Pilots Wanted 2018: A Record Event

The third edition of the bi-annual “Pilots Wanted” event organized by Autohaus Lafrentz in collaboration with Orio and Saabblog.net was a great success. A record number of the latest generation Saabs participated with pilots from more than 10 different European countries. Apart from 6 Saab 9-5NG SportCombis and nearly 50 9-5NG Sedans, a whopping number of 9 Saab 9-4Xs made it to Kiel Germany last week.

The more than 100 participants from Belgium, The Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Austria, Switzerland, Poland, the UK and -of course!- Germany, had a great time on 8-9 June. Although some cars arrived already earlier in the week to get upgrades or service done at Autohaus Lafrentz’ authorized Saab Service Center, most people arrived on Friday. Following an afternoon of “tire-kicking” with fellow Saab fans, the pilots and their crews enjoyed a lovely dinner in the Kiel harbour.

On Saturday, the day started with a joint breakfast and around 11:00 AM all cars took off for a “flight” around Kiel; a very scenic route that took some 3 hours to complete.

The route featured several photo points and during one of them, we took the opportunity to capture the three cars that would have made Saab’s model year 12 line-up: the 9-5NG Sedan and SportCombi, and the 9-4X.

This edition of Pilots Wanted was also open to Saab’s latest SUV: the 9-4X. It was incredible to see that no less than nine of these rare cars made it Kiel, an unofficial world record, as never before there was a gathering of 9-4X’s that large on any car event. So before the pilots flew off to their home bases, we managed to get a 9-4X group picture too!

It was -again- a wonderful event with stunning Saabs and great people. A BIG thank you to the entire Autohaus Lafrentz team, Orio Germany, the Saabblog.net crew and everyone else who made the event possible. I’m already looking forward to Pilots Wanted 2020!