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yes and no... Posted by Snowmobile [Email] (#686) [Profile/Gallery] (more from Snowmobile) on Fri, 11 Jan 2013 08:07:16 In Reply to: Re: Huh? What did I miss??, Scott Paterson [Profile/Gallery] , Thu, 10 Jan 2013 18:55:39 Members do not see ads below this line. - Help Keep This Site Online - Signup |
the cynical part of me agrees with your statement, but the optimistic side hopes that they will find a niche: China might be easier to sell in - I don't know the Chinese market well, but it is growing and luxury options will be in demand. I imagine that at some point, the massive luxury car phase will pass as a fad there and sports sedans etc that are popular elsewhere in the world will gain market share... so something like the 9-3, which while not terribly cutting edge anymore here, might still be desirable for a couple years there, as might a phoenix based replacement thereafter...
If they were to bring back the 9-3's here for a couple years, I bet the die-hards in need of a newer car would buy them... not in large numbers, but you see it come up time and time again here - people looking at other options (even buying them) and not really finding what they were looking for coming from saabs... if they were to bring back a hatchback 9-3 like was in the plans using the phoenix platform (eg that "leaked" photocopy image), there would be a better business case as some would be enticed to move from newer gm saabs... but it all depends on what they are doing and if they can resurrect enough confidence that the factory + design team are similar to the Saab we knew and loved: many people have moved on!
as far as the EV element of NEVS, I don't know how that will pan out. Honestly, the Saabs we own should last quite a bit longer (even the 1989), so I don't see any *need* to buy another car soon... but if I was to buy a newer car than our 2004 9-5, I'd be hoping for the availability of a Saab or Volvo hybrid (that was primarily electric)... so with some tweaking of their mantra, NEVS might come up with something highly desirable to me (and others - I know some here couldn't give 2 hoots about electric drive and that's fine, but there are many others who do find it appealing, at least in a hybrid context, as was the plan under phoenix).
the key would be how they are going to finance all of this when nobody else so far has been able to... I mean, that was pretty obvious from the get-go with VM/Spyker, but NEVS has to float several years with basically zero sales, then rebuild a dealer network and buyer confidence... I hope they can, but I agree Scott, there is good reason to be somewhat cynical...
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