described in detail the production five-door 9-3 that was approaching design sign-off when Saab filed for bankruptcy in 2011. That car restored the hatchback format long associated with the classic 900, used a reduced front overhang compared with the outgoing 9-3, and narrowed through the cabin before widening again over the rear wheels, all wrapped in an aerodynamically driven, canopy-like glasshouse that Castriota says helped keep the production car’s drag coefficient below 0.26.

The Moniteur render shares several of those same specific traits: a short front overhang, a fastback profile that narrows through the greenhouse before flaring at the rear wheel arches, and blacked-out A-pillars producing a similar canopy effect. Individually, none of those elements is unusual; short overhangs, fastback tails and blacked-out pillars are common shorthand on contemporary EV renders generally. It is the combination of that overhang, that specific taper-then-flare through the cabin, and the same treatment of the rear haunches that strengthens the resemblance to Castriota’s unbuilt 9-3 specifically, more than to the classic 900 whose name and anniversary the piece actually borrows.

That resemblance is best read as a convergence of design logic rather than evidence of access. There is no indication that Castriota’s unpublished production 9-3 renderings were supplied as references for the Moniteur image. Castriota’s team arrived at those proportions through aerodynamic and packaging constraints; the Moniteur rendering appears to have reached a similar visual answer from an editorial brief built around a low, practical Saab fastback.

Kevers’ Own Design Fingerprint

Kevers’ own profile on the Moniteur Automobile site, published in October 2025, offers a useful lens on the piece. He describes himself as a writer and tester rather than a designer or engineer, says he would have liked to become a car designer but considers himself “too lazy” and short on talent, and names BMW’s design studio of the 1990s and 2000s as a dream internship. He also states plainly that large SUVs bore him and that he is indifferent to what he calls odorless, tasteless Chinese Tesla clones.

Most relevant here, Kevers singles out touchscreens and fully capacitive controls as what irritates him most about modern cars, arguing that head-up displays and well-placed physical controls are safer and more pleasant than screens. The imagined Saab’s cabin, built around a dual head-up display system, physical climate and media controls, a small retractable 6.5-inch screen and a revived Night Panel-style mode the piece calls “Black Panel,” maps closely onto those stated preferences. Read this way, the interior section describes Kevers’ own response to current car design more than any documented Saab engineering direction, with Saab terminology applied to give the idea a brand identity.

The Bottom Line

Neither XPeng, NEVS nor Saab AB has announced a Saab 900 or 9-3 revival. The Moniteur Automobile piece is best understood as editorial speculation built around two real anniversaries and an unresolved chapter of Saab history: the production 9-3 that Jason Castriota’s team nearly completed before the 2011 bankruptcy. For the sourced account of that car and the wider Project 540 program, see SaabPlanet’s full interview coverage. Visually, the render is an unintended echo of a Saab that almost reached production, wearing the 900 name nearly half a century after the original car’s debut.