Saab

2012 Volkswagen Passat SEL: Volkswagen appears no longer content being merely a Saab alternative. Price: $28,395 (The base S model starts at $19,995, and Bluetooth Technology is standard.) Marketer's pitch: "Designing a bigger smile. " Conventional wisdom: Edmunds.com says it deserves "serious consideration. " Reality: Whatever Volkswagen is doing must be working; sales for the 2011 calendar year are up 22 percent in the U.S. over the same period in 2010.

LEANING FORWARD for a better view, Rob Good and son Robbie examine a Saab on display at the Philadelphia International Automobile Show. They toured the exhibits at the Civic Center yesterday, the second day in the show's nine-day run.

A West Vincent woman was killed and her two children injured yesterday morning when her 1992 Saab struck a median and then a guardrail two miles east of the Pennsylvania Turnpike's Downingtown exit, police said. Lita C. Mueller of the 1400 block of North Hilltop Road, Birchrunville, was pronounced dead at 10:21 a.m. at the scene of the accident, which police said occurred about 9:10 a.m. Christina Mueller, 13, and Christopher Mueller, 5, were airlifted to Brandywine Hospital, where they were in satisfactory condition last night, a nursing supervisor said.

Dorman Products Inc., Colmar, said today it will put the international portion of its ScanTech replacement auto parts business up for sale. The pre-tax cost of leaving that business, which is based in Sweden, will be $5 million. ScanTech has lost money the past three years, including $2 million last year. The unit distributes Volvo and Saab parts, and the North American portion of the business will be transferred to Dorman's Montgomery County headquarters from Sweden.

One suspect was wounded by police and three others escaped after a car chase and gun battle that began in Center City late Friday night, Philadelphia police said yesterday. The incident started at 11:38 p.m. when Officer Michael Chitwood, on patrol in the Sixth District at 11th and Poplar Streets, saw several men shooting at a black car. As Chitwood approached, the men opened fire on him, and he fired twice in return, police said. The men climbed into a 1987 Saab and, pursued by the officer, fled north on 11th Street.

Three Philadelphia men were killed early Sunday morning in a one-vehicle accident on the Atlantic City Expressway in Winslow Township. Bernard L. Sanford Jr., 20, was driving west in a gray Saab with passengers Stephen Baxley, 23, and Steven Blount, 22. He lost control of the car about 12:30 a.m. near Milepost 39.7 in Camden County. The car spun into the left lane and off the left side of the road, where it smashed into several trees in the median, New Jersey State Police Sgt. Stephen Jones said.

The Saab 900, which looks as if it were styled by that famous Swedish designer Darth Vader, is an offbeat car for people who don't want to be seen as lemmings in mindless pursuit of automotive fashion. The Saab 900 Turbo SPG is a car for people who want to avoid the life of the lemming with gusto. The SPG is a faster, better-handling, more luxurious 900. Because it is stabling 175 horses under its weirdly hinged hood, the SPG (Special Performance Group) is a lot more powerful than the normally aspirated, 128- horsepower standard 900 and markedly more muscular than the 160-horse 900 Turbo.

Subaru has long had a reputation in this country for selling rugged all-wheel-drive vehicles popular with outdoors types. Now, the Japanese carmaker's parent, Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd., wants to raise Subaru's image into the realm of premium-car brands - such as Audi, Volvo and Saab - without alienating loyal customers. Industry analysts said Subaru, which has its U.S. headquarters in Cherry Hill, was following a trend among automakers with middle-market brands. The goal is to charge more and increase profitability.

Clashing drug dealers left behind not only a body in their latest spree of violence Saturday night but two of the most expensive cars made. What appeared to be a drive-by hit outside the emergency room entrance of the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania netted police a 1990 Mercedes convertible (the killers' car) and a 1990 Saab (the victim's car). The killing was one of five murders over the weekend as the city's bloody murder beat goes on. According to Lt. Joseph Witte, the shooting happened about 10:25 p.m. on 34th Street at Spruce, near the hospital's emergency unit.

