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American GM-think is now infecting our beloved marque. We all kind of suspected it for a while, but held true and fast to the belief that the stubborn old garage mechanic engineers in Trollhattan would be able to cut through the raft of silliness, or at least show exiled GM-thinkers how good product (and not cut rate lease and financing deals) wins people over.
I took a flyer on Ms. Kelly-Ennis when it was first annouced she was taking over for Chasins, content to give her a chance. But I viewed her resume' with a great deal of trepidation. Brand manager for the S10 pickup? Sunbeam? Previously tasked with euthanizing a venerable american marque in Olds? WTF? What does that have to do with (i) knowing good product, and (ii) creating good product?
Saab can appeal to the mainstream -- even as small car company their C900's were upiquitous in the 1980's. But that's because those cars were so inherently good. They were unique and, yes, even "quirky", but they performed on par with the competition and provided great usefulness. THEY WERE GOOD PRODUCT.
Companies that have seen a resurgence (think of where VW was 10 years ago, where Audi was until the A4) or have established incredible dominance (see where BMW is now) have done so because of good product. Not because of SUV's and advertising. VW replaced aging 80's vintage Jettas and Golfs with the Jetta III and Golf III, solid, appealing cars, and then followed it all up with the mind-blowing Passat and now the new Jettas and Golfs, which have set new standards of quality and features in econocars.
Audi scored a direct hit with the A4 after years of struggling with mediocre followups to their revolutionary 5000 and a bad rep from the unintended acceleration 60 minutes hatchet job.
The reason BMW sells so well is because their cars are simply amazing sporty cars, with the best six cylinder engines and the best handling. Sure, there's a little bit of "me too" there, but when your product is so inherently good, who cares?
GOOD PRODUCT, not SUV's, wins the day. Build good product, and the advertising will be a breeze. Build good product and sales per dealer will increase beyond your wildest dreams.
DeLorenzo is right on about the 9-3SS -- it's make or break. This is Saab's bread and butter car. Saab cannot survive as a premium brand, and therefore as a car company, with $5000-7000 rebates and awesome lease deals on 9-5 Linears. If you se them doing it to the 9-3SS, forget it. We've lost. Any look through the classifieds will show you dozens upon dozens of off-lease Saabs -- 1999 models. It's killing resale value.
posted by 64.139.3...
, Wed, 30 Oct 2002 12:57:48, Wed, 30 Oct 2002 13:10:29
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