Check your new Saabs
UPDATE: Example #2 is in comments. Sorry to hear it, David.
——
Maybe this is one reason dealers love to sell directly off the lot? No pesky orders to worry about.
Cast your mind back and you might remember that one of the reasons SaabUSA has sidelined the European Delivery Program is that they were implementing a new electronic ordering system and apparently they wanted to integrate the EDP into that system. The EDP has been around for a long time. I think I’ve seen material on it that dates back to the 1960’s and despite GM’s takeover of Saab 8 years ago, it was still an internally organised operation, separate from any other parts of the vehicle ordering system.
GM has been quite gradual with their integration of Saab. They only moved SaabUSA into GM’s Detroit headquarters a few years ago. Now they’re integrating ordering systems, marketing and dealerships so that Saab are closer to GM than ever before. The end result should be some value for money, some back-office savings and the realisation of some synergies. That’s what it should be.
So far we’ve had the cancellation of the EDP, supposedly just for 2008 and now seemingly indefinite, we’ve had little to no marketing in 2008 so far (though that’s slowly changing) and no increase at all in the marketing budget for 2008 despite XWD coming on board, and now we have this….
The first delivery of a Saab Turbo X into the US that I covered here on Trollhattan Saab featured a minor error on the car. The sill plate inside the door read “Turbo X” on one site and “Vector” on the other side. This was no big deal and the dealer, as soon as they knew about it, ordered a new sill plate from Sweden (where the right plate should have been fitted in the first place). Small error. Fixed.
I’ve recently heard from another dealer that there may be a number of other Turbo X problems afoot. No problems with the car itself in terms of engine or build. It’s just that some of the cars that have been pre-ordered aren’t coming off the line in the right specification. There may be up to half a dozen cars so far that were ordered with satnav, for instance, that have come off the line with satnav missing. A dealer can’t retrofit satnav, by the way, so either the customer’s got to wear it and buy a TomTom or maybe the dealer can phone a friend and see if another dealer has the correctly specified Turbo X in stock.
Remember, we’re talking about Turbo X’s here. One of the most important launch vehicles there’ll be for Saab in the naughties.
Whether the fault lays in Detroit or in Trollhattan is undetermined, but it definitely seems like there’s a language barrier still there. If you’ve ordered a Turbo X, rest assured that all reports suggest that you’re going to get the drive of your life. Just check it over and make sure it’s arrived with the features you asked for.
More from this category
More from this author
Subscribe to this author
Recent Comments
- Jeff on Lance Cole: The Saab Psychosis
- Jeff on Friday Snippets
- Jeff on Saab 9-1 - the opinion
- Markac on Saab 9-1 - the opinion
- Swade on Friday Snippets
- rogan2915 on Lance Cole: The Saab Psychosis
- zippy on Friday Snippets
- joemama on Saab 9-1 - the opinion
- Nate on Turbo X startup question - answered!
- Markac on Friday Snippets
Wow… just when I thought there couldn’t be anything more embarrassing then staples under the armrest….
…and that is why I would never buy a new Saab.
ohh - well the sill plate is minor compared to no GPS! Actually I think I like my screwy sill plate. I now have the only Turbo-X Vector model in the world
A missing Nav would be very bad because (quite a shock to me ) the nav is really cool. I’m really impressed with this - way better than Acura’s Nav.
Maybe someone might get lucky and get a Turbo X when they ordered a base 2.0T? The Vector/TurboX kickplate debacle was not in the least bit funny - it was quite pathetic really. Quality is one of the main reasons that Saab is ‘in a bit of a pickle’.
Beren -
I would ask if you keep the sill plate. Little production errors like that sometimes make the car more ‘collectable’ is some circles.
Forgetting the GPS though…. Hope that is just a rumor.
I went to pick up my turbo x combi today 5/16 in Boulder, Colorado and….. no nav system - I am bummed and am waiting to see how it can be corrected. I think I’d rather have the wrong sill plate. But the sound of the engine is very sweet!
When my family purchased our Ford Escape SUV/CUV thingy, it didn’t come with the side airbags, which we ordered. We almost wouldn’t take the car because of this, until the dealer knocked a crap load off the price. It was very frustrating to say the least.
This is embarrasing. Saab should really better their quality inspections. When we ordered our 9-5 in 2004, we specified SPA (parking sensors), but the car came without this. It was fortunately only a quick fix for the dealer, but it shouldn’t be so hard to get it right the first time. We also ordered the ALU39 (10 spoke Aero rims, seen in gravatar), but got the standard Vector rims, and with no center hub cap.
If Saab wants to be premium, the whole buying experience must be premium as well!
@ David
are you sure your dealer did not just forget the nav on the order form? are you sure that they really messed it up?
but congrats to your TX
Yeah, I’d be surprised if it wasn’t the dealer’s fault. Big companies have procedures and certifications for stuff like that. Dealers, well, it’s my experience that they will blow carelessly through paperwork so they can get to the part where they take the money.
I don’t get why the nav can’t be installed at a dealer. Why would this be? What if it broke and you needed a new one? Are you telling me they couldn’t replace it?
Beren, I’m not sure either, but that’s just what the dealer has mentioned to me in the email on this subject. As a result, he’s going to be hunting around looking for an appropriately equipped car for his buyer.
I took delivery of my Turbo X this morning, and it was equipped just as I had specified. I would suspect the dealer made the error in ordering, Saab built the car according to the information they received from the U.S. dealer. My overall experience was excellent, and the car is awesome.
David P, am pleased to hear that all went well and the car’s so good. Very heartening to hear. Those who are thinking that’s it’s the dealer’s fault, though, please understand that it was a dealer who let me know about this, not a customer, and he’s well known to me. I know him to be a very competent guy and he wouldn’t write to tell me that he’d just stuffed it up.
The electronic ordering system that they now use is only a few months old (to Saab in the US) so I could well imagine they’ve had some trouble getting it to talk to whatever system’s in the plant in Trollhattan.
Swade - who do you recommend I get in touch with at saab to moan about my turbo x not being delivered with the nav system I ordered? I really think there should be some kind of compensation. I love saabs and ordered this model because it is a collector series - but now to receive it less than expected… well I expect saab to own up to the mistake and compensate for their factory goof.
I thought TurboX was allways coming with fully integrated GPS system… is that true ?
When my father ordered his own TurboX, there was only a few options available, like the sunroof, 19″ wheels, or bluetooth integration…
Most things, like leather seats or GPS are included in the “base” model, so I really don’t think it is an error from the car dealer… sadly