US Saab dealership closures continue
There were four dealership closures/mergers in the north-eastern United States in the December-January period.
Now the west coast closure has started, with Saab of Santa Monica closing its doors on February 1.
Scandinavian automotive news rocks the Westside late today: Saab of Santa Monica, one of just three remaining Saab dealerships in LA County, is fated to be shuttered forever on February 1, 2008, having been taken over by a Cadillac dealership. Their website has already been taken offline.
The letter advising the closure (see link above) mentions that the franchise is being taken over by Martin Cadillac - an interesting name for a car guy 
. It specifically says that Martin Cadillac will be acquiring the Saab franchise, so it’ll be interesting to see which business opens its doors on February 2: Martin Cadillac/Saab of Santa Monica or just Martin Cadillac.
Another Saab dealer bites the dust and GM reap the wind of their neglect once again.
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Also, Nxcess Saab of Houston is closing up shop on Jan. 31 and merging to DeMontrond Hummer.
Its really in a better location (off of I-45) and not so far away for me when I need repairs.
I’ve already mentioned this before, but here in New England, Saab Nashua North and Talarico Chevrolet-GMC “combined” and are now known as Accent Auto Group. If you go to http://www.saabnashuanorth.com/ you see what looks primarily like a Chevy dealership, with a picture of Chevy pickup trucks right on the main page. Saab appears to be an afterthought and just doesn’t belong with those other vehicles anyway. I bought my 9-3 at Saab Nashua North, and it was a great place to visit as an exclusive Saab shop. These are sad days my friend, very sad indeed.
This is somewhat off-topic, but part of Saab’s sales problem is poor public perception of Saab, and I think GM is responsible for not educating the public in their ads (Stupid Born from Jets!).
I know Consumer Reports sucks, but this sucks even more. In a CR survey, Top five in brand perception by category, Saab didn’t even get mentioned in the safety survey. It’s mentioned how Volvo actually has mediocre performance in recent testing, and how Honda has improved, but no mention of the safest car in the world: SAAB!
Please GM, tell the public what Saab is about!
Here’s the top five (blech!):
Volvo 77%
Toyota 21
Subaru 18
Ford 17
Honda 17
As I have posted before, My Saab dealer “Saab of Westchester” closed over a year ago. They repaved the parking lot, and put a BMW sign right over the Saab sign. They did retain the Sales crew and mechanic and re-trained them for BMW. They will move to a new lockation not far away with a new state of the art building, test track and huge service department. When I asked my old Saab sales guy how he was doing, he told me he can’t keep people out of the showroom, with Saab, he was counting the ceiling tiles. As I have noted prior, the other Saab dealer that I now use IS PACKED WITH HUMMERS, you can’t even see the Saabs. My Saab tek purchased a Hummer. I AM WORRIED, Wouldn’t you be?
One more thing, I just purchased a 2004 9-3 convertible that I love… I did a good amount of homework and went to see ALL of the contenders, I still feel that BMW, AUDI M.B are not as good as Saabs. The Audi’s look nice but I just don’t trust them. My Saab dealer may be packed with Hummers but they still treat
me good.
I can see the tumbleweed rolling by….
If the UK dealership is anything to go by though, Saab needs to improve MUCH MUCH MORE in their sales team.
Twice have I booked tes drive via the UK main page, twice the local dealer is ’surprised’ when I showed upm eager to do a test driving, by telling me they got no booking information passed to them.
Fine can I test drive one ANYWAY? No sir, we don’t have the model you are looking for (9-3 2.8 Aero), we’ll try to look for one for you - 2 weeks gone by I’m still waiting.
And while I was there, I wanted to pickup a set of 9-5 carpet mats for my car - they are hanging around in the showroom, only to be tolld “We can’t sell you that cause the parts department has closed early for today” - This was a saturday early afternoon.
To me it feels like they delibrately try to convince me I shoudn’t spend my money there.
The guy that did chat to me was nice enough and wanted to help, but the overall atmousphere is content towards potential customers.
I was not made to feel welcome from the moment I walked in to the point I walked out - maybe I don’t look like their normal clietier, being causually dressed in surfing gear, but when i went to Lexus I was dressed in the same clothing yet was treated warmly like - I won’t say a king, but like a valued customer.
SAAB - get your act together, I tolerate your sucky dealership because I am a loyal customer, I doubt a new poential buyer transfering from AUDI will feel at home and look back.
And if they keep on going like that they’d loose me as well - eventually.
P.S> this was in Manchester, one of UK’s largest cities.
