The Novanta was designed to celebrate the 90th birthday of Bertone.
After the concept car “Filo”, it is again a prototype, showing the possibilities of the “drive-by-wire”-technology. Based on a Saab drivetrain, the Novanta has one door on the left side, the passenger’s side has two doors. The rear lights, aligned with the exhausts, can only be seen, when lit.
Most concepts look futuristic but there are some styling elements that we can still find in the Saab 9-4X and second generation Saab 9-5 today. Most obvious is the canopy-styled roof with the black A-pillars. A similar design can be found on the Saab 9X concept that was introduced in 2001. And this is not a coincidence. The Saab 9X was designed by Saab’s Advanced Design studio and final assembly of the show car was at Bertone in Italy.
The 2008 Saab 9-X BioHybrid and Saab 9-4X concept show even more similarities with the thick and prominent C-pillar and blacked-out A-pillars.
The front of the Novanta has the Saab-shaped center grill, the familiar Griffin logo together with headlights that appear to be LED strips. Definitely Saab-inspired and a similar appearance as the Saab 9-5.