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I'm a long time SAAB owner (a '77 99 EMS, 2 C900Ts, and a current '90 SPG). I agree on several things in the article including "If there is one company that doesn't understand quirky, it is GM. General Motors kept some of Saab's traditional styling cues and its funky features but began filling the car with parts from Opel."
GM needs to grab a clue. A SAAB customer does NOT want a GM car. You go to a car show and where is SAAB? Right there with the GM products. Where is Jaguar and Volvo? Nowhere near Ford or Lincoln!
The GM900 was not that great of a car, nothing inspiring about it. The 9-3, a little better but not great. Trying to be a BMW isn't going to sell cars. By going head to head with BMW and Audi (also the Lexus IS300, et al) they are not going to score big. The new 9-3 will be an also ran. The bias against front wheel drive sport sedans is pretty clear. Any front driver that wants a performance image has to slap in AWD. Fact of life. Next thing you need to sell a sport sedan to the masses is a racing heritage. SAAB dropped out racing a long time ago.
I am a traditional SAAB customer and you know what, SAAB doesn't build cars for me anymore. Nobody does! That's my point. There is a market for a modern version of the SAAB heritage that started with the 99 model.
My wife and I are shopping for a new Wagon. We don't yet know what to buy. We've considered the 9-5 and may actually buy it, but it is kind of like the presidential election, we'll get it because it is the lesser of the evils, certainly not a car I'm going to be excited about (and I guarantee it won't have the GM V6 in it!).
I dream of a world in which SAAB becomes the next Harley-Davidson. Employees buy back the company from bumbling parent company that doesn't know how to make or sell products to its customers then becomes wildly successful! I know it won't happen, but I can dream!
I guess I'll stop now since I'm sure I've polarized opinion!
Dave D
posted by 66.167.95...
, Mon, 2 Dec 2002 18:14:45
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