Saab Australia’s amazing range of vehicles
In most countries, Saab has just a two model lineup - the Saab 9-3 and the Saab 9-5. That’s the case here in Australia, too, but you could hardly say choosing a 9-3 is a simple task.
Here in Australia there are three body styles, like most places, but there’s also five forms: Linear, Linear Sport, Vector, Vector Lux and Aero. Then there’s your five engine variations and three transmissions.
And believe it or not, you can have almost any combination of all those - a total of over 80 model variations with the Saab 9-3 family.
Here’s a sample. This list was published in Wheels Magazine here in Australia recently. If that looks crowded and confusing, bear in mind that it doesn’t list all the variations, and it doesn’t include the TTiD, nor any XWD variants yet!
With a list like this, there’s not going to be many cars like yours if you buy one here in Oz. That’s a nice thing on the surface, but I wonder if it makes the customer’s job just a tad too difficult.
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I fail to see anything difficult in having that many options. It’s not as if you’re sitting with a huge menu at a restaurant while some waiter hovers over your shoulder. It’s Wheels magazine being typical cleverdicks. Is a prospective buyer who wishes to buy a 9-3 really going to walk away becuse the choice is the size it is? I think not. If we only had the option of 3 or 4 variants there’d be some prattish comment about no wonder Saab struggle to sell so few vehicles with such a barren selection.
Good grief! What’s that silly square photo by my name?
The picture is a gravatar, Paul, and the post wasn’t a critical piece at all. It was just a suggestive question.
Once you understand all the options, its quite easy to make your choice.
Your not locked into paying for options you don’t really want to pay for.
Trust me, I bought one. Thanks Saab!
http://www.trollhattansaab.net/archives/2008/04/aussie-saab-9-3-biopower-delivered.html
Once you understand all the options, its quite easy to make your choice.
Your not locked into paying for options you don’t really need or want.
Trust me, I bought one.
Thanks Saab!
http://www.trollhattansaab.net/archives/2008/04/aussie-saab-9-3-biopower-delivered.html
Once you understand all the options, its quite easy to make your choice.
Your not locked into paying for options you don’t really need or want. Trust me, I bought one. Thanks Saab!
Simple:
Model: Aero 9-3 or 9-5 Combi
Trans: Six speed Manual
Colour: Black or Silver
= Profit
a.
Will you get to test drive all the different variations? At least for the parts that are not purely cosmetic.
I wish they had more choices like that in the USA. Dealers here usually buy cars and then sell them on the lot so it makes it easier for them to have fewer choices. It would be nice for customers to be able to have a car built exactly to their needs. I wonder why Saab USA doesn’t allow that. There is a bit more work involved in ordering from the factory but it can’t be that bad. Those option packages are nice but you often end up with stuff you don’t really need or want. It also could be a great opportunity to sell a “stripped” down version of the 2.0T for, say, about $24-25K.
Whenever I look at the US model specs I always think of it being very limited.
After reading US forums I get the impression that ‘low output’ engines just don’t seem to work.
But you can buy a 148hp or 170hp I-4 from other GM brands?
Most people here know I live in Germany and although most of the autobahns actually have limits on them, there are still many sections where a recommended limit of 130km/h (80mph approx) is granted. I would say however that the average flow of traffic during the day is more like 150km/h (90mph) but yes granted traffic; or more like non-traffic conditions permitting I have driven at over 180mph in one of these sections and no it wasn’t a Saab….
I guess you’re wondering what this has to do with my view that Saab USA’s model availability being limited.
In Europe I would say that the 150hp TID is probably Saab’s biggest seller. Usually there are 3 different trim levels you can buy this engine. But US doesn’t offer diesel, however the 150hp 1.8t engine delivers the same performance and I would also like to add that this 2.0lpt engine is what you would call in the trade as ‘Bullet proof’.
It has a 0-60mph time of under 9.2 secs and returns 7.5 l/100km (31.4mpg US) combined cycle and top speed is more than fast enough to have a cop ask for your licence with his hand firmly placed on his sidearm. But for the record 210km/h (131mph).
The only downside to this model if it were to be offered in the US would be the masses talking about how 150hp isn’t enough to lug a family and luggage up those big ol’ american mountains… But we do have a couple of little hills in Europe too. One being the alps and the other being the Pyrenees and 150hp is still god enough for them.
So lets look at the pluses of a 1.8t
Good economy
fast enough for US roads
Great commuter.
SportCombi still better than an SUV
Larger and better quality than a Colbat or Astra with the same power output for example.
Given the right spec. car could be retailed at $19,995
Overall: a fantastic value premium level vehicle with great economy safety and reliability.
I guess it kind of makes up for the abysmal range they offered with the C900 in the eighties and early nineties? Back then, you just couldn’t have the body/engine combination you wanted!
Saab wants to be all “premium” in the USA and I guess they have to keep up with the German competition because of this. I have been saying all along they should sell lower priced 9-3s and 9-5 and compete with VW and Volvo. I think an entry level 9-5 in the low 30s would be a great offering and allow for more 9-5s to be sold here in the US.
We all know they can’t quite match the German competition with their current model range.
Good on yer Saab Oz!!
Here in the UK, Saab GB have decided that I cannot have what I want by restricting the choice of combinations and, worse still forcing me to take options I certainly don’t want.
I am driving my fifth running 9-3, all purchased new. Due to the smart axxes at Saab GB this will probably be my last!
