This is a few years old now, so it’s quite possible some of you have seen it before.  I hadn’t seen it and I thought it was worth a try as it’s such a novel idea.

Take an old Saab 900, strip it, panel it with wood, install a gas heater and a barbeque and voila!  Instant party time.

Here’s the Saab Sauna in it’s entirety. 

Enjoy! 

Given that the dust is now settling on 2005, the hangovers from new-year celebrations are fading and the personal details have finally been written in to the opening pages of various executive diaries, I thought it might be a good chance to take a look at what Saab need to do in order to improve their lot in 2006.

Saab managed an improvement in sales in 2005, albeit with a reported, though unconfirmed increase in company losses.  With several new models released, 2006 looks like a year with real potential for black ink in the accounts ledger and perhaps more importantly, a bit more buzz around the showrooms. 

In North America there’s the 9-7x, which should be aiming to solidify a place in people’s minds as a quality alternative premium SUV.  The 9-2x, for all its shortcomings, has a role to play in attracting a younger buyer that wouldn’t have considered Saab otherwise.  In world markets there’s the new 9-3 SportCombi, which will hopefully win back a few customers that left Saab when the utility factor subsided with the loss of the hatchback models.  There’s also the new 9-5 and the V6 range in the 9-3.

So what do you think Saab should be doing in various locations with all these models?  What do you think Saab should be aiming for with new models this year?  And what of Saab distribution in various markets around the world?  What are legitimate targets to be reached in 2006?

Your thoughts are welcome in comments.  My thoughts continue below….

[Read the rest of this entry →]

Jay Spenchian appeared on Autoline Detroit a few days ago.  I only got through three quarters of the video last night before our prehistoric dialup connection decided to retire for the evening (broadband on its way). 

Jay’s comments were interesting to listen to and I’d recommend you watch the video, available here (you’ll need RealPlayer).

Here’s a summary of some of Jay’s thoughts.  These are my words, not exact quotes, written as I was watching it.

Jay on Jerry York’s idea to sell Saab:

Well, Jerry knows what he knows, but it’s not the full picture.  Saab has a important role to play in the global premium segment for GM and it’s part of their expanding 3-proged attack on the global market (the other two prongs being Caddy and Hummer).  Saab’s almost exclusively ‘plus’ business for GM and gives them access to a very desirable demographic.

Jay on Saab’s growth and market placement:

Saab has truckloads of upside growth potential that GM want to build on.  They’re located in one of the fastest growing segments of the market – entry level luxury – and well placed to capitalise on that growth potential with some new products and more awareness of the brand.

Jay on what he’d say to old-faithful Saabisti that are worried about future products:

GM realise what makes a Saab a Saab.  Design, functionality, economy, performance, safety.  They’ve developed the Saab Design Centre and it’s mission will be to ensure that future Saab’s retain these qualities.

Jay on Born From Jets:

It was a deliberate attempt to emphasise the cars and what’s great about them.  It’s an energetic and dynamic campaign designed to capture the attention of viewers.  It’s core comes from looking back at Saab’s most succesful era (the 1980’s) and what made the cars succesful – there was the design that was individual, created some excitement and it was fundamentally because the cars had a lot of aircraft cues solidly placed in the design.  They’ve tried to capture this heritage and place it in the ads.  Interest has been up around 20% since the launch of the campaign.

My take: good campaign and quite well received from what I read, but the aircraft design needs to be more infused in the cars for the ads to be an even greater success. 

Jay on Cadillac:

Jay was asked whether they’d be better off selling Saab and pouring those resources into Caddy.  A resounding no!  Saab has the infrastructure in place and is well placed to grow in Europe.  There’s virtually no intersection between Saab and Caddy customers.

I didn’t catch the last 5 minutes or so of the interview.  I’ll try and do that later today.  If anyone would like to place them in comments, please feel free.  There may be some content in there about upcoming models.

My thanks to John McElroy for permitting the use of Autoline’s content. 

G’day everyone!  Happy Australia Day to one and all. 

Posting may be light as I’ll be slapping some lamb chops onto the barbie and stealing loaves of bread from Englishmen (hey, how do think this country was populated in the first place?)

I recommend you check out our closet Prime Minister, Mr Sam Kekovich, and his Australia Day lamb promotion.  Any Aussie culture or slang questions can be posted in comments. 

Reading the latest 9-3 SportCombi review, one from the well respected Detroit News, is an exercise in frustration and satisfaction all at the same time.

The frustration?  Well, GM and all their brands are pretty easy targets – particularly Saab.  They’re big enough to take it, but they’re easy game.  When it comes to parts sharing and design, Saab are always going to be perceived as the junior partner because of their relatively small size. 

Saab’s quest for identity isn’t helped at all when 7 out of 10 journos make a point of regurgitating this rather than focussing on the car itself.  Our hosts, Paul and Anita Lienert spend around 4 or 5 paragraphs reinforcing the thought that Saab ain’t what it used to be.  Rehashed Subaru, Rebadged Chevy…..and the 9-3SC itself – Australian-built engine, some German bits, Japanese transmission.  Only 19% Swedish content. 

On and On and On.  And then they make up for this with "Which doesn’t make the ‘06 Saab 9-3 SportCombi a bad or undesirable vehicle."

