Saab model is crash-hot

Swedish carmaker Saab has always had a reputation for building strong, safe, largely bulletproof vehicles.

Only, unlike its great rival Volvo, it never put its name up in lights, preferring instead to let critics and the integrity of its cars do the talking.

Such a policy has earned Saab much praise over the years, although it still remains a small carmaker, now owned outright by America's General Motors.

GM wants to take advantage of Saab's quality reputation and boost overall production, which totalled about 130,000 vehicles last year.

It surely will make use in the market place of Saab's latest accolade - the title of "safest car ever tested."

Europe's New Car Assessment Programme crash-tested a line-up of luxury cars and voted the Saab 9-5 sedan the winner, awarding it four stars and a score of 91 per cent.

The next best was the Volvo S80 with four stars and 86 per cent. The Saab finished first ahead of such prestigeous models as Volvo, Mercedes-Benz E-Class, Audi A6 and BMW 5-Series.

The smaller Saab 9-3 also scored a four-star rating in the tests. Both Saab models received a perfect 100 per cent in the side-impact segment.

The results are relevant to luxury car buyers in New Zealand, because Australia's NCAP test programme, carried out on cars built in Australia and sold here, has adopted Europe's NCAP crash-test procedures.