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Date: Tue, 28 Jul 1998 11:35:17 -0700
From: Justin VanAbrahams <jvanabranopsamnet>
Subject: Re: Please, Saab is not a "GM car"


Jason Porter wrote: > > a GM car in any sense other than the financial. Daimler-Benz now owns the > Chrysler Corporation, but I would hesitate to call the Chrysler Concorde or > Dodge Durango "Daimler-Benz cars." I would be as hesitant to call Ferarri a > "Fiat car." GM has very limited influence on the engineering of Saab MB does not own Chrysler. If ANYTHING it's vice-versa. Chrysler could buy and sell Benz over and over again. But that isn't the case. It was a merger - an agreement between both companies and neither is in charge of the other. > automobiles, and even less influence over the parts with which the new cars > are made. True, the mid-90s era V6 engines were built on a GM block, but > that trend has ended for the new ('99) cars. The sheet on the 9-5 shows its > US parts percentage as less than 2% of the finished car. ? The 3.0 V6 in the 9-5 and the 3.0 V6 in the 9000 was 100% a GM creation, as is the automatic transmission its attached to. Saab has done a fair amount of work on this engine, but it's still a GM-originated engine. Saab has declared they are only interested in developing four cylinder engines (preferably turbo ones) and will not put any serious development into six cylinders until something changes their minds. Also, all current Saabs are based on Opel platforms, as you already knew... > generally a piece of shit - remember the Corsica?). If Saab were truly a GM > car, or a GM company, wouldn't GM be putting that Saab engineering prowess > to work, and turn out a truly decent (world-class) Chevy or Pontiac for the > first time in 25 years? One more thing - while I'm on the subject, why do No... because GM makes average cars for average people and sells them for average prices. If all their cars were as high end as Saabs, what the hell would Saab sell? Ford has owned Jaguar for almost a decade, but we still haven't seen a bunch of V12 powered 4000 lb Fords driving around, have we? Chrysler owned Lamborghini for almost a decade and I don't ever recall seeing a 600hp V12 AWD K car... The way you own the car market is by selling lots of cars to lots of people. GM sells cheap Chevys and expensive Saabs, and never the two shall meet.. > we as Americans continue to purchase Chevrolets and their ilk at a furious > rate, when GM actually makes a *quality* automobile in Europe - the Opel? > Can someone explain to me why I can't go to my local GM dealer and buy an > Opel Vectra? Is it that GM feels that Americans are too stupid to know the > difference? Are their profit margins not high enough? Must we stand and GM makes less money per car sold in the USA than any other single manufacturer. So no, GM's margins are not high enough. And the reason they don't sell Opel in America is because Opel left a very bad taste in our mouthes back in the '70s. Plus, it's unlikely they would pass either safety or emissions, or both. > watch GM reclothe an Opel Omega in cheap plastic, take out the good parts of > the suspension, and resell it for 20 grand more as the Cadillac Catera? > What do they take us for? Idiots. The same idiots who buy Omega and Vectra-based Saabs. > Thank God Saab is free from that kind of GM management. Um... Mr. Manby is now the GM appointed Big Cheese of Saab Cars USA, and this is the guy GM appointed previously to head up Saturn. I seriously doubt anyone in Trollhatten asked Joel Manby to step on board... And he isn't the only GM Man in Saab anymore. -Justin

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