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SAAB sold 32,000 cars in 2010, 11500 in the last 3 months of the year. An emerging success story? Could've been Rover...? What are SAAB's owners or enthusiasts doing right that blatantly wasn't done with Rover :-(
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Perhaps by not charging Focus money for a 1989 Designed Honda just by sticking some wood in it and calling it a Rover 45.
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>> Perhaps by not charging Focus money for a 1989 Designed Honda just by sticking some
>> wood in it and calling it a Rover 45.
Or a bodykit on it and call it an MG ZS.
Actually the ZS180 was a really good car to drive. But nobody cared.
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If my experience is anything to go by it's down to good customer service.
I needed a radio code for mine and more in hope than expectation filled in a form on the Saab UK website. Much to my surprise I had a call back from a very nice lady at Saab UK within 10 minutes, and I had a code sorted very quickly by my nearest dealer who she put me in contact with.
Full marks to Saab on this - I was very impressed, such a contrast with Renault.
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>> If my experience is anything to go by it's down to good customer service.
Commendable, but does it get new customers? I don't remember seeing any Saab adverts recently.
EDIT: or are those just NZ figures?
Last edited by: Focus on Fri 7 Jan 11 at 09:03
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>> SAAB sold 32,000 cars in 2010, 11500 in the last 3 months of the year.
Runout sales of the outgoing 9-5? There are an awful lot of loyal owners out there (me included) that may have taken the opportunity to replace their cars at a favourable price (me not included!) - tbh a lot of enthusiasts are less than impressed with the new car.
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I have posted on this subject before - there is a saab dealer near me in Glasgow and they only sell Saab, new or used. So their used forecourt is just full of lines of lines of the same shape cars and they just look so bland!
I am more likely to browse a forecourt of different makes and may well like a Saab out of them, but I just would not walk onto a forecourt that was full of Saabs only.
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>> I have posted on this subject before
Presumably the subject was why sales have dropped, not why they have doubled :)
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No it was actually on what Saab's market it, it just seems a wee lost soul!
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The new 9-5 looks quite nice in a 'non-German' way. Shame the road tests are less than complimentary.
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>> I am more likely to browse a forecourt of different makes and may well like
>> a Saab out of them, but I just would not walk onto a forecourt that
>> was full of Saabs only.
>>
Presumably you would say the same about all car makes, not just Saab?
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No i would quit ehappily walk onto a forecourt full of Fords or Peugeots or whatever as they have variety of range but Saab, well they just have a couple of models don't they that look kind of the same? No city car, no 4x4, no people carrier, no sporty 2 seater etc etc
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I'd postulate that their upturn in fortune is perhaps due to their disassociation from the dreadful GM.
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>> I'd postulate that their upturn in fortune is perhaps due to their disassociation from the
>> dreadful GM.
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It's the probable explanation, but if you think about it, that won't have had any influence on the cars yet, and most of the dealerships (like the VX/Chevrolet/Saab dealer next door to me) are still tied in one way or another to GM
Last edited by: borasport on Fri 7 Jan 11 at 13:37
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>> I'd postulate that their upturn in fortune is perhaps due to their disassociation from the
>> dreadful GM.
>>
I don't believe that, sorry. The general public are not as well aware of car-related matters as you think. How many of them even realised that Saab were ever anything to do with GM? Not many, I'll wager.
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Saab is a bit more of a specialist marque than, say, Ford. Its original customer/fan base may have been eroded under GM ownership, they may now be returning to the fold. Yes, the cars are still mainly GM under the skin, but perception counts for a lot in many aspects of life.
And perhaps the formerly faithful are just voting with their wallets in the expectation that a successful new Saab company will start producing the service and cars they once loved.
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I suspect a Saab dealer has to have a certain percentage of Saab on the forecourt, maybe 100% even, as part of their franchise.
Rover insisted on a certain percentage of Rovers on ours and funny enough, the Rovers were what we sold the easiest because people came to us to buy them, not some other make.
Given that most Saab dealers ive seen are small outfits, I suspect they dont have the flexibility with stock that larger dealers would. Since most people will arrive at a Saab dealer to buy a Saab, it doesnt make much sense stocking other stuff.
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SAAB - Saab's quarterly sales more than double! - RattleandSmoke
