What Saab can learn from BMW
If there’s one voice in the automotive industry that I consistently listen to and enjoy, it’s Pete De Lorenzo from Autoextremist.com. Thankfully, just in the last week or so, he’s dipped his toe into 21st century technology and implemented an RSS feed so it’s easier to follow his writing.
For the uninitiated, PMD is a Detroit born and bred auto columnist whose Dad was a former suit at GM. There’s very few people in high places there that PMD doesn’t know and he has an opinion on everyone.
Here’s an example from today’s Rant page:
….you gotta hand it to BMW. I swear these guys don’t understand the word “restraint” in the English language. These guys are inventing niches within niches, and in their obsessive quest to become all things to all people, I believe they get lost in their own talking-to-themselves brilliance to the point that they can’t even see the Black Forest for the trees. Add to that their annoyingly unhealthy habit of believing half the shit that Chief Designer Chris Bangle shoves their way, which just compounds matters, and you have a recipe for a truly ugly little bundt cake. Once again, some of my esteemed colleagues (cough, hack) in the media just couldn’t wait to gush over Bangle’s latest atrocity, the BMW X6, but believe me, it will not “redefine the category” or “set the standard for crossovers for years to come” or any other such nonsense. On the contrary, as a matter of fact. The X6 is nothing more than a German-accented Pontiac Aztek, a vehicle for Bangle’s self- aggrandizement, a rolling monument to one man’s mediocrity and an unmitigated P.O.S. that is “beyond category” tedious. Trust me on this one, the only inspiration other designers will take away from the X6 is the inspiration to turn their heads in horror and then walk - make that run - away.
Apologies to Ted for including the Aztek reference….. 
Apart from confiming my own thoughts on the BMW X6 and being one heck of a piece of writing, there’s a lesson in this for GM and for Saab in particular.
BMW have built a following based on a certain formula. Believing that they need to dominate the world they’re trying to expand vehicular boundaries, creating niches within niches as PMD refers to.
And the automotive press in general will let it happen, quite possibly because BMW run great press events in exotic locations where they give away jackets etc to attendees. I kid you not. I saw so many BMW jackets in Detroit I was tempted to go looking for them at Target. The press love this stuff and they don’t want to miss it. They also like driving BMW’s genuinely good machinery too, I guess.
Basically, BMW are surrounded by a bunch of yes-men in the press and they believe that gives them carte blanche to do as they please.
Saab have no plans to dominate the world. Heck, I think there’s a number of people in Sweden and elsewhere who will be happy with mere survival in the next 5 to 10 years.
But the lesson above is to know what you do, refine it and do it well.
Saab do turbocharging. They do well appointed cars that give a great mix of responsible performance, comfort, utility, safety and increasingly, environmental responsibility. They do distinct Scandinavian design. They should always do function over form.
——
One of the sad things for me is that Saab is rarely in the spotlight long enough to come up on PMD’s radar. Up to now, though, that may well be a good thing.
The 9-4x did pop up briefly last week, but more for the mention of the 4.5 minute juggling act (literally, they had a juggler) that preceeded its introduction. That the 9-4x was mentioned as a relieving break from the juggling act was, I suppose, a positive reflection.
The message in the end is for GM to let Saab do what they do best. Do it pure. Build it and they will come. All that sort of thing.
Can’t wait for Geneva……
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BMWs aren’t for me, but I admire them for looking beyond the current market, taking chances and staying true to high-performance driving.
well crafted. the article, not the x6.
I agree, the BMW X6 is like the Pontiac Aztek (a horrible car). I think that everything below the 5 series that BMW puts out is crap; if I had to choose between a BMW 3 or a Honda, I would choose the Honda. Once you get below the 5 series, you’re just buying the damned badge.
The “mere survival” comment reminds me of Garrison Keillor’s typical remark of Scandinavians; they are happy with just getting by, as Swade says.
Section of comment removed - SW
He did an excellent job in that article cutting Toyota apart as well – which is nice to see. Toyota owners are simply nauseating on so many levels, as they try to convince me how great their vehicles are to drive. Whatever….. And listening to the company as it attempts to paint itself as the savior of the planet with its goofy looking Prius – while it quietly sells its gas sucking, camshaft snapping, and don’t forget the junk transmission Tundra truck right under the nose the unsuspecting ‘green’ public. Nice try.
BMW is certainly arrogant introducing that bizarre looking vehicle, but I bet people buy it and call it unique etc. BMW owners can afford to call their vehicles unique – and people simply believe it because if it is a BMW, it has to be good. Aztec and Scion xB owners like to think their vehicles are distinctive but they are styling disasters and we all know better.
All in all – a good read.
Well…everyone knows the Aztek was…styling genocide (get it, Aztek?). The people that drive them generally drive them because you can get them for insanely cheap because they’re so unpopular. If you ignore the styling, they’re actually versatile vehicles. But, of course, that styling is pretty hard to ignore. As for the X6…no. Just no. At least the Aztek is cheap.
