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Actually, the salesman who took care of my lease return yesterday had sold Saabs about ten years ago. He was enthusiastic about getting Saab because it gives them something else to sell the Cadillac customer who can't afford one. As he said, someone who balks at a $550.00 a month lease for a CTS can be converted to a 9-5 in the $400's. He also said they want 9-7's to put next to the Escalades and SRX's for the same reason. If you noticed, they really only have a few convertibles and a couple of 9-3 sedans right now, but the $43,000 Saab convertibles are sitting right next to the $86,000.00 XLR. That's why GM wants Saab mixed with Cadillac and Hummer. The days of the standalone Saab dealer are fast coming to an end, because most of them can't make a living at this point.
This is the world's largest Cadillac dealer, and these guys are Cadillac salesman. Most of them have already even given up on Hummer. Cadillac is their bread and butter, and this year, they're in their glory with the CTS. Don't expect enthusiastic Saabophiles here. This is more of a typical American car dealership. The salesman did tell me, however, that the building is going to be expanded to accomodate everything, so they ARE making a commitment to Saab. I guess, to be fair, you have to give the salemen a little time to get up to speed on their product knowledge.
I, for one, don't really care where I lease my car. We have leased seven Saabs since March of 2001, and only one came from Shrewsbury Motors. Four came from International Motors in Falls Church, Va., one from Sports and Specialist in Princeton back in August and one from JMK a month ago. The reason I stayed away from Shrewsbury was primarily because I didn't care for the American car dealership style of salesmanship that they employed, and I prefer the one-on-one type of treatment you get at a true Saab dealer. I tried to make a deal with Perrine in Cranbury, but was turned off for the same reason. Maybe Gold Coast will have a more upscale sales approach, but in the meantime I'm just grateful a have a service facility nearby again. Hopefully they'll get an experienced Saab tech or two to work there.
All in all, it's good thing, and I guarantee we're going to start seeing an influx of new Saabs in our area that we haven't seen since Shrewsbury departed in '06.
posted by 64.12.1...
, Sat, 24 May 2008 17:22:25, Sat, 24 May 2008 21:37:49
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