[Image Source: CAR]

By Gunnar Heinrich

Actually there's no way to tell for sure from the spy shots that the captured tester mule is the next Saab 9-5. We just have to take CAR magazine's word for it that it is, in fact, Saab's flagship sedan-in-waiting.

Sharing the same Epsilon platform with GM's Vauxhall and Heaven knows what hundred other models in the General's worldwide range, the next Saab is due to arrive in dealerships by 2009.

But the folks @ CAR claim that the Saab will be unique from the humble British Vauxhall.

"The 9-5 will come in the anticipated saloon and estate versions, and will be longer, wider and sit on an extended wheelbase to distance it from the next-gen Vectra," the mag reported.

Add that difference with the factory option of installing a hybrid-like drive called "Performance Assistant;" a 30 horsepower electric motor that will save on gas by cutting out turbo lag, and the next 9-5 is set to distinguish itself as a green midsize Luxury Sedan exemplar - or so we and the folks in Trollhattan hope.

For more pictures of a heavily disguised tester, click here.

[Source: CAR]