Tedjs - Any smart truck buyer would know to stay far, far away from the automotive Hindenburg that is the Tundra. I just laugh when I see them on the road.
That BMW is awful-looking. As I’ve said before, BMW is a great marketing company and they pay attention to build quality. It doesn’t always translate into a great or reliable vehicle, but they insist that’s true anyway. Again, great marketing.
Jeff: You’re right on the money about the Aztek utility-for-cheap thing. You want to know the best part? The Aztek is one of the most reliable vehicles that GM has made in the last five years or so! Insult to injury!!
Tedjs: I don’t have the Avalon anymore, but when I did, it was great. Not a driver’s car, for sure, but it was a heck of a cruiser.
I got to talk to Peter De Lorenzo for about 15 minutes before the 9-4x reveal, at the Detroit show. It was a great conversation.
FWIW he liked the 9-4x, but agreed with me that the true measure of whether Saab has turned the corner is the new 9-5.
eggs: I am sure the Avalon is a great cruiser, and (like most Toyota’s) is just so sterile that one finds it hard to believe that Toyota can so easily remove the soul from every car it builds. Fascinating that they sell so many.
I had a ‘08 Cadillac STS to drive for a few days (to evaluate the new direct injected 3.6L V6 for a class) and it was interesting to see that Cadillac has maintained its classic feel through the years and can still build ‘that’ car my rich uncle always drove. How they can still perfectly target the 64 year old America male so precisely is downright weird. Makes me have flashbacks to my youth watching great commercials like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaZpHSnjprI&NR=1
I can’t stand BMW as much as the next person, but I’ll give them this: They do make generally very good cars.
I’d take a free 3 series, but I’m not sure if I’d drive it daily….. The image that is associated with BMWs is something I pray to never have said about me.
Tedjs: regarding Toyota, I just heard on NPR news this morning that GM just lost the the crown as the world’s biggest automaker after a 76-year reign. Toyota posted sales roughly equal to GM and they’re going to release more details soon.
Gripen - They ALMOST lost the crown. They’re still number one, baby.
Jeff: a minor technicality. For all intents and purposes they’re tied, and there can’t be TWO kings.
As much as most of us don’t care for Toyota you have to hand it to them: they make vehicles people want to own.
The 9-1 and new 9-5 need to stay true to saab’s heritage and ways, but they need to do so with a much higher profile than any saab before them has done. The 9-5 needs to hit the market with the closest we’ve seen yet to the Aero-X’s styling. On top of that it needs to handle as well if not better than any other FWD/AWD based midsize car on the market. The benchmark for driving dynamics should be the M45 or A6 and from the sounds of the widened, lengthened, double-wishbone EPII that the 9-5 supposedly will ride on, that all shouldn’t be too hard.
Most importantly, the car needs to be as eye-catching as the XF, something that’s instantly recognizable while still retaining all of the essential saab traits. Personally I can’t wait to see how it will come out, it’s really the do-or-die car for the brand.
No, there can’t be two kings. Luckily, there’s only one, since GM sold more. A tiny bit more, yes, but more.
Toyota has nothing exciting in the pipeline. I think they have a tiny Honda Ridgeline and a jacked-up Camry, plus Lexus is supposed to get a new hybrid-only model (oh, good, now people who might have bought a Prius have the option of looking even MORE pretentious. Awesome).
GM has the Malibu (already selling like crazy), the G8, the Traverse, the new CTS-V and CTS coupe, the Astra, the BRX, and hopefully some new Buicks, not to mention the ZR1. All of these things should sell well.
They’ve got Saab, too, but those guys never sell anything :p
2008 is going to be a great year for GM, and I look forward to them putting Toyoter in their place.
I don’t get it. How did Toyota go from building those awesome Malaise-era Celicas to building the just-another-Camrys? It’s mind-boggling.
I visited Detroits Saab 9-4x display and was underwhelmed by the floor presentation.
Maybe it was the colour or the lighting , but the 9-4x concept didn’t look all that attractive or special.
I was also surprised at how few visitors were admiring it. Show goers seemed to like the look of a nearby 9-7x Aero more. The 9-7x Aero with its very appealing heavily metallic black finish looked much better under the auto show lighting. The 9-7x Aero also received positive comment from show goers. Despite my general dislike for BMW, even the somewhat weird X6 looks sharper than the 9-4x. Ironically its avant garde styling is closer to the Aero X than the 9-4x is.
I hope the 9-4x gets the attention it deserves between now and the official on sale date. I hope it translates as more attractive on the street than it does in concept form.
Yes Toyota - I’ve often thought that driving the work one late at night would cure my insomnia but I get a grip as sleeping behind the wheel is not that safe…as for BMW’s - Bangle’s twisted designs will go down as BMW’s wierd era but credit where credit’s due.
The fact is 20 years ago they were on a similar par to Saab - the E30 came out about the same time as the Classic 900 and both were great cars - and still are in my opinion. Somehow while the E30 made BMW, Saab slowed down to its current malaise.