2012 Volkswagen Passat SEL: Volkswagen appears no longer content being merely a Saab alternative. Price: $28,395 (The base S model starts at $19,995, and Bluetooth Technology is standard.) Marketer's pitch: "Designing a bigger smile. " Conventional wisdom: Edmunds.com says it deserves "serious consideration. " Reality: Whatever Volkswagen is doing must be working; sales for the 2011 calendar year are up 22 percent in the U.S. over the same period in 2010.

STOCKHOLM - The owner of Saab Automobile says the administrator of the cash-strapped carmaker's reorganization under bankruptcy protection wants to terminate the process. Swedish Automobile N.V., the Netherlands-based company that owns Saab, said Thursday that lawyer Guy Lofalk will file an application to end the reorganization process to a Swedish court. The company said it will contest the application and apply for a replacement of Lofalk as administrator. Saab entered bankruptcy protection in September after a court granted it a three-month period to reorganize its operations and try to solve a severe liquidity crisis.

Dorman Products Inc., Colmar, said today it will put the international portion of its ScanTech replacement auto parts business up for sale. The pre-tax cost of leaving that business, which is based in Sweden, will be $5 million. ScanTech has lost money the past three years, including $2 million last year. The unit distributes Volvo and Saab parts, and the North American portion of the business will be transferred to Dorman's Montgomery County headquarters from Sweden.

After General Motors sold Saab early last year for $74 million, some Saab stock, and five Wheaties box tops, the Swedish automaker has lurched from one crisis to another, all of them money-based, of course. As Saab's new owner, now called Swedish Automobile, tried desperately to raise capital, financing deals fell through, workers went unpaid for a time, unions threatened to force liquidation, unionists on the company board resigned, and production stopped for a time because suppliers weren't being paid.

THE CARS OF my driving youth were all-American - Mom's Mercury station wagon, a no-frills Ford that Grandmom Bert abandoned in our driveway, then a hulking black Oldsmobile convertible (nicknamed "The Batmobile") that I'd talked my usually conservative dad into buying and regularly borrowed to impress the girls. When it came time to buy my own first car, though, I opted for a zippy little Italian sports car - a Fiat Spider 124 - first spotted and instantly adored at the Philadelphia Auto Show.

Three Philadelphia men were killed early Sunday morning in a one-vehicle accident on the Atlantic City Expressway in Winslow Township. Bernard L. Sanford Jr., 20, was driving west in a gray Saab with passengers Stephen Baxley, 23, and Steven Blount, 22. He lost control of the car about 12:30 a.m. near Milepost 39.7 in Camden County. The car spun into the left lane and off the left side of the road, where it smashed into several trees in the median, New Jersey State Police Sgt. Stephen Jones said.

A group of young men sat in silence on the steps of a North Philadelphia rowhouse yesterday afternoon, mourning their friend Steve Blount, as rain pelted an awning above them. Blount, police said, was one of three men killed early yesterday when the 2001 Saab he was traveling in drove off the Atlantic City Expressway in Camden County and hit several trees. "We still don't really know a whole lot," said his uncle Michael Blount. "He was a good kid. " New Jersey State Police confirmed that Blount and Stephen Baxley, 23, of Tolbut Street, were two of the three men killed in the accident.

In the Region Higher jobless rate as more look The Philadelphia area's unemployment rate increased in April to 9.3 percent from 9.2 percent in March as more people looked for work with the improving economy, the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry said. Since not all of them found jobs, the rate increased. The number unemployed locally rose by 4,300 to 280,300; the number with jobs rose by 3,200 to 2,718,100. - Paul Schweizer L-3 lays off 45 engineers L-3 Communications , a defense contractor that makes communications and intelligence systems on the Camden waterfront, laid off 45 of its 420 union engineers Tuesday.

Russell Crowe as a crusading reporter at a sinking broadsheet lately acquired by a multinational corporation. Ben Affleck as a rising politician crusading against a Halliburton-like company when his staffer (and secret lover) ends up in front of a subway train. Like their workplaces, Cal McAffrey (Crowe) is rumpled as yesterday's paper and Rep. Stephen Collins (Affleck) polished as the marble corridors of Congress. The journo and the pol, once college roommates, play hide-and-seek in State of Play , an enthralling Washington thriller where murder mystery and political scandal intersect.