I doubt I can test drive a Saab wheel nut if I’d lived in a smaller town.
Damn, well I had never been there. But my Viggen originated from the Santa Monica dealership.
Wow, this is the first I’ve heard of this. A few of my fellow SoCal Saab Club members bought their car at Santa Monica Saab. I thought they did pretty brisk business (more than the small Saab dealer closer to my home). Hopefully the place re-opens as a joint Cadillac/Saab dealer.
In fact, Swade: remember you met Michael, the guy who is one of the drivers in the Tour of LeMons? He bought his car and had it serviced at Santa Monica Saab.
IMHO Saab USA really needs to hire regional supervisors. There’s only one of Steve Shannon and he can’t be expected to tend to every one of the dealers in the country. Dealers often complain about lack of communication from Saab and I think a local supervisor could tend to such things. Also they could report back to Saab USA potential sales and targeted advertising schemes in the region. California is too important of a market to be losing any of the few dealers that exist.
I can’t imagine how frustrating it must be to be a Saab dealer right now, see an often empty showroom, and keep being told that the best new product is just a year away perpetually… Then to know that all the other luxury car dealers showrooms are packed with customers. They probably could use MORE BMW dealers here in SoCal because Bimmers are like VW Beetles used to be in the 60s and 70s. They’re EVERYWHERE. Talk about a “peoples’ car”…
charles i am in Houston to, do you have any more info about where this dealership is? is this the demontrond thats on the way to galveston?
thanks
All this comes back to poor marketing-we’re now seeing the results of years of abysmal ad campaigns. How can Saab/GM expect to get people into showrooms without a compelling message? Actually, the current ads give NOTHING to the consumer beyond the BFJ thing. No mention of safety, performance (implied, but still no specific message), comfort, innovation, etc. And now that Saabs are sharing the showroom with Chevys, I’m afraid it’s going to strengthen the FALSE perception that Saabs these days are nothing more than gussied up Malibu’s. I bought my first Saab back in the 1980’s at Gaston Andrey Saab of Framingham, MA. Back then, the dealership was a Saab-Ferrari-Alpha Romeo dealership and Saab was in the appropriate context. If it’s all about perception and image with regard to getting new customers into the dealerships, then I think recent moves to sell Saabs alongside Chevy pickup trucks may not be wise. I don’t foresee potential BMW/Merc/Audi converts heading to the local Chevy/GMC truck superstore to test drive a Saab. How can something this obvious go unnoticed????
Mo, its Demontrond Hummer on I-45 North (headed towards the Woodlands).
So before class today, I’m apparently known as the Saab guy and this girl was like whats a Saab?
apparently, shrinking the number of dealerships is a gm goal.
cf [compare]:
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080123/AUTO04/801230331/1364
MarkS: it’s funny that you mention Saab ads. While you were posting that comment I was scanning a two-page print ad spread (click the little “all sizes” icon above the picture if you want a bigger image to read the text) in the February 2008 issue of Los Angeles magazine.
Note that though Saab of Santa Monica’s doors will close on 1 February they’re still listed at the bottom of this ad.
The dealers at the bottom of the page are those in the “Greater Los Angeles Area”, which includes L.A., Orange, Ventura, San Bernardino, and Riverside Counties, but does not include San Diego or Santa Barbara. So basically it’s all of SoCal except San Diego and Santa Barbara. This area is the second-most populous metropolitan area in the entire U.S., with a population of 17,776,000 at last official Census count (though I don’t know how they count illegal aliens, of which there are many). The area is comprised of 87,941 square kilometers. It is also relatively affluent, with some of the most affluent communities in the country located here. We now have only five Saab dealers in this area. Two of them are owned by the same company (Mission Viejo Saab and Santa Ana Saab. They aren’t far from each other and comprise what’s known as “Saab of OC”, being the only Saab dealer in affluent Orange County).
The sad thing is that although we’re left with only five dealers I don’t think it’s like people who were clamouring for Saabs aren’t going to be able to find one. Every time I’m in my local dealer (Saab of Sherman Oaks) I’m the only one in there. All the salespeople are friendly and ask if I need help, but are basically holed-up in their offices on the phone or talking to each other.