BMW steal the spotlight almost anywhere but aren’t we just jealous as Saab fans? For eg. in Australia this week, I’ve read a few articles about the evils of bio-fuels and how growing crops for fuel will starve the 3rd world. Yet BMW’s hydrogen fuel cell is lauded as “the way we’ll all be driving in 20 years.” Maybe but as rightly pointed out in a Saab mag I have for bathroom literature - it ain’t new. The 1st hydrogen cell was apparently invented in 1839 and anyway - what’s so new about BMW playing mit hydrogen?!
When I wrote a few articles for BMW Car mag. back in the mid-’90s I was witness to a limited ability experimental hydrogen powered 7 Series.
Yes agree the X6 isn’t for me, but nor is the X5, X3, current 5 or 7. Not to mention the iDrive, iDistract system…
Saab is a dwarf but sadly it does need products that appeal to the mainstream in order for them to be able to afford cars for their traditional fans.
Most people buy cars the way we buy our fridges or washing machines - they are appliances. Otherwise Toyota would have long ago gone broke. In this day and age I’d accept some dull, pedestrian Saabs so that the spirit of the Classic 900 or a slightly eccentric 9-5 replacement could live on.
Like your take on the lessons for SAAB. Its not about becoming BMW, its about learning how to be successfull doing things your way, on your terms. However, BMW has one thing that SAAB no longer has - indepenent ownership and board.
In the meantime, I think SAAB needs to look a lot closer to home for inspiration - Volvo. They are making good cars from within the chaos of Ford.
The 9-4X and X6 are market reactions to the XUV/crossover segment’s popularity. The Infiniti FX35 can be seen everywhere in the states and was out about 4-5 years ago.
BMW can explore the far niches of the automotive industry because they are one of the few companies still concentrated on the success of one brand (OK, 2 if you include Mini) and have no overbearing parent company saying “nice car, but make it cheaper”.
Comparing the exterior of the X6 and the 9-4X . . . well I guess the X6 is more unique whereas the 9-4X just looks like yet another GM SUV in a sea of the same.
As others have said the real benchmark for SAAB is the 9-5. It needs to hit the lots more bug-free than a normal first year SAAB (the 9-3 sedan, for example) and needs to compete with the A6, 5 Series and M35/45 from Infiniti in performance, build quality and interior materials. No more vast acres of hard, unpadded plastic, and leather that looks more like vinyl. SAAB knows what they need to do I think - the real question is will the General release them to get it done?
X6 — ewww.. Just plain ugly and whole CUV idea is ridiculous.
“Saab do turbocharging.”
Yes. That´s right. So does BMW and some others today. And they do it better than Saab. Unfortunate, but still very true. Be it diesel or petrol engine. Saab desperately needs the next gen Trionic with direct injection and twin turbo setup or something to be one the top of turbocharging. Yes, they invented it and they were one the lead during eighties and nineties, but not anymore. There´s more efficient and powerful units out there. 2.8v6t will not help at all. It´s huge step back, say the press release what ever they want. Just look at the specs and compare it to what others have to offer today.
“They do distinct Scandinavian design. They should always do function over form.”
That covers it all. Very well said.
MarKoa: You have to be remotely insane to think that BMW does turbo charging better than Saab. Saab is proposing a DI 2.0 4cyl turbo that will get 245hp on gasoline and 300hp on E85. Who has even come close to an engine that efficient. They have a 6cyl DI turbo in the Aero X that gets 400hp on E85. I think it is apparent that Saab could have always gotten more out of their engines, but it was pointless on just a FWD format. I think with the XWD we will see what Saab can do and hopefully make up some ground in the premium sector. Something along the lines of “Responsibility in Motion” would be a good slogan and direction for Saab to go in.
“Saab is proposing a DI 2.0 4cyl turbo that will get 245hp on gasoline and 300hp on E85. Who has even come close to an engine that efficient.”
VAG - 1.4TSI 170hp@6000rpm / 240Nm 1750-4500 rpm with gasoline. As found on Golf GT in Europe.
Also very efficient and excellent driveability offered by 1.8TSI and 2.0TFSI. I´ve test driven them all and frankly I must say that they´re more impressive than Saab´s present 2 liter turbo.
BMW has 3.0 (335i) liter, direct injection twin turbo engine which puts out 400Nm@ 1300-5000 rpm and 306hp. Fuel consumption is less than Saab 2.8v6t, but performance far better. Just impressive.
On diesel side BMW has 2.0liter twin turbo 204hp/400Nm with better mileage than Saab 1.9TTiD 180hp/400Nm.
And btw, Saab showed us two liter 285bhp engine in 1985, so actually I´m not really impressed about the new concept. It lacks the low rpm torque which made Saab 2.3T famous in 1993 on 9000 Aero.
Do I have to give you more examples?
Still, I think Saab 2.0T today is one of the best, no doubt. But not the best, oh no.