Saab’s Lost 2013 9-3 Future Is Moving Again – Project 540 Returns After 15 Years!

Fifteen years after Saab Automobile collapsed, one of the most important unfinished engineering programs from Trollhättan has returned in the most convincing form possible: not as a rendering, not as a museum explanation, and not as another speculative “what if” discussion, but as hardware mounted under real Saab 9-3 bodies.

The project is known to Saab people under several connected names. Inside Saab, it was Project 540, the technical basis for the successor to the final-generation Saab 9-3. In the wider enthusiast world, it has long been associated with the Phoenix platform, partly because of the Jason Castriota era and the design work that was supposed to push Saab into a new decade. Today, through the work of Griffin Cars, the name Fenix is also being used for the same technical story.

The newly premiered video on the Swedish YouTube channel Alriks Bilar, hosted by Alrik Söderlind, gives the project its clearest public presentation so far. The first episode, published under the title “Fenix-Saaben uppstår!”, introduces Anders Johansson and Gabriel Palmenäs of Griffin Cars, both with Saab background, and opens a planned series on the technology that Saab had developed before the 2011 bankruptcy stopped the program.

This first video is not a complete technical deep dive yet. It is the opening chapter. But it already shows enough to make the story important: a red Saab 9-3 Convertible running Phoenix/Fenix platform hardware, a 9-5NG-style interior conversion, a concrete plan for 8 customer cars, and Saab engineering material from 2009 explaining why the new rear suspension mattered.

This is not Saab returning as a manufacturer. It is something narrower and more technically meaningful: part of Saab’s unfinished 2013 future being assembled in small numbers by people who understand what the original program was trying to achieve.

Watch the Alriks Bilar video here:

From Anders Johansson’s 9-3 QI Charger to Saab’s Unfinished Platform

SaabPlanet readers may remember Anders Johansson from a much smaller but very revealing project. In 2024, he contacted us about a wireless QI charger for the Saab 9-3. The solution looked simple only after the work was done. Johansson had spent around a year recreating the awkward geometry of the small storage area in the 9-3 center console, producing at least twenty 3D-printed versions before arriving at a clean fit.

That earlier project matters here because it showed a certain method: no cutting for the sake of convenience, no visual damage to the original interior, no lazy universal-fit solution. It was an upgrade designed around the car, not forced into it.

Now the scale is completely different. Johansson and Gabriel Palmenäs are not presenting a cabin accessory. They are presenting a way to put Saab’s unfinished Project 540 technology under real 9-3 cars, using material acquired from NEVS and development knowledge that never had the chance to reach series production.

In May 2026, Johansson told SaabPlanet to keep an eye on Alriks Bilar. He explained that a series of videos had been recorded about the technical attributes of the Saab Fenix platform, the platform that was supposed to form the base of upcoming Saab models. He also said Griffin Cars had bought a large amount of material from NEVS and that the plan was to build a limited run of eight vehicles. Two cars already existed and are shown in the films.

That makes this first video more than a launch clip. It is the public start of a very rare Saab technical story.

Project 540 Was Far Beyond a Styling Proposal

The Alriks Bilar video description states the point directly: the successor to the last Saab 9-3 had come a very long way when Saab went bankrupt. Project 540, or Phoenix, had a new advanced front suspension, new rear suspension, new driveline and even an electric rear axle in development.

That last sentence is central to understanding the project. Many enthusiasts remember the Saab PhoeniX concept from Geneva 2011, and SaabPlanet has already written about Jason Castriota’s lost Saab concepts. Those designs still matter because they showed where Saab wanted to go visually. But Griffin Cars is now dealing with the engineering beneath the future car, not with reproducing Castriota’s body design.

Alrik Söderlind’s own teaser captured the difference well: this was the Saab that should have arrived around 2013. Not the body, but everything underneath – the technology.

The development mule shown in the video is based on a Saab 9-3, so at first glance it can mislead the casual viewer. Look closer and the differences start to appear. The car has visible arch extensions, a wider track and a changed wheelbase. The red Convertible shown in the video is not trying to look like a production Phoenix 9-3. It is carrying the technical package that was being developed for that future car.

That makes it more interesting than a replica would be.

