SAAB Automobile chief Jan-Ake Jonsson revealed that the firm will start producing flexible-fuel versions of the 9-3 range next year and told Fleet News: ‘We believe ethanol is a viable step toward sustainable mobility and overcoming our dependence on fossil fuels.

‘Cars running on ethanol are governed by the same law of physics as those using gasoline and both emit CO2. But the difference is that burning ethanol effectively recycles the CO2 because it has already been removed from the atmosphere by photosynthesis during the natural growth process.

‘In contrast, the use of gasoline or diesel injects new quantities of CO2 into the atmosphere which have lain underground in oil deposits for millions of years. We need to cut fossil CO2 and ethanol can play a crucial role. It doesn’t require the introduction of expensive new technology, cars are already using it and it can be easily distributed within our existing supply infrastructure.’

Saab Automobile Powertrain president Kjell Bergstrom said: ‘Turbocharged engines are well-suited to ethanol and our work leads us to believe there is a great deal of development potential for this fuel. In future, we may well be building ethanol engines that will also operate on petrol rather than the other way round.’