The best thing Saab can do is give these dealers product that people want to buy. I know it takes time, but come on, people!
saab9x: well, I guess you can consider the greater Los Angeles metropolitan area dealers decreased by 30% in-line with GM goals. We had 6, now we have 5. A 30% decrease would have been to 4.2, but I guess you can count the Orange County dealers as one as they share ownership, aren’t far from each other and share a name “Saab of Orange County”. The sad thing is that Southern California used to be a strong market for Saab. Now they have five dealers serving almost 18 million legal residents…
We have 3 locations for SAAB’s here is Dallas, all by the same dealer, Sewell. I believe 2 locations are Caddy/SAAB and one is SAAB/Hummer. I go to the Caddy/SAAB that is closest to my house. They provide wonderful service. Sewell also has Infiniti and Lexus as well as others brands. I really feel like I am treated as if I had bought an $80,000 Lexus LS. Their SAAB service department is second to none. The only problem, which for me was not a problem as a previous SAAB owner and regular TS reader, was my salesperson. They have dedicated SAAB salespeople and Caddy salespeople with some crossed trained. My first car from them was with a dedicated SAAB person. She was amazing and a constant top sales title holder. My last car was with a cross-trained person. While I knew exactly what I wanted and am very knowledgeable of the brand, he was not as knowledgeable. This could be a big problem for someone new to SAAB. At least Caddy and SAAB are considered premium/upscale cars and the buyers are treated as such. But I do not see a SAAB customer being treated better than a Chevy customer at a joint dealership (free service loan cars? drop off a loan car and pick up your car for service? etc.) I pay extra for a SAAB and I expect to be treated as such, which I totally am with Sewell. I can only imagine how disinterested a Chevy sales/service person would be when trying to deal with the few SAABs they would get. This does not look good for SAAB.
Case in point, in 2002 I went to look at a Subaru Forester. My closest dealer was a Kia/Subaru dealer. I was not treated any better (as in HORRIBLE!) I might as well had been looking at a $6,000 Kia Rio instead of a $27,000 Forester. It was this that made me think about SAAB. I loved the way I was treated and eventually bought my 03 9-3 SS from them. As it is, I can easily see myself being a SAAB customer for life.
* October, 2005 - Dean Hill Motors, White River Junction, Vermont http://www.deanhill.com
* June, 2007 - Framingham Saab, Framingham, MA http://www.saabcity.com
* December, 2007 - Performance Saab of Houston Houston, Texas 10505 http://www.performancesaab.com/
* Jan 1st - Wigwam Saab, N. Providence, Rhode Island http://www.wigwamsaab.com, http://www.nordicsaab.com/ Acquired Hurd Auto Mall on Jan 2nd.
*Jan 1st - Saab Nashua North, Nashua, NH, Acquired by Accent Auto Group recently. -http://saabnashuanorth.com/
* Jan 3rd - Princeton Saab, Princeton, NJ Posted by Jeff (more from Jeff) on Thu, 3 Jan 2008 18:38:24 I have it on good word that yet another Saab dealer is closing. Sports and Specialist Cars in Princeton NJ will be closing later this month. That stinks, it means I’ll have a 45 min ride to the next closer one on Cherry Hill.
* Jan 4th - Hyannis Saab, Hyannis, MA - The new Saab Web site has already changed from Hyannis Saab to Cadillac Saab of Cape Cod, removing Hyannis from its name and already listing 16 Cadillacs, some 2008 models and some used for sale on its site. http://www.barnstablepatriot.com/auto_dealers_here_continue_musical_chairs_news_15_14000.html
* Jan 20th - Ramsey Saab, Ramsey, NJ - http://www.ramseysaab.com/
* Jan 31st - Nxcess Saab - Humble, TX - http://www.nxcess-saab.com/
* Feb 1st - Saab Santa Monica, CA - Saabsrus.com http://www.losanjealous.com/2008/01/29/exclusive-saab-of-santa-monica-closing-feb-1/
Who’s the next victim of GM’s neglect and utter ignorance for Saab?
Who wrote that article titled “The Death of Saab”? I pray that doesn’t happen, but all these doom and gloom reports are having an impact on me. Dean Hill up here in Vermont, closed its doors last year. It was the number one dealer in the country for 10 years in “Best customer satisfaction”. Where in the hell is the new 9-5????
AngeredSaabOwner: add another one to your list.
When I was looking for a Saab dealer local to the San Francisco Airport for Swade to check-out while his flight was delayed I tried to send him over to Burlingame Saab, close to the airport. He called them and learned that they closed operations, merging with B&B Saab, 27 miles away in Santa Clara. The website says this happened “as of October 15″ but doesn’t state a year. I’m guessing it was 2007.
