The XWD Drive Should Have Been a Symbol of Saab, Not Audi

Although somehow at the end of its life Saab introduced a car with four-wheel drive to the market, by all accounts it could have been much earlier – even before Audi and their XWD drive which they branded as “Quattro“.

Most of us know that it was the top model in the Saab 9-3 program that was branded as “Turbo X“. It had a 280hp Holden-sourced V6 turbo engine, with the then latest advanced four-wheel drive with automatic rear-axle differential lock and plenty of body tweaks to make it look like a ‘street racer’.

In addition to the “Turbo X” model, which was produced in a limited series, the much cheaper 9-3 with four-wheel drive was also available to customers. A typical representative of this version was, say, the model Saab 9-3 2.0T XWD. The Saab 9-3 2.0T XWD can be seen as a lightweight version of the top model. It has a slightly smaller engine, slightly less advanced four-wheel drive and slightly less body tuning, and it is interesting that the result is a more successful car at a price lower by almost one third.

But how did Saab get the XWD model?

If we look a little more into the past, we could see that the XWD drive could have been a symbol of Saab, just like the FWD, even before Audi and their Quattro drive. And the key link between Saab and Audi with four-wheel drive is the Johansson family and their huge contribution to the auto industry in general.

Although there were several from the same family, Sigvard Johansson was perhaps the most significant. Sigvard was a Swedish engineer and inventor of the so-called Haldex coupling, which is now found in many car brands around the world.

The Haldex clutch

The Haldex clutch is a component of the drive system with a second axle (front or rear) that can be connected, which makes the machine four-wheel drive. This component ensures smooth connection of the axle when the main drive wheels slip. The amount of torque directly depends on how tightly the clutch is clamped (discs in the structure of the mechanism).

Sigvard Johansson

Designer, inventor and racing driver Sigvard Johansson was born in Långasjö in Småland and was attracted to Trollhättan and Saab in 1959. Johansson was loyal to the SAAB company until 1984, when he had already started several of his own companies, such as Grunneboföretaget IPU AB, for engineering and prototype development. Among other things, he invented his own compressor and a new method for belt tension.

Peter Johansson

Johansson married Ruth Gun-Britt Johansson on April 21, 1962. and in November of the same year they had a son, Peter. Continuing his father’s mission, it was Peter Johansson who was one of the key people at Saab who integrated Haldex four-wheel drive into Saab’s 9-3, many years later after Peter’s father invented the Haldex coupling.

Haldex XWD – How did it all begin?

Motorsport was Johansson’s great interest and he drove track races in his younger days. He had great success in racing, both in track and ice racing competitions and has won races at the Nürburgring in Germany.

When Johansson was testing his son Peter’s rally car (later Saab 9-3 Turbo X test driver and demonstrator), he got an idea and constructed what would become sensational world news. It was a unique clutch for four-wheel drive, which eventually became known as the Haldex clutch. He received a patent for the invention in 1988, and in 1992 the company Haldex took over the production rights and started serial production of the clutch in Landskrona in 1996.

Johansson could be happy that his invention was thus included in all cars of the Volkswagen Group with a transverse engine, and therefore also in the legendary Audi. Today, the clutch is found in over forty brands of cars, then the latest generation of Haldex (generation 4) is found in the Saab 9-3 XWD (Turbo X).

Haldex Traction

The Haldex Coupling (First generation) made its first appearance 1998 in the Audi TT, Audi S3 8L and VW Golf with an electronically controlled hydraulic-mechanical all-wheel drive concept. Haldex Coupling is a slip clutch that transfers torque from an input shaft to an output shaft to make cars four wheel drive.

When the front and rear axles of the car rotate at different speeds, a hydraulic pressure builds up in the clutch. This pressure is used to press together a number of lamellae so that the torque from the input axle is transferred to the output rear axle. A finesse is that the construction works in both directions, which means four-wheel drive even when reversing. In addition, power can be transmitted either from front to back, which happens for example in cars from Saab, Volvo and Volkswagen/Audi, or from back to front as in the Bugatti Veyron.

Later versions of the clutch have an electric pump, which can fully or partially pressurize the clutch. In this way, you can get four-wheel drive to prevent the car from skidding, not just to dampen a skid that has already occurred.

The Haldex clutch was invented by rally driver Sigvard “Sigge” Johansson, but is named after the Swedish company Haldex that developed it. The part of Haldex that manufactures the Haldex coupling was sold in 2011 to BorgWarner.

How could a Saab be a “Quattro”?

If there was a little more luck and listening on the part of Saab management, and a little later GM management, Saab cars would have integrated and offered four-wheel drive in their cars long before all other manufacturers. Just as was the case with Turbo Chargers.

If there was enough understanding on the part of Saab management at the beginning of the 80s of the last century, already then, buyers of Saab cars around the world could drive safer (compared to the prevailing FWD) XWD machines.

If that were the case, Sigvard Johansson would have developed his invention within the Saab company and it would have been integrated into the Saab cars of that time. It would be similar a little later, when Sigvard’s son Peter was in the Saab company working on the same development tasks.

At the Saab company, a lot of work was done on the integration of the drive on all four wheels (AWD)

It was Peter, with his considerable driving skills and deep involvement in the development of four-wheel drives, who expressed regret during a promotional drive in Australia in 2008. In 2008, Peter Johansson stated that he had spent more than twenty years at Saab working on the development of an additional three advanced four-wheel drive systems(!), none of which General Motors deemed fit to bring to market?!

