In the good news section of these GM Snippets lies the story about GM canceling a previously arranged line of credit in the amount of 4.1 Billion dollars.
GM put the line of credit in place back in 07 when things were looking a bit gloomy with UAW negotions and the possibility of a strike looming. Despite the current US economic situation, they’re obviously feeling more comfortable with their cashflow and have put the credit line to rest.
As Autoblog mention, any time you feel you don’t need access to an extra 4 billion has got to be a good time.
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And in the not-so-good news section is yet another story that makes one feel, through comparative analysis, that GM aren’t giving Saab what they need. Especially in marketing and promotion.
I’m occasionally downcast when it comes to SaabUSA’s handling of Saab marketing (ok, that’s a candidate for understatement of the year…) but am also fully cognisant of the fact that they’re given a limited bucket of money to play with and what I tend to gripe about here would be conidered the Utopian alternative.
But…..
I’ve mentioned here recently that Turbocharging is the new black in the automotive industry and companies are looking to turbos to give them some efficiency and power upgrades without costing the consumer any more at the bowser.
Saab should have a competitive advantage here as they’ve been doing it for 30 years, but they don’t because no-one knows about it.
Now Ford are all over the news services today with the following:
Ford is using the 2008 Detroit Auto Show to kick off the transition of a significant portion of their engine lineup to what they are calling EcoBoost technology. EcoBoost consists of smaller displacement engines with direct fuel injection and turbocharging (GDTI) to provide a fuel economy boost without any loss of performance….. Thanks to the combination of small low-inertia turbos, the direct injection and variable valve timing, the new engines should have no lag and a much fatter, flatter torque curve.
Sound like anyone you know? Even the name Ecoboost is pretty familiar, huh?
Saab are yet to get a direct injection engine and now their turbocharging expertise is not going to be a highlight item, but merely a feature that’s available quite commonly throughout the automotive world.
GM have publicly stated in the past the Saab are their global premium brand. Wouldn’t it be fitting for an already existing global premium brand to have access to things like direct injection and proper development and marketing?
Yes, I’m going back to Cadillac with this. Once again, I feel compelled to say that the tens or even hundreds of millions of that GM has spent trying to develop Cadillacs for Europe as well as a supporting infrastructure for that brand, with nothing but abject failure to show for it, would have been much better being spent at Saab.
I heard from one Saab person in the last week, saying that people inside GM do love the brand and want to work for it, at least in the field that he’s working in.
Unfortunately he’s not in management or finance.
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I just want this storied brand to be given the right chance and the proper resources to reach its potential.
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My thanks to 1985Gripen for the links and thoughts that shaped this post.
6 responses so far ↓
1 Tedjs
// Jan 7, 2008 at 12:06 pm
EcoBoost. I bet Ford makes a big old silver EcoBoost badge and sticks it on every car that has that powertrain in it. They are fighting with Toyota right now to see who can put more ‘green’ hybrid badges on their vehicles. Makes we want to find a late eighties Buick and get a 4 speed automatic badge and stick it on my office door.
Direct injection is impressive technology. Given the fact the fact that the Saab 2.8L V6 already produces 295 lb-ft of torque when the boost is turned up, direct injection could take it to well over 300. Which just might turn that Aisin trans to metal puree.
2 1985 Gripen
// Jan 7, 2008 at 2:02 pm
Tedjs: well, as you know Saab has been put in charge of GM’s development of a dual clutch transmission so hopefully it’ll be beefier than the Aisin ones.
If Saab were simply given access to GM’s best global engines they’d be in a much better place. Why is it that Cadillac has the best V6 engine within GM while Saab has to use the older port-injected technology of the Holden-sourced one? Let Saab see what they can do with the 3.6-liter direct injected V6 found in the Cadillac CTS and STS. That engine outputs 302 bhp without a turbo. If Saab could put a two-stage turbo setup and BioPowerize it (assuming they could install direct ignition and use Trionic) just imagine what kind of power through XWD it would get with decent fuel economy. If GM really wants Saab to compete with BMW and Audi, they need to stop starving Saab of the best tech.
Shoot, even “volume” player Chevy gets a 3.9-liter flex-fuel VVT V6 with cylinder deactivation technology. Even Chevy seems to get better tech than Saab does.
For all the lip service we get that GM really cares about Saab and its success they certainly don’t be doing anything to ensure it.
I know I’m not the only one tired of the “just wait” hold GM has put on Saab…
3 Saaboy
// Jan 7, 2008 at 2:31 pm
this pisses me off so much. these pos cars are gonna get as much turbo cred. as Saabs glorious pieces of turbo art… wtf…
4 Bernard
// Jan 8, 2008 at 2:33 am
The maddening thing is that GM already sells a direct injection turbocharged 2.0l engine in the Cobalt SS. This is 100% a Saab engine, but GM decided that Saab should be selling a heavy V6 with a low boost pressure and crappy mileage instead.
It’s obvious that other makers have realized that they can get the publicity (and customers) that GM doesn’t want.
In related news, Audi has presented an E85 turbo concept. I am willing to bet that this will get released in North America before Biopower does.
5 TimJ
// Jan 8, 2008 at 4:37 am
SaabUSA may finally have a tie-in for the BFJ campaign - Automatic Pilot
Also at CES, Ford announced Sync 2.0 with emergency and diagnostic features to compete with OnStar (except there is no supplemental subscription required). Since one can opt for SYNC on a Ford Focus, then Bluetooth Integration is no longer a “luxury” amenity IMO.
6 1985 Gripen
// Jan 8, 2008 at 5:08 am
TimJ: I hope to never see that Automatic Pilot technology in a Saab. What’s more boring than allowing a car to drive you? All cars would basically turn into Toyotas at that point: an appliance. Heck, I don’t even care for automatic transmissions!
I saw a demo of the Microsoft Sync system in a Ford at the L.A. Auto Show. Pretty impressive, but as the tour guide led the show I couldn’t tell how foolproof the thing really is. It works great during the demo though. I really don’t care for Microsoft in general, but have to admit this is a pretty cool system. I asked the woman running the demo if this is the same Microsoft system found in Alfa Romeos in Europe and she denied it, saying that Ford has the exclusive on this system. So I guess Microsoft has TWO automotive systems in development.