I’m in two minds about reporting sales data for the rest of this year. There’s very little good news in that department right now and to be completely honest, I’d rather be writing about things that I enjoy. The brief around here, however, is to cover everything Saab-related - good, bad or butt-ugly - so we continue.

Thankfully, the Swedish sales data for March is still encouraging so it’s always a good way to start.

Saab Sweden sold 1,852 cars in March this year, which was down from the 2,177 sold in total for the same period last year. The individual model sales were as follows:

Saab 9-3:

There were 1,188 units of the Saab 9-3 sold during the month. This was an increase of 12.9% on last year.

So far in 2008, there’s been 3,417 sales of the 9-3, which is up by 30% on the same period last year.

Saab 9-5:

There were 664 units of the Saab 9-5 sold in March, which was waaaaay down. 41% down to be exact.

So far this year, there’s been 2,026 sales of the 9-5, which is down by 32%.

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The Swedish market was down by 14.3% over all, so the 9-3’s performance is really commendable. It is happening for the same reason as the 9-5’s decline, of course - the presence of BioPower. It’s arrival in the 9-5 range gave it a lease of life and it’s arrival in the 9-3 range (along with the age of the 9-5) is slowly choking the 9-5.

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Environmental cars:

Of the 1,188 9-3s sold in March, only 89 of them were not BIoPower or Diesel models.

Of the 664 9-5s sold, only 32 were not BioPower or Diesel.

1: Volvo V70 Flexfuel

2: Saab 9-3 BioPower
Mar: 842 vehicles (16)
Jan-Mar: 2492 (24)

3: Saab 9-5 BioPower
Mar: 578 vehicles (927)
Jan-Mar: 1757 (2471)

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And finally…….

90: Cadillac BLS
Mar: 17 vehicles, -56.4%
Jan-Mar: 131, +31%
Market share this year: 0.21% (0.15%)