I’ve been writing for a long time now that Saab have a great product for the way the motoring world is heading. They’ve had that formula for a long time but their lack of growth has been due to a couple of things – a) having that formula when it wasn’t fashionable, and b) not embedding that formula in the minds of buyers.
It seems they’re ready to start selling the message a bit more aggressively, if this article at Edmunds Observer is to be believed.
Michelle Krebs from Edmunds went to the Turbo X drive in Boston last week and she’s covered the event from a whole-of-Saab point of view. If it all happens, it’ll be a great thing:
Buyers in Saab’s single largest market suddenly are very concerned about the price of gasoline, and there’s maybe no premium brand in the industry better positioned to give ‘em what they want, said Roger McCormack, Saab Automobile USA’s new marketing director…..smaller “downsized” engines strapped with turbochargers to help mimic the performance of the big V8s and V6s….That’s a tune Saab’s been playing for 30 years, says McCormack, who believes it may help give the niche Swedish maker a leg up in the coming fuel-economy wars
And here’s the bit that must come to pass:
“We’re going to make a more conscious effort to do a better job of talking about our (turbocharging) heritage — and what makes us a smart choice in this market,”
Saab need to get the product out and get the message out. Turbo’s their big, baby, and until something better comes along they should push it and push it hard.
Every ad – turcocharging.
Ever car – a turbo badge. Geez I’d love to see that again.
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And welcome to Mr McCormack. “Saab’s new Marketing Director for the US”, who’s new on these pages.
I hope we hear a lot from you.
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Wow, Roger McCormack really did a nice job talking about using Saab’s strength for marketing purposes in this current fuel economy climate we are experiencing.
It is nice to see some positive comments posted and coming from GM – even better.
Does anyone know why Saab decided to drop the ‘turbo’ badging from their cars? I know that in the N.A. market for a while ALL Saabs sold were equipped with turbos (during the OG9-3 timeframe). Did Saab just assume everyone already knows Saabs have turbos in them?
Then a few years later we in N.A. saw the re-introduction of a non-turbo Saab (not seen since the 900 S was discontinued) with the 9-7X so one can’t just assume all Saabs have turbos anymore. In fact, there was only a short few years period where Saab’s entire lineup had turbos.
I believe in Sweden it’s still possible to buy a non-turbo Saab (the 9-3 1.8i), right?
That’s why the new flagship Turbo X is so well named. Very Swedish, very Saab, very Turbo.