And add some German dealers, who close their doors because off the damn stupid european/german leadership…
And because of the missing products they needed so hardly to compare with the premium brands. And there are many many more reasons…
1985 Gripen-Interesting comments; I’m amazed that such a huge area (both in terms of geographic size and population) would be trimmed back so severely. If GM really wants Saab to grow, they need to prepare for the anticipated “growth spurt” (as new, desirable products are introduced) in the appropriate areas. Your area is certainly one of them, and I think New England is another. I’m at a loss to understand it all. It’s hard not to be critical of GM because, in my humble opinion, they’ve made such a “pig’s breakfast” of everything pertaining to Saab over the past several years. I’m a die-hard Saaber and I’m still trying to stay hopeful, but some of those suits over at GM need to wake up. And what about that ad (thanks for the link by the way…very interesting)?? Maybe it’s just me, but I hate the tagline “More jet inspired than ever”. HUH???? Note to GM (again): THAT USELESS AD IS SO PLAYED. GIVE IT A REST!!!!
I live west of Boston Mass. and until Saab City closed there were 4 dealers within less than 1/2 an hour of me. (Central Saab, Charles River Saab, Village Saab, and Saab City). Although it was a shame to see Wigwam Saab close as it was supposely the second oldest Saab dealer in the US. I am also sorry to see Princeton Saab close at that was the first dealer I where I looked at a Saab back in 1978 when I was in boarding school near there
I had my 2001 Saturn L200 in my Montreal Saturn-SAAB dealer for a recall recently (free timing chain after 190000km–no complaints). I also bought a new 9-5 2.3T from the same dealer a year ago because of the excellent service treatment (free rides downtown, general courtesy, and they usually fixed things right the first time). There are 6 locations where one can buy and service a SAAB in the metro area and all show SAABS up front on the lot and in the showroom; three are owned by one chain and it has dedicated SAAB staffing. GM requires that the SAAB-Saturn showroom and service are in separate buildings; “my” location also has a larger Pontiac-Buick-Cadillac dealership connected. I spoke to the SAAB manager-sales rep and he said all the 2007s are now sold so he has moved the 2008s up front. Yes sales are down, but he did not seem too worried for the longer term. I learned last year from SAAB Canada that the factory does cars in batches for different markets because of the different trim and other government requirements (Canadian cars are not identical to US, for example); they cannot deliver to all markets at once from a single small factory. A local BMW dealer closed (but will likely be replaced). My sense is that combined dealerships with a “less premium” brand (Saturn in Canada, for example) make good sense because they give people something to “move up” to and increase traffic in the showroom. I read about the amazingly high car prices in Norway, etc., and there a solely premium shop might make sense. I doubt a SAAB-Cadillac-Hummer dealer could survive in most of Canada. The new Saturn (née Opel) Astra is now appearing in showrooms–I hope the 9-1 is more distinctive and has a better interior. The Astra looks like a Mazda 3 and does not break new ground, but that size of cars is extremely popular in Canada (unlike the US of A). Thanks everyone for the interesting reading.
Bruce: I heard last year that Saab could eventually morph into a more upscale Saturn (Opel), as Lexus is to Toyota. This makes a lot of sense as the majority of Saabs will be produced in Opel’s facility in Russelsheim, Germany in a few years and considering that Saturn is turning more and more into simply American Opel, much like Vauxhall is really British Opel. Considering how GM is giving Saturn a bunch of new hybrids and considering them the “green” marque of GM (with Chevy also trying to tout their green cred too), perhaps that would be a good fit for Saab.
However that being said I definitely don’t want Saab to simply turn into badge engineered Opels with leather interiors and different engines like Lexus started out being tarted-up Toyotas.
So in Canada I see it making sense that Saturn and Saab share a dealer, just as it makes sense that ideally (in GM’s eyes) Saab will share a dealer with Cadillac and HUMMER. But perhaps it would’ve been better to package Saab with Saturn in the U.S. as well, in hindsight? Saab and Saturn have actually shared some ethos throughout the years (safety, practicality, environmental sensitivity).
I live in Houston and have absolutely no one to turn to for servicing of my 9-5. I’ve considered trading it in, but on what? Can anyone refer me to a service facility in Houston for the SAAB/
Debbie,
If anyone knows the answers you need in Houston, it would be the members of the Lone Star Saab Club (they have a Houston group) … see this page.
http://www.lonestarsaabclub.com/Houston.html
There are also a couple of commenters here that I know are from that area “mo” and “Charles” … but I’d guess there are others as well.
