So you want to buy a luxury car but don’t want to end up spending more than $50,000? Check out Forbes list of the Top 10 best luxury cars costing $50,000 or less. Forbespoints out the luxury automakers are targeting young professionals with high-paying jobs and are looking to transition into a luxury vehicles.

“You are treating yourself with these vehicles,” says Stephanie Brinley, senior manager of product analysis at AutoPacific, a market research firm covering the auto industry. “It is reaching a level of maturity.”

Let us know what level of maturity you’ve reached and which car you’d consider purchasing on the list.

Click through for the list of Top 10 best luxury cars costing $50,000 or less.

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Just in time for the hot weather and the tops to go down on convertibles, Saab is re-introducing the much sought after yellow Saab Convertible in a special edition 9-3 convertible.

The 2008 Saab 9-3 Convertible Yellow Edition is powered by a 2.0T turbocharged 4-cylinder engine that produces 210-hp mated with a 5-speed manual gearbox as standard with a 6-speed automatic as an option.

Along with the Lynx Yellow paint job, the 2008 Saab 9-3 Convertible Yellow Edition comes with a long list of standard equipment including 17-inch five spoke alloy wheels, a rear spoiler and a premium audio system. Pricing starts at $42,830, including destination charges.

Click through for the press release.

 

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This year’s crop of new droptops doesn’t follow the ‘green’ trend — most are built for performance and speed.

Improvements in folding tops and other technology make convertibles much better suited to year-round driving than in the past, which means you now have fewer excuses not to buy one.

The latest crop of new and significantly revamped convertibles highlighted in our list of Hottest Convertibles of 2008 brings even more refinement, performance, and comfort.

Click through for the list of the Top 12 Hottest Convertibles of 2008.

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Saab has finally release the details and images of the much anticipated 9-X Biohybrid Concept. Saab says that the concept provides a ‘vivid vision of what a future compact car from Saab could look like.’ A compact car that will go head-to-head with the likes of the Mini Cooper, BMW 1-Series, Audi A3 and the Volvo C30 segment.

Taking a page out of the award-winning Aero X and the previous 9X concepts, the 9-X BioHybrid is powered by a 1.4 liter 200hp turbo engine mated with GM’S next-generation lithium-ion battery powered hybrid system.

Performance wise the 9-X BioHybrid does 0-62 in 7.9 seconds when running on E85 ethanol and 8.3 seconds when running on gasoline. Top speed comes in at 134mph (E85)

Fuel-consumption wise the baby Saab gets 37mpg with E85 and 48mpg with standard gasoline.

Click through for more images and the press release.

Saab 9-X BioHybrid Concept:

   

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The youth is no longer buying the hip-hopness of the xB, xD or the tC. Scion sales have been dropping for the past 16 straight months even with the two new redesigned models in showrooms since August. Sales peaked in 2006 while 2007 sales fell 24.8 percent to 130,181 units.

“We seem to be having more sales peaks and valleys than previously,” said Farlon Smith, general manager of Beechmont Toyota-Scion in Cincinnati.

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Saab has been teasing us with teasers of the 9-1X Concept for some time now. But until now we had no other details on the car besides that it will fall into the Mini Cooper, BMW 1-Series, Audi A3 and the Volvo C30 segment.

According to a post made on WorldCarFan’s Finnish language site (that’s Finland for those of you that didn’t know), the concept will be powered by a 1.4 liter 200 horsepower BioPower engine mated with hybrid technology. Styling is heavily influenced by the 9X concept but with improved aerodynamics for better fuel-efficiency. You can also expect to see design cues from the AeroX concept.

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Saab’s general manager, Steve Shannon, told dealers that GM will give the brand new products, but dealers have to be patient. Shannon told the dealer that the new 9-1 concept has generated a lot of buzz already before its unveiling at the Geneva Motor Show in March.

“If you look at Saab’s history, they don’t have enough money to build concepts for concepts’ sake,” said one dealer. “So when they do do a concept, they tend to be built.”

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Last week Saab released the first teaser of its 9-1X concept on its website. And today the Swedish auto maker released the second teaser of its Mini Cooper, BMW 1-Series, Audi A3 and the Volvo C30 competitor. The car is said to be based on the 9X concept that we saw back in 2001.

Technical details of the concept will be released at the Geneva Motor Show in the first week of March.

Click through for the images.

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We’re not too crazy about Saab, nonetheless we are pretty excited to see what the auto maker has come up with to compete with the Mini Cooper, BMW 1-Series, Audi A3 and the Volvo C30.

While Saab has yet to release any technical details on the 9-1X, a teaser image of the concept appeared today on its official website.

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GM supposedly left drawings of what could be a Mini Cooper fighter in its design studio room where journalists got to preview the work being done on the upcoming production Chevrolet Volt. According to the MotorTrend guys, who have sketches displayed on their site, the drawings showed ’a two-box, three-door hatchback design with a conventional, vertical B-pillar.’

MotorTrend says that if GM moves forth with the car it will not be Chevrolet since to make profit for GM, it would have to sell in the $20k+ range. On report suggests that it could be sold under Pontiac, Buick, Saturn, or Saab. MotorTrend says its leaning more towards the Saab side since it has more room to sell a car in the $20,000 to $25,000 range.

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Saab is known for playing around with ice. Just last year they froze a new 9-3 Convertible for its Saab Ice Experience event at Sweden’s world famous Icehotel in Jukkasjarvi, Sweden. Well now the Swedish auto maker is back at the Icehotel with their latest creation called ‘Move Your Mind.’

Designed by Simon Padian, chief designer for Saab and Tjasa Gusfors, a leading designer at the Icehotel, the sculpture displays the new award-winning Saab Aero X concept car.

Simon Padian: “The Move Your Mind room is designed to be a journey, a flow, a pulse which aims to disrupt and challenge the visitors perceptions of what is normal or expected.”

Click through for more images.

Saab’s Move Your Mind Experience Gallery:

   

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GM’s Saab 9-3 Aero is under investigation by the NHTSA (National Highway Safety Administration) after the agency received five complaints of a loss of braking power.

According to the NHTSA website, the problem may affect around 49,932 cars from 2006-2007 that are equipped with the 2.8L V6 turbo engine. So far only one crash related to the issue was reported.

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Saab today unveiled the Saab 9-4X BioPower Concept at the 2008 Detroit Auto Show. The concept, which is heavily inspired by the Saab Aero X Concept, confirms Saab’s plans to enter the growing crossover segement.

The Saab 9-4X BioPower Concept is powered by a 2.0L BioPower 4-cylinder turbocharged engine that produces 300 horsepower and 295 lb-ft of torque. The engine is mated with a six-speed automatic transmission and Saab’s XWD all-wheel-drive system.

The Saab 9-4X will most likely enter into production in early 2009.

Click through for the press release and live images from the auto show.

Saab 9-4X BioPower Concept Gallery:

   

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