Saab story Lafayette's Subaru plant to make "crossover" Saab.

• Author: Kaelble, Steve
• Position: Around Indiana - XUV

LET'S SEE IF WE CAN GET this straight--a Swedish automaker is teaming up with a Japanese counterpart to build a new car in Indiana.

That's the plan recently announced by Saab Automobile AB and Fuji Heavy Industries, parent company of Subaru. But its not exactly a marriage of competitors, because General Motors owns all of Saab and one-fifth of Fuji, which builds vehicles in Japan and at Lafayette's Subaru of Indiana Automotive factory.

The new seven-passenger model will be what the industry calls an XUV, short for crossover utility vehicle, says Tom Easterday, senior vice president at SIA. In fact, the Saab will be one of two XUV models coming off the line in Lafayette. "Subaru's is going to come first, and Saab's will be based on that platform," Easterday says.

Neither model has a name yet, and the schedule remains somewhat up in the air, but Easterday expects the first of the new Subaru XUVs to begin production next year, with Saabs potentially following in 2006.

The move comes at a good time for SIA, which originally stood for Subaru-Isuzu Automotive. The last Isuzu produced under the original joint venture drove away last month, Easterday says. "It's great to have another brand again, particularly a premium brand like Saab," he says. "It shows that the quality of the product we make here is being recognized by other companies."

The Subaru-Saab project is the second pairing the two car companies with fiercely loyal followings. It follows on the wheels of the Saab 9-2X, a premium, all-wheel-drive sports compact.

Kevin Smith, Saab's director of corporate communications, says the Indiana-built vehicle will be a "car-based, unibody-construction utility vehicle...