Why the Existing Saab 9-3 Body Can Take Phoenix/Fenix Hardware

The technical logic behind the project comes from Saab’s own financial constraints at the time. Saab did not have the budget to create an entirely unrelated architecture without considering what could be reused or adapted from the existing 9-3 structure. That limitation now works in Griffin Cars’ favor.

In the video, Johansson explains that Saab was in a tight financial position during the development of the Fenix platform, which meant engineers had to make as few changes as possible to the existing 9-3 architecture. As a result, much of the platform can be adapted into a 9-3 body, although this should not be confused with a simple bolt-on kit.

The rear subframe attachment points are moved about 25 mm rearward. The spring mounting points are different. The dampers sit differently because the wheel movement is fundamentally different. The wider track and longer wheelbase also require visible changes around the wheel openings.

That is why the red Convertible wears black 9-3X-style arch extensions. They are not there for visual drama. They are there because the wheel position and suspension package demand extra space.

The body may still say Saab 9-3, but the stance tells a different story.

The Chassis, Not the Badge, Is the Real Story

The strongest technical part of the first video is not the engine, not the interior and not even the eight-car plan. It is the chassis.

The Saab engineering slide from September 2009 shown in the video is a key document. It compares the earlier 4-link rear suspension with the Project 540 5-link layout and shows exactly what Saab was trying to improve: shock absorber ratio, side-view swing arm behavior and isolation.

On the slide, the older 4-link layout is shown with a shock ratio of about 0.7, a negative side-view swing arm angle and semi-isolation. The new 5-link arrangement is shown with a shock ratio of about 1.0, positive side-view swing arm geometry and full isolation.

That may sound dry, but in driving terms it is central. Saab was trying to keep the car communicative while filtering out the rough secondary movements that make a car feel less sophisticated over broken surfaces, bridge joints and road seams.

Johansson explains this in the video through driving impressions. He describes how the front still gives a small signal over a road joint, while the rear no longer produces the expected secondary kick. You hear the impact, but the usual rear-end movement does not arrive in the same way.

That is why the old Saab slide is so valuable. It proves that the driving impression is not just personal enthusiasm from someone deeply invested in the project. It matches Saab’s own engineering target from 2009.

A More Agile 9-3 Without the Old Compromise

One of the most revealing moments in the video comes when Johansson talks about how the car turns into corners. Older road-going Saabs, especially powerful front-wheel-drive models, often carried a familiar handling pattern: strong mid-range acceleration, confidence at speed, but also a tendency to push wide when loaded hard in a corner.

Johansson says the Phoenix/Fenix-based car behaves differently. Instead of immediately falling into understeer, it has an effect where the car almost wants to enter the corner first. The front end bites more willingly, and the limit of understeer is pushed further away compared with the old 9-3.

This is where the project becomes more than a parts transplant. Saab’s last 9-3 was a good long-distance car and, in Aero form, a fast one. But Project 540 was clearly intended to move the platform into a new dynamic generation.

The Alriks Bilar series should become especially important when the road test episode arrives. A comparison between a standard 9-3 and one of the Griffin Cars conversions could finally give the Saab community a clearer answer to the question that has been hanging over Project 540 for years: how much better was the next 9-3 actually going to be?

The BMW N18 Engine, Saab Calibration and the 20 Nm Detail

The engine will inevitably generate debate. The Griffin Cars cars use the BMW/Mini-related N18B16 turbocharged four-cylinder engine, a powerplant that Saab had selected for the Phoenix-era program. Some Saab purists will stop reading at that point. They should not.

The relevant issue is not only the origin of the base engine, but how it was integrated, calibrated and paired with the chassis. In the video and presentation material, the Vector specification is shown with 190 hp and 255+20 Nm, while the Aero versions are planned with 220 hp. The extra 20 Nm appears as a boost function, triggered at a specific pedal position.

Johansson describes it as a kind of controlled “ketchup effect”, a deliberate nod to the character of the Saab 99 Turbo. That is a small but telling detail. Saab was not trying to make the Phoenix 9-3 feel anonymous. It was trying to create a modern power delivery that still carried some brand memory in the way the car responded.

There will be four Vector cars and four Aero cars. The Vector builds use the 190 hp setup, while the Aero builds use the 220 hp version. Each group is split between automatic and manual transmissions. The screenshot shown in the video lists the Vector cars with the F21 six-speed automatic or M32 six-speed manual, Fenix front suspension, 5-link Fenix rear suspension and comfort chassis setting.

