According to a leaked memo to Saab dealers obtained by Autoblog, the bankrupt automaker is ceasing all warranty coverage on its vehicles in North America.

The memo was sent out Monday following a Swedish court’s approval of Saab’s bankruptcy petition and – aswe suspected – all new vehicles will be sold “as is.”

The North American branch of Saab also is suspending the payment of new car, powertrain, emissions and parts warranties, along with recall campaigns, certified pre-owned coverage and no-charge maintenance programs. There’s no telling if the suspension is a permanent action or simply a temporary one –Saab will likely need to sift through its bankruptcy proceedings before that picture becomes any clearer for consumers.

The Cadillac SRX and the Saab 9-4X may look quite a bit different, but the two vehicles are based upon the same hardware and are built in the same plant in Mexico. Since the SRX has already been given a ”Top Pick” designation from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, does that mean that the Saab should also get the thumbs up? Yep.

The IIHS has just named the 9-4X a “Top Pick” because the luxurious crossover received top scores in front, rear and side-impact crashes while including standard stability control. Like the SRX, the 9-4X also scored a top score of “Good” in the roof crush test. To receive the top score, the 9-4X’s roof had to hold at least four times its overall weight. In this case, the IIHS lumped the 9-4X with the SRX and gave it the exact same weight ratio of 4.14.

If you’re scoring at home, you’ve probably noticed that more and more crossovers are acing the IIHS tests. Since the Insurance Institute tests are among the most stringent ever devised, we’re thinking this is a very good thing for car buyers. Whether Saab will be around long enough for more car shoppers to buy the 9-4X is another matter altogether.

While Victor Muller is on a money hunt, the rest of Saab is hoping to produce and sell cars. The Saab 9-5 SportCombi is one of those cars, and we’ve been itching to learn more about what version of the handsome wagon we’re going to get (provided the company is still around to produce them). Consider that itch scratched. A pre-launch brochure for the North American 9-5 SportCombi has found its way to the Internet, and it’s loaded with information.

According to the document, the 2012 Saab 9-5 SportCombi will utilize the 220-horsepower, 258 pound-feet of torque 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder, which is paired with a six-speed automatic gearbox and Saab’s Cross-Wheel Drive system (XWD).

Saab has decided to fill the inside of this new 9-5 SportCombi with upscale standard equipment, so it’s likely to be on the pricier side. The standard equipment list includes a panoramic moonroof, heated seats, keyless start, a cooled glove box and a navigation unit that’s controlled via eight-inch touchscreen. Bundled option groups include the Technology Package (lane-departure warning, park assist, bi-Xenon cornering lights, and head-up display) and Rear Passenger Package (rear seat audio, dual eight-inch screens with DVD player and wireless headphones and tri-zone HVAC).

No word yet on pricing, so stay tuned, but in the meantime, you can check out the brochure in its entirety bychecking out the gallery below.

Production of the all-new 2011 Saab 9-4X crossover has started on schedule, despite the company’s crippling financial woes. While production of the rest of the Saab lineup at its Trollhattan, Sweden plant has ground to a cash-strapped halt, 9-4Xs are rolling off the assembly lines in Ramos Arizpe, Mexico.

The plant producing the latest Saab is under contract to the Swedes from GM, and with any luck will help jumpstart a recovery. Under its very Swedish skin, the Saab 9-4X packs the same underpinnings as the 2011 Cadillac SRX.

The base model, which comes with a 265-hp 2.8-liter V6, starts at $33,380, with the top-whack, turbocharged model ringing the register at $48,010. Ominously for Saab, the 300-hp mill is the same engine Cadillac just pulled from the SRX lineup to deal with reliability issues.

As we assembled media and executives sat down to dinner in Washington, D.C. the night before driving the 2011 Saab 9-4X, a waiter leaned over my shoulder with a bottle of sparkling water and poured it into a waiting rocks glass filled with ice and a lemon. He paused, staring intently at my glass. Clearly flummoxed, the dinner service ground to a halt. “May I, sir?” As I had no earthly idea what was troubling him, I nodded. “Certainly.” He picked up the glass, reached into its mouth and fished out the lemon only to squeeze it with much theater. The wedge yielded but a drop or two of juice. “Dry!” he pronounced with a mixture of pride and embarrassment. Perhaps reading the confusion on my face, he followed this proclamation by saying “You can ‘ell becooze…. it was… ah…. reluctant to float.” He then disappeared into the back of the restaurant for what seemed like minutes, reemerging with a new glass filled with ice and a noticeably plumper wedge of citrus riding atop the rim of the glass.

You just never know what’s going to hold up a car launch.

Stick around in this business for a while, and you’ll see how labor unrest, cash crunches, bad mergers and natural disasters can wreak havoc on a new automobile’s gestation and production schedule. We thought we’d seen it all, but the poor folks at Saab are surely trying for some kind of record with the number of calamities threatening to scrap not just the launch of this 9-4X, but the Swedish brand altogether. In fact, this handsome looking crossover is already late to the party – it was originally slated to launch in 2009 alongside its General Motors’ platform-mate, the Cadillac SRX.