Comments on: UK sales go though floor, last seen approaching earth’s crust…..

By: gunner712004

gunner712004 — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 18:04:30 +0000

you may have all missed the point on where all the sales have gone. the published figures are registered cars not sold cars, dealers up and down the country have registered cars in thousands to keep the figures up and claim registration bonuses over the last year. we have now reached saturation point as dealers now are awash with pre-reg units. this is good if you are looking for a deal on a newish car but catastrophic for residuals. this has taken many dealers to the brink of failure (remember those family run businessses) as they cannot afford to register 10-20 cars and then dump them in the market place at £5000 under list price. hence registrations are down.
perversely enough actual new car sales to the customer at my dealership are up on last year

By: 1985 Gripen

1985 Gripen — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 22:11:54 +0000

mark_belfast: a few years ago one of the major car rental companies (Enterprise) rented Saabs at the local airport (Bob Hope Airport in Burbank, California). I was speaking with a salesperson at my local Saab dealer about it once and she said that it was great for Saab. They had a lot of people coming into the showroom who would never have considered a Saab before had they not had the opportunity to drive one as a rental car or received a ride in the rental car from someone who had rented it. The salesperson was sorry to see Enterprise stop renting them.

By: 1985 Gripen

1985 Gripen — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 20:31:54 +0000

I often forget how spoiled we are in the U.S., and I’m not just talking about gasoline and car prices. That kind of a waiting period would never fly in the U.S.

We’re used to “instant gratification”. By the time we walk onto a dealer lot we’ve already researched the car, test driven the competition, and want to drive home in our new car THAT DAY. There’s no way a dealer would stay in business having to wait months for a car to come in (as is the case with the TTiD and the Opel, Mazda, and Skoda Tompa mentions). By then we would have already changed our mind!

Generally in the U.S. we drive home with the car we bought that day. The downside is there’s no “special order”, you pretty much only have the choice of options in the car or color the dealer has on the lot or other dealers in the area have on their lots. However, most features are pretty commonly desired (auto transmission, sunroof, etc.) so the dealers stock more cars with those options on the lot.

By: Alan Hamilton

Alan Hamilton — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 20:19:29 +0000

Our Saab dealer is taking on Hummer to try to stay in business. I was wondering why but now I know – with only two cars and two variants (wagon & vert) it’s hardly surprising that Saab is suffering. Its GM cousins (Vauxhall, etc) are coming to the market with the vehicles Saab should be first out with.

In VAG, Audi get the pick of the crop of engines, VW next, and Seat & Skoda raid the parts bins to put together their cars. Saab is Skoda in GM these days.

How are they to retain any kind of market identity when they are being raped by the likes of Cadillac with the BLS.

My 9-3 (06) is old-fashioned when compared to an A4 or C-class. The problem is that it will take Saab so long to turn this around I wonder whether they will be sold just for GM to save face.

By: Ken H

Ken H — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 16:57:00 +0000

Saabs are considered gaz gusslers by London authorities (read: Ken L), I guess that does not help the sales.

By: Tompa

Tompa — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 15:48:35 +0000

The Alfa 159 is indeed a beautiful car.. Lexus´es doesn´t do anything for me other than give me stomackcramps. The “ugly stick” comes to mind.
But I realize that the 9-3 has to be a bit cheaper than an Audi A4 even though I´d go for the 9-3 any day no matter an equal pricetag. Audi´s are so uninspireing, grey and sort of just blends in among other cars. But thats my way of thinking and my taste and alot of people would go against me on it.

/Tom

By: mark_belfast

mark_belfast — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 14:42:47 +0000

Bob, you’re lucky, NI used to have about 3 family dealerships, now only one and they are not the importer, merely an outlet and service depot. Teh main dealer was taken over by local mega-dealer and whilst this has led to a shiny new showroom, shared with Porche, free coffee and buns, kids areas and free courtesy cars, the service itself is worse than ever – very superficial. No, I think I can get a better experience elsewhere for a while and I am one f those people who gets excited by new product – and the 9-3 facelift is just not enough, the dash is ‘less’ than it used to be and the coulour choice remains limited and uninspiring. Lex220d or AR159 looking good at the moment….

By: englishbob

englishbob — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 14:06:30 +0000

Mark-

My dealer is the only ray of sunshine on a gloomy day! Fortunately, they are one of the few remaining family owned dealers left. They have sold Saab since the early 60′s even though Saab GB have done everything to persuade them not to bother!

By: Bjorn n

Bjorn n — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 13:57:23 +0000

Dear Tompa

the problem was not the waiting time as such, it was more the fact that the car was promised for November last year. If there are many people in the same situation then there is certainly an unexpected back log.

By: Ubermich

Ubermich — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 13:54:24 +0000

Too little too late. Too little too late. Too little too late.

Isn’t that what we’ve all been saying/hearing since 2006? Updated 9-5! “That’s it??” Updated 9-3! “That’s pretty cool, I guess… but where’s XWD?” XWD coming in June! “What? June? What do I do with my $40k now?” 9-4X coming soon! “Hey look, an Acadia… err, with a funny looking back seat. Coming when? Eh, just give me the damned Acadia.”

Saab is making a dire mistake. They’ve already fallen behind. Being on schedule, for them, is no longer ON schedule. They have a 10 year old car, and a 5 year old car. They need to make a move, and make it quick. Someone has got to push the schedule if the company is going to stay afloat.