Saab have doing some interesting stuff in the automotive field. These was the biopower vehicle some time again, and then they started a bit of push with the concept of a bio-hybrid. Fingers crossed that their innovative thinking rubs off on parent company, General Motors.

Early this year Saab Australia touted themselves as the first 'carbon neutral' car brand in the country. Largely on the back of an arrangement they had with Greenfleet, who plant 17 trees for every new or demonstration Saab car sold. On the website Saab suggest that this number of trees is equal to the first years driving. This is calculated as 4.36 tonnes of CO2 for the average car with 1,650 litres of fuel used over 14,100kms. Regular TH readers would be aware of our healthy scepticism of tree-planting carbon offsets, so we are pleased to observe that the early promotion, at least, also acknowledged “trees will also help tackle salinity, improve water quality and provide essential habitat for native species.”

But the concept must be doing something for Saab, because they currently have massive great billboards around Sydney, and I assume other cities, pushing it. Intriguing to see ‘green’ used to sell cars, when more usually it would be testosterone charged scenes of silver blurs hurtling around a winding mountain road, or scantily clad women looking on admiringly that get the job. Sometimes both. ::Saab Green Offer.

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