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Date: Wed, 19 Sep 2007 07:55:12 +0100
From: "DervMan" <thedervmannospaml.com>
Subject: Re: Have Saab reintroduced hatchback yet?


"Colin Stamp" <col.dustbinnospamp.plus.com> wrote in message news:4ri0f3tma6lt4p81k4mvt7db1a9m1khak9nospamcom... > On 18 Sep 2007 20:03:50 GMT, Adrian <toomany2cvsnospaml.com> wrote: > >>Ric (fraybentosnospaman.ra) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were >>saying : >> >>> I lost interest in Saabs about five years ago when they stopped making >>> hatchbacks. Have they reintroduced them yet? It was their best feature! >> >>Do I presume you're in the US? >> >>Here in Europe, much of the "executive car" market - where the 93 sits - >>view hatchbacks as being inferior to saloons, and will buy a saloon in >>preference. Want the load capacity? Buy the estate version. If it's good >>enough for the German marques, it's good enough for mere mortal >>manufacturers. >> >>With that in mind, I doubt very much that there will be a 93 hatch. There >>hasn't been a 95 hatch since they launched it a decade ago, killing off >>the >>9000 hatch - which was outsold by the saloon. > > I don't understand the US thing. I'm in the UK and when Saab deleted > all traces of hatchbacks from the range, they deleted all traces of me > as a customer. > > Doesn't all this snobbish marketing bullshit make you want to throw > up? The reason why no-one in the UK buys an "executive" hatchback is > because it's all but impossible - *not* because they don't want one. > > I recently looked at replacing my 2001 9-3, which is exactly the right > size for my family of four. I have four options:- > > 1. Get a pointless saloon so others will look at my car and think > "Cor! he's really arrived! He has such an impractical car that he must > have a butler to take his rubbish to the tip". When I do actually need > to ditch a sideboard, I'll be stuffed. Heh. Saloons are not pointless. As a long story short, I had to replace my written off Ka and I wanted a larger car - saloon, hatchback, whatever. So I bought a '99 Honda Accord saloon. With the seats folded down, the car was surprisingly spacious. The 2000 9-3 has that ledge between boot and rear seats and, worse, in order to put the seats forward I can't have the driver seat all of the way back. This makes it exceptionally uncomfortable for me. The best compromise for by far is a tow ball and a trailer... given how little I need the extra space. > 2. Get an estate, which doesn't have much more load carrying > capability than my hatchback, yet is bigger, heavier, slower, doesn't > handle as well and is more expensive to buy and run. Hmm. They are bigger, slightly heavier and slightly slower, for the majority of people any difference in handling and economy is a moot point; you can't tell on the road (if you can tell the difference in handling you're in the wrong kind of vehicle, maybe *grin*). What you pay more for up front you tend to get back when it's time to sell it on. Estates - or wagons or whatever they're called - are not as bad as you make out. The above all said I still don't want one... :) It used to be easy. Swedish design, estate: Volvo. Swedish design, convertible: Saab. Now you can have either / or... > 3. Go "down market" to brands who's marketing men have their heads > just far enough out of their arses to realize that people still want > hatchbacks. To a degree you've already done that anyway with the 9-3... :p > 4. Keep the 9-3 until it falls apart. > > I'm going with option 4, followed sooner or later by option 3. I'm > sure drivers of "executive" cars will look down their noses at my old > hatchback, but I'll have the last laugh when they need take a dustbin > home from the shop. Except you're missing the point... they have somebody do this for them... or a tow hitch. -- The DervMan www.dervman.com

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