The Eight Cars Are Not Fantasy Builds

The first Alriks Bilar episode makes the eight-car plan concrete. Griffin Cars is not presenting an open-ended dream of future production. The limitation comes from the material they managed to secure. They have enough sets to build eight complete cars with front suspension, rear suspension and driveline.

The cars will be built on customer order. Griffin Cars will source a suitable donor body in good condition, rebuild it with the Phoenix/Fenix hardware, handle registration as a modified vehicle and update the car according to the customer’s selected specification.

Body styles can include SportSedan, SportCombi or Convertible. Some specifications are fixed by the available hardware, while others can be decided by the customer. The first four cars are Vector versions priced at EUR 55,000, while the Aero versions are listed at EUR 60,000. A former development Vector SportCombi is shown separately at EUR 40,000.

That former development car is especially interesting because it gives the story another physical anchor. It is listed as a Metallic Green SportCombi with N18B16 engine, 190 hp, 255+20 Nm and the six-speed manual M32 gearbox. It is not just a speculative order slot. It is a car already used by Griffin Cars during development.

The Electrical Integration May Be the Most Underrated Part

Mechanical hardware is easy to photograph. Electrical architecture is not. But in this project, the electronic integration may be one of the most serious achievements.

Johansson explains in the video that the original Saab 9-3 electrical architecture speaks one language, while the later GM electrical platform introduced around 2011 speaks another. To make the systems work together, he developed a custom body control module, effectively acting as a translator between the two architectures.

That is a major distinction. Without this, the project would remain a mechanical curiosity with unresolved electronic compromises. With it, the newer components, switches, modules and systems can communicate in a way that allows the car to behave like a coherent vehicle rather than a collection of adapted parts.

This also connects directly with the optional 9-5NG-style interior.

The 9-5NG Interior Option Points to Saab’s Planned Cabin Direction

One of the images from the video shows a Saab 9-3 Convertible with a 9-5NG-style dashboard and center stack. It immediately changes the impression of the car. The exterior still looks recognizably like a 9-3, but the cabin points toward the interior direction Saab was expected to take with the next-generation 9-3.

This is not just cosmetic substitution. Griffin Cars has done development work to make such an interior conversion functional. Johansson explains that if the necessary parts can be found, customers can choose the 9-5-style interior as an option.

That option matters because Project 540 was not supposed to be a suspension package. It was supposed to become a new Saab 9-3 generation. A car with Fenix platform hardware and a 9-5NG-style cabin gives a more complete impression of what Saab might have been preparing: familiar proportions outside, new architecture underneath, and a more modern cabin relationship to the 9-5NG.

The Electric Rear Axle Is Still Waiting for Its Episode

The first video also teases one of the most important parts of the wider Project 540 story: the electric rear axle. It was reportedly far advanced at the time, and the Alriks Bilar series will dedicate a coming episode to it, with Stefan Barbunopulos listed for that section.

For now, Griffin Cars is not offering the electric rear axle in the eight customer cars. Johansson says they are not there yet, partly because that would involve much more complex certification work. But the fact that the hardware and topic remain part of the series is important.

It reminds us that Saab’s last major platform work was not simply about making a better gasoline 9-3. The program was moving toward electrification, all-wheel-drive concepts and modular thinking before those words became standard press-release vocabulary across the industry.

Gabriel Palmenäs also brings an important point into the first episode. He worked on simulation and measurement, trying to connect models with reality and create what we would now call virtual twins. Today, “digital twin” has become a normal industry term. Saab engineers were already working in that direction in the final years.

Clearing Up the Turkish Platform Confusion

SaabPlanet has followed the Phoenix platform story for years. After Saab’s bankruptcy, NEVS acquired key assets and initially focused on an electric version of the second-generation 9-3.

Later, another Saab-related platform story became connected with Turkey, but Anders Johansson clarifies an important point: the Phoenix/Fenix platform itself was never sold. It remained within NEVS after Saab’s bankruptcy, while the Turkish project concerned development rights related to the older platform on which the Saab 9-3 was based.

As we wrote earlier in The Phoenix Platform Has Become More Flexible, Turkey worked on versions often referred to as Phoenix 1.0 and Phoenix 1.1 in sedan and wagon form. That work continued for years, but the Turkish national car program eventually moved in a different direction and adopted a new platform.

