Saab targets WRC in 2012

After the departures of Peugeot , Mitsubishi, Subaru, Toyota, le Championnat du Monde des Rallyes s?est retrouvé porté, ces dernières années, par Ford et Citroën. Mais la présence de deux constructeurs peut difficilement assurer la pérennité d?un championnat sur le long terme, en raison des choix stratégiques pouvant être pris par les différentes marques. Ainsi, les nouvelles qui affluent ne peuvent que réjouir North One Sport, promoteur du WRC. " We could have four, maybe even five, manufacturers in 2012 », confides to Autosport Simon Long, director of North One Sport.

« The announcement made by Mini last week gave confidence in this sport He continues. " The messages we receive during meetings with possible manufacturers are all positive: we have the right technical regulations and the costs are reasonable. They realize that they need publicity to get out of the period we have just gone through. The WRC is the ideal place for that. »

Thus, in addition to Volkswagen and Toyota, Saab could try its luck in the WRC. “ The first meetings took place, confirms a source close to the matter to the magazine. There is a lot of enthusiasm around this project. From what we understand, Saab sees the WRC as a perfect platform to launch a new product and rebuild the brand. Like Mini, Saab has a significant history in motorsport and a return to the WRC would be meaningful. »

The targeted season would be 2012, like Volkswagen and Mini, even if the Countryman WRC will already compete in a few events in 2011. The Mini model could also share its BMW 1.6 liter unit with the Saab WRC.