Peter was particularly saddened by this fact of denial by GM, because in addition to him, two more generations from his family worked in the development of the Saab company, right from the very beginning after the Second World War.

Why does Audi have to reap all the laurels?

During those test drives by Australian journalists at GM’s test track, Johansson complained from the passenger seat about SAAB’s position at the time – describing how unfair it was for companies like Audi to get all the credit for AWD. And all because of GM’s refusal to implement AWD for the Saab brand until that moment.

XWD: The Real-World Engineering Legacy

What made Saab’s XWD (Haldex Gen4) stand out?

Unlike typical reactive AWD setups, Saab’s Cross-Wheel Drive was a proactive torque-distribution system. It could route power to the rear wheels even before slippage occurred — sending as little as 4% of torque during steady cruising, or up to 85% to a single rear wheel under aggressive cornering. The secret lay in the Haldex Gen4 coupling paired with Saab’s unique electronic limited-slip differential (eLSD), controlled in real time by the car’s ESP and traction systems. The result was a car that didn’t just respond to the road — it anticipated it.

The people behind the system were Saab engineers such as Mats Fägerhag, who led the 9-5 NG and chassis programs under GM’s Epsilon II platform, and Peter Johansson, later founder of Chassis Autonomy, who oversaw integration of Haldex AWD into the 9-3 range. Their approach wasn’t about brute grip — it was about predictive handling, true to Saab’s aviation logic: anticipate, don’t react.

Why Gen4 mattered:
Earlier Haldex systems (Gen1–3) waited for wheel slip before engaging the clutch. The Gen4 upgrade brought a pressure accumulator, faster hydraulics, and smarter ECU control integrating engine and brake inputs — enabling torque pre-load and full ESP cooperation.

In the Turbo X, the eLSD added yet another layer, vectoring torque across the rear axle. That’s why a well-driven Turbo X feels more neutral and composed than many performance sedans twice its price — a thinking AWD, not a panicking one.

XWD Timeline

• Sept 2007: Saab unveils the 9-3 Turbo X at the Frankfurt Motor Show – the first production car with XWD and eLSD.
• 2008: XWD becomes available across the 9-3 lineup (sedan and SportCombi).
• 2009: The 9-3 X crossover debuts with XWD.
• 2010–2011: The 9-5 NG arrives with XWD standard on Aero models; Trollhättan develops most of the chassis logic internally.
• 2011: The 9-4X luxury crossover uses XWD tuned for SUV dynamics.
• Post-2011: GM reuses the architecture for the Opel Insignia 4×4, minus Saab’s eLSD calibration.

How XWD Compared to Its Rivals

• Audi quattro (transverse models): Uses Haldex as well, but without Saab’s eLSD and custom ESP mapping.
• Volvo AWD (P3 generation): Similar Haldex core, tuned more for stability than driver involvement.
• BMW xDrive: Multi-plate clutch system with mechanical bias; less capable of single-wheel torque vectoring.
• Subaru Symmetrical AWD: Full-time mechanical differential – effective but not predictive; Saab’s XWD relied on brains, not gears.

Living with XWD

Maintaining an XWD car today requires passion and precision.The Haldex pump, ECU, and rear eLSD clutch all need periodic oil changes and software adaptation. Replacement control modules must be programmed via Tech2/SPS, and genuine parts are scarce. Still, Saab owners across Europe and North America keep these systems alive — rebuilding pumps, sourcing controllers from Volvos or Cadillacs, and proving that true engineering never dies, it just gets rebuilt.

The Future That Almost Was: Saab’s Electric AWD Vision

Just as XWD was reaching maturity, Saab was already testing its next step – Electric AWD (e-AAM).
In 2010, Saab and American Axle & Manufacturing formed a Trollhättan-based joint venture called e-AAM Driveline Systems, aiming to create modular hybrid and electric drivetrains. The concept replaced hydraulic clutches with independent rear electric drive units, allowing torque vectoring without mechanical losses. The system’s debut came in 2011 on a test mule – a Saab 9-3 e-AAM prototype – which demonstrated seamless torque distribution on ice in back-to-back tests.

The vision was to offer a plug-and-play electric AWD module that could fit into existing platforms with minimal redesign – the spiritual successor to XWD’s philosophy of adaptability and control. Saab planned to use it in next-generation models after 2012, but the company’s collapse that winter ended the project before production began.

e-AAM e-AWD/Hybrid system with Torque Vectoring. Saab Prototype vehicle on rollers. Electric motor on rear axel powers the vehicle in the event of no grip at front axle:

Ironically, a decade later, the same e-AAM technology became standard in modern EVs and hybrids, from Volvos to Jaguars – a reminder that Saab was again years ahead of its time.

If XWD embodied mechanical intuition, e-AAM represented electronic foresight – proof that Saab’s engineers never stopped thinking about what comes next.

Symbolism That Outlived the Brand

When Haldex announced that the Saab 9-3 Turbo X would be the first car in the world to use its fourth-generation AWD, it should have been the moment Saab claimed its own symbol – as Audi had done decades earlier with Quattro. But fate had other plans.

Today, XWD remains Saab’s silent signature – invisible to marketing, yet unforgettable to those who’ve driven it. Among Turbo X, Aero XWD, and 9-5 NG owners, it’s a badge of honor, a whisper of what Saab once was — and what it could have become.