That distinction matters because Griffin Cars is working with surviving Project 540/Fenix material that stayed within the NEVS and Trollhättan orbit.

The Griffin Cars project does the opposite. It brings the hardware back into a recognizably Saab environment: Trollhättan, former Saab people, 9-3 bodies, NEVS material and the original development logic of Project 540.

This is why the Alriks Bilar video matters. It does not merely say the platform survived. It shows a path by which some of that technology can still be driven.

The Old Saab Infrastructure Is Still Part of the Story

The video was recorded in RECAS facilities, described in the episode as old Saab premises where vehicle development, measurement work, labs and test infrastructure still exist. That setting is more than background scenery.

Trollhättan has never fully erased Saab’s physical and technical footprint. Former Saab people moved to other companies, started small engineering businesses, joined suppliers or continued working around the remaining infrastructure. In the video, Johansson and Palmenäs speak openly about the specific Saab working culture: smaller teams, shorter decision paths, less bureaucracy and a need to find new ways because resources were limited.

That is not romantic filler. It explains how a project like Griffin Cars can exist at all. There are still people who know the drawings, still people who understand the development intent, and still enough local infrastructure to make serious vehicle work possible.

The phrase “Saab spirit” is often used lazily. In this case, it has a more concrete meaning: old drawings, surviving parts, local knowledge, NEVS cooperation, engineering persistence and enough unpaid evenings to make an impossible project slightly less impossible.

A Future Project Behind the Eight Cars

Anders Johansson previously told SaabPlanet that the profit from selling the eight vehicles would be used for a future project. In the Alriks Bilar video, the team is careful not to promise too much. Söderlind also avoids overstating it, but the direction is clear enough: the eight Phoenix/Fenix-based cars are not necessarily the final ambition.

There is hope for something larger in Trollhättan, possibly a small production project with genuine Saab technical DNA. The people involved are cautious, and they should be. Saab history is already full of exaggerated claims, failed rescues and announcements that aged badly.

That caution actually strengthens the story. Griffin Cars is not presenting itself as a new Saab. It is building a few specific cars from a finite stock of hardware. It is using those cars to prove capability, preserve engineering knowledge and possibly fund the next step.

That is a more believable path than another oversized resurrection claim.

Why This Matters 15 Years Later

The reason this story resonates is not only that eight unusual cars may be built. It is that Project 540 sits at the end of Saab’s original technical timeline.

The Saab 9-5NG reached production. The Saab 9-4X reached customers in tiny numbers. The final 9-3 continued through complicated late production and NEVS-era developments. But Project 540 was supposed to become the next full step, the car that would have replaced the familiar 9-3 with a more modern chassis, new driveline strategy, advanced rear suspension and future electrification.

The Alriks Bilar video even raises the idea that this could be seen as the last car on Saab’s timeline. That is a bold claim, but not an empty one. If the first Saab sits at the beginning of the museum story, then a Project 540-based Griffin Cars build may represent the last technical direction Saab Automobile itself was developing before the company stopped.

That does not make these cars factory Saabs. It does make them historically important.

The First Video Opens the Door, the Next Ones Must Do the Heavy Lifting

This first episode does not answer every question. It should not. Its job is to set the stage, show the cars, identify the people and explain why the Phoenix/Fenix platform deserves a proper technical series.

The coming episodes are the ones Saab enthusiasts should watch closely. Alriks Bilar has already announced planned segments on the front suspension with Gunnar Olsson, the rear suspension with Per Jansson, the electric rear axle with Stefan Barbunopulos, the engine with Peter Dahl, and a road test comparing one of the updated cars against a standard Saab 9-3.

That final comparison may be the most important. For years, Saab people have discussed what the next 9-3 might have been. Soon, at least part of that answer may be measurable from behind the wheel.

For now, the first video gives us enough: a red Convertible with a wider stance, a 9-5NG-style cabin, a visible eight-car plan, a real development SportCombi, NEVS-sourced material and a 2009 Saab engineering slide that explains why the 5-link rear suspension was not just a specification line.

Fifteen years after Saab’s collapse, Project 540 is no longer only a cancelled program. It is moving again, in limited numbers, through the hands of people who know what Saab was trying to build before the lights went out in Trollhättan.