Good luck!
debbie,
I live in Albuquerque, but I lived in Houston for years… I was recently in town and looking to order a new 9-3 Turbo X… when I went to Performance Saab on the Southwest Freeway, I spoke with the best Saab sales person EVER. His name was Jacek. I do not know about Nxcess Saab in Humble, but I do know that Performance closed shop 21 Dec 2007. Jacek was going to DeMontrond near The Woodlands. So, I believe that may be your best bet for dealer service.
Aside, if you ever are looking to purchase a Saab in Houston, I guarantee that you will like dealing with Jacek Walasek. We have a dealer here in Albuquerque as well as in Santa Fe, and I still would prefer to order my Turbo X from this guy!
Scratch that, I just talked to someone at DeMontrond and they DO NOT sell Saab. Your choice is Nxcess Saab in Humble or Ron Carter Saab in Clear Lake.
Nate,
Jacek is currently at NXCESS used cars on 59. Nxcess Saab is being sold to Demontrond but the move date has not been finalized as of yet. Last we heard, they were looking towards the end of this month. But, Nxcess has stopped ordering cars and only has one new model on their lot in Humble. Ron Carter in Clear Lake also has an extremely small supply of Saabs here in Houston. Ron Carters’ website lists 4 convertibles, 15 9-3 sedans, 1 9-5 and 2 9-7x. I do not know how Saab expects to remain a viable product in this market (the 4th largest city in the US with a metro population of 6 million) when there are only 23 new vehicles available in the entire market/250 mile radius. Demontrond, which has a decent reputation, has Buick, Pontiac, GMC, Hummer, Kia, Suzuki, Volvo and Volkswagen all at this same VERY small, VERY tightly packed location. I was there about 4 years ago looking at buying a Volvo (shame) but thought the dealership was too crowded and I knew way more about the vehicle that I was looking at than the salesmen showing it to me (to which he said “yeah, I know a lot about the Pontiacs/Buicks).
Quite honestly the whole situation makes me quite sad - and currently not a lot more can be said. I wish we could convice Sewell to enter the Houston market and provide us with the award-winning level of service they provide in Dallas.
Looks like I may have to drive to Dallas to buy my next car.
This whole SAAB situation is beyond frustrating! In Vancouver we are down to just one dealer (Lansdowne in Richmond) and the place is useless and hopeless. If you speak to a sales guy and mention a 9000 they have no idea what you are talking about. It is a Saturn dealership.
Rather than buy a new Saab, I just leased a Matrix for two years as a stop gap measure. If the new 95 ever does arrive ( I am getting skeptical!!), I am interested, but I am keeping an eye on the new Mercedes E-class because at this point I have no confidence in GM or the local dealer. Sad!
I live in Southern California - Los Angeles County specifically, and we are now down to two SAAB dealers - SAAB of Sherman Oaks and SAAB of Pasadena. I get my 9-5 serviced at Sherman Oaks, which is 30 miles from my home, because its the closest to me and my car is still under warranty.
Once my car’s warranty expires I’ll be taking my business to Walter Wong of Right Solution in Santa Monica. 40 miles from home, but Walter’s reputation is second to none here in LA.
So sad that GM is slowly destroying the SAAB marque.
Perhaps Tata Group will buy SAAB with the intention of resurrecting the brand as they have with Land Rover and Jaguar. Granted, they still have to make good on their promise to fix what Ford broke with Jag and LR, but nothing could be worse than what GM has done with SAAB.
Come on Ratan Tata! Buy SAAB and pour a few hundred million into a brand with a loyal following!
Back in 1974, when I purchased my first Saab, 99LE,in Boston, the car was unique. Boasting innovative engineering designs and standard equipment, like dual- diagonal braking system, front heated heats, front wheel drive, 4 mile/hour bumpers and side cushioned impact doors. The saying was that only left-wing professors and rich hippies (now that’s an contradiction in terms) drove these cars. It had its pit falls. But I was a loyalist. However, as GM took over, the Saab no longer was a Saab. The hood opened the wrong way, heated heats were optional and the owners were no longer Saab enthusuats. No longer was a high beam flash returned. Well, after 5 Saabs, I finally gave away my ‘Saab Loyalist Card” after they decided to take away my hatch back. Hopefully the keys are still in the correct location on the floor between the seats! Hopefully, when/if the engineering department has a higher authority than marketing, THE Saab will be back.
I had no choice but to let my 9-5 aero go. No one wanted to repair or honor my extended warranty here in Houston, TX. Demontrond on 59 North does not accept the SAAB and Ron Carter in Alvin was all but null. I am most disappointed because I love my car.