Saab: cold and souless : culture|garage

Inside Sweden’s ICEHOTEL, is a Saab room, called Move Your Mind. Saab’s press release (after the jump) states, room will allow the public to experience Saab – the brand, its spirit, tonality and core values through innovative design installations made wholly from ice.

Uhhhh, the brand is cold and unchanging like ice? The current flagship 9-5 is based on over a nine year old platform. Oh wait, maybe it’s about Saab’s ice cold revenues…

Why can’t you just make cool shit and say, “Hey we thought it would be cool to carve a car out of ice.” Don’t get all pretentious and talk about how it is a reflection of your brand.

Another picture and the Saab press release

The Swedish premium car brand, Saab, has created a truly all-encompassing brand experience that will open its doors to the public on the 11th February 2008.

Housed within the ICEHOTEL in Jukkasjärvi, Sweden, the Saab Move Your Mind room will allow the public to experience Saab – the brand, its spirit, tonality and core values through innovative design installations made wholly from ice.

Designed and created by Simon Padian, chief designer for Saab and Tjåsa Gusfors – a leading designer at the ICEHOTEL, specializing in ice and snow sculpture, the installation has been inspired by Saab’s core brand pillars - progressive design, responsible performance and sporty driver focus. By drawing inspiration from these core brand values and from the award-winning Saab Aero X concept car, the installation showcases Saab’s heritage in design innovation and independent thinking.

Simon Padian: ”The Move Your Mind room is designed to be a journey, a flow, a pulse which aims to disrupt and challenge the visitors perceptions of what is normal or expected. The installation is designed to create an audiovisual experience that defies the visitor’s senses. We hope that the public will find it thought-provoking and leave feeling more engaged with the Saab brand.”

Visitors will be encouraged to walk through an ice suite featuring key Saab brand messages and showcasing Saab’s design heritage. Highlights include an ice sculpted Saab Aero X and impressive light and sound sequences.

ShareThis

Was it good for you? Subscribe to our articles.

Trackback from your own site

One Response to “Saab: cold and souless”

blix Says:
February 11th, 2008 at 7:36 pm

pretty lame marketing ploy… btw the 9-5 is actually in its 10th year without a design overhaul (released in the UK in 1998). i was chatting with another 9-5 owner at the philadelphia auto show and he thought the lack of change was good thing since his 2001 still looks new. but saab sales are pretty low and an update is definitely needed to stay attractive. my feelings lately have been negative toward saab/GM. they seem to be doing all the wrong things, too often perhaps so that i get the feeling they’re purposely driving away buyers. and this ice gimmick, it’s so pathetic. saab’s core values sculpted in ice?! wtf was marketing thinking?