Great.  The frustratometer flies off the boil and once again you feel like you need to remind an automotive journalist that GM, Saab’s owners, are a global company and that sourcing parts from areas with expertise is what it’s all about when you’re a global company.

But this article doesn’t stop there.  There’s a little more frustration left in this southern-Oz blogger and it’s reserved for Saab’s design team.  Now, I love the 9-3 in all its forms, so don’t get me wrong here – OK?

But….

Something that the writers raised did strike a chord with me and it’s been eating away slowly for a while – an area where perhaps GM doesn’t "get it" just as the authors didn’t "get" the whole global thing.  Lets call it design character.  From the Combi review:

It may not look or feel that Swedish any more, but the new Saab is competent, comfortable and entertaining. It’s just a bit too generic for our taste, especially considering the price tag on our well-equipped 9-3 Aero model was pushing $40,000.

Competent and comfortable are nice.  Generic is not.  I have relatively recent memories of Saabs with maroon velvet interiors.  Green interiors.  Some very funky design cues exist in past models and I’m hoping that in the new models that arise over the next few years, some attention might get paid to the design, layout and individuality of the interior space.  It’s not a retro thing, but a modern application of older principles regarding color and layout.  Not every room has to be a black room.

Over all, the reviewers get past their initial lack of originality and write up quite a thorough, balanced and positive piece of press for the 9-3 Sport Combi.  Particularly the drive train, which gets a big nod from them in it’s 2.8 V6 guise.  I’ve corresponded with a couple of people that have purchased SC’s and they seem blown away by them.  I’m hanging out to drive one myself. 

With such a good car, it’s a shame there’s still some journos that can’t get past the global thing.  And with such a good car, it’s a shame that GM would leave a couple of corners cut.  But that’s economics, I guess.  Popularity will see issues fixed in subsequent model years and life will go on.  Hopefully, as it does, the additions to the Saab lineup will be infused with the character Saab was once renowned for.

You can read the full review here: Saab Builds New Identity

Here you go, Paul

You’ve heard the stats, right? 30% of people that left the Saab brand did so to buy a SUV. Blah Blah. I think I’ve heard that one so many times in the last 12 months that I’m reciting it in my sleep.

So, what happens when one of the 30% take the Saab 9-7x for a test run? Well, the weekend’s edition of the New York Times has your answer:

You can count my own family among the 30 percent who left Saab for a larger vehicle. (We opted for a car-based utility with three rows of seats.) With one car and two teenagers in team sports, our 9-5 wagon simply could not carry the load.

I was skeptical of the 9-7X from the start…….It was hard to imagine an S.U.V. delivering Saab’s sporty handling from a body-on-frame Chevy truck chassis. But in fact, the all-wheel-drive 9-7X delivers a different S.U.V. experience in several ways………..

………Before I actually drove this Saab truck, I had figured that G.M. was corrupting the Saab brand with another S.U.V. designed for Everyman. But the 9-7X proved me wrong. It may not be Swedish, and it may not be a Saab through and through, but it ranks a couple of notches above a basic Chevy truck.

INSIDE TRACK: A saucy Saab despite its ho-hum G.M. pedigree.

You may have to register in order to read the full article but it only takes a few minutes and you can lie about your household income if you want to.

The Saab 9-3 Convertible will be part of the lineup at a GM promotion in Las Vegas called “The Drive”.

“The Drive” will take up an 11 acre space on the corner of Paradise and Sahara. Apparently it’s first attraction of it’s type anywhere. GM is leasing the space from the Sahara hotel. The 11 acres will house two professionally designed driving courses, one tarmac and one dirt. The tarmac course will be about a half-mile in length. Paying customers (price unknown) get to go for a spirited drive in a variety of GM vehicles, accompanied by a professional driving instructor.

The tarmac vehicles include the Corvette, Solstice, Caddy CTS-V and STS-V, Pontiac GTO and the 9-3 ‘vert.

The dirt vehicles are a bunch of GM SUV’s but no 9-7x included in that crowd, unfortunately.

“The Drive” is scheduled to open in the US Spring and remain open for 6 months. I guess a repeat of the exercise in 2007 will be largely dependant on the patronage in 2006 (my sister-in-law Heather says “Thankyou, Captain Obvious!!”)

The full press release is available here.

The cynical amongst us would say “Well, can’t you test-drive vehicles for free already?”. I guess this is about choice of vehicles and potential hoonage. Unfortunately for hardcore Vegas hotel patrons, breathalyser tests are mandatory….

The latest Saab-i Digital Newsletter is out-n-about. For those of you that don’t receive it, it’s a company production with all the usual associated flagwaving, but there’s some great stuff in there relating to new developments and historical stuff too.

If you don’t receive one, you can read the web version of mine, here.

In this month’s Newsletter….

* 20 Years of Open-top driving
* The 20 Years Edition Saab 9-3 Convertible (that would be the ‘Cerulean’ Edition to you pommy types)
* New Diesel Option for the 9-3 Convertible
* Aero – The last word in performance
* The new 9-5 “in the Wild” TV commercial
* Saab through the ages (1970’s)
* Accessories to celebrate 20 years

All in all, not a bad way to kill 10 minutes.