Apple Computer had an issue about 10 years ago that almost caused them to disappear off the planet. Thankfully, they had a new CEO turn up (well, a re-hash), who rather cleverly decided to ditch their existing model lineups and concentrate on a far simpler product matrix. One pro laptop/desktop and one consumer laptop/desktop. Nothing fancy. Very easy. Usually two-three variations in each. It worked. It got them out of the sh*t and here they are today, a far bigger company than ten years ago. I guess what I am saying is that, in a market like Australia, where they are only selling 2000 a year, why bother having 80 model variations ? Why not just present two models, here is the 9-3, here is the 9-5, here are the body types in each, here are the levels, Linear, Vector and Aero. I just think it makes the job on the dealer’s behalf a bit easier explaining that to someone who had not thought of a SAAB before. A product matrix like Australia’s current one is better served in a market that matters, such as the US or Europe.
Just my 2c
I can’t see a problem with the customer having a large choice of options etc to choose from. Why can’t you buy the car with the options and trims which you want and need, and not pay for those which you don’t care for?
First of all, select which model - 9-3 SS/SC/Cabrio or 9-5 Sedan/SW, then which trim you want. Which engine would you like in your car, sir? Would you prefer an automatic or a manual gearbox? Any other options you would like to have in your car that is not standard? You have now configurated the car to suit your own needs and budget. Simple.
This is nothing, the new BMW ads in OZ are boasting over 1,000,000 different available combinations for the 3 series…. really stupid stuff!
I remember reading an article that it’s far cheaper for a manufacturer to “group” options in packages than it is to sell the options individually. It allows the consumer to get a better equipped vehicle for less.
The amount of variations there is outstanding in Aus. and I definitly support more choice. Nothing depresses me more than manufacturer’s assuming everyone wants/needs a sunroof in their sport/premium models. My height usually limits my choices of vehicles to base/entry-level models with no options. One day I hope to move up.
WooDz–there just is no reason for Saab to sell the smaller engines in the US. Premium cars have to have power. While BMW’s most popular engine worldwide is one of its 4 cylinders, that engine is just not available here. Economically a small engined luxury car doesn’t work, particularly with the dollar to euro valuations going on. (VW can sorta make it work, because it’s not as “premium” as Saab is wanting to be.)
Having said that, I think this matrix is disastrous. While people will almost always say that want more choices, the reality is that choices confuse them. (For an excellent book on the topic, read “The Paradox of Choice” by Barry Schwartz.)
One example of this is retirement pension schemes for employees. Companies offer their employees the chance to enroll in a pension plan. The employee is always benefitted by enrolling in a plan.
The best quantity of choices is 3 plans. People can sort through 3 choices easily and enroll. While people may say they want to have more, once you get much beyond 3, people get confused and fatigued by all the choices…and then they don’t enroll in any plan at all.
And I think that it’s reasonable that would happen here. So you might have someone who is attracted a bit to Saab, but…ahh…which Saab? Is someone going to test drive half a dozen 9-3s? No. I think they’re more likely to break down and just drive one and not be able to balance out all the choices mentally.
So I think Saab USA has the right idea. Offer just a few variants of great automobiles. At maximum 3 engine variants (a 4 cylinder petrol, a diesel and the V-6. Make the E85 and the petrol the same so that keeps it down to 3 variants.)
My comment and its tone Steve were directed at the typically gratuitous dig at Saab by Wheels magazine where if you read the text at the bottom they mention how many Camrys Toyota sells with only a couple of variants..
I don’t like the gravatars by the way. They look ugly on the page.
In the US, Toyota sells at least 19 uniquely identifiable variants of the Camary, per their web page.
My guess is Wheels may be bad a sums as I was able to count at least 7 models of Camary on Toyota’s co.au web page (5 on the NZ page too).
BTW Swade: If we haven’t picked a silly gravatars , please don’t pop a default one on our comments. They are a bit silly. Maybe next we’ll see someone show up with animated boobs as they choice?
Steven, there’s been a pretty decent uptake on the Gravatars, which I happen to like and I think add a little personality to people’s comments. They certainly make my day a little brighter and I’m the one spending several hours a day writing and administering the pages here. I’m not taking offence to your request, but let’s just say that I didn’t put them up here because I thought they were ’silly’.
That said, I’m fairly new to the Gravatar plugin and unaware as to whether I can switch it off for non-choosers. If you’re reading this without the offending 250 sq-pixels next to your previous comment then you’ll know I had success
Sorry guys, web links must take a little longer to appear. A lesson learnt.
I thought my mac was playing up.
Wheels stuffed up. They have the 95 Engine choices in with the 93, and then repeated again for the 95. We all know the 2.3 is not available in the 93.
from the manufacturer’s perspective, it seems to be less administrative overhead (and, thus, more advantages and profitable) to offer “packages”–”cold weather,” “touring”….
but from the consumer’s side, i’d rather have a la carte. for example, my ‘08, 9-3 has the “cold weather” package, which means, heated seats and heated windshield wiper fluid. yeah, the heated seats are groovy (and make a great double entendre on a cold-weather date), but i couldn’t care less for heated windshield wiper fluid, the actual cost for which i would prefer using to subsidize other options, like fogs or a moon roof; things i would appreciate using.
I think it’s great to have the options. Like a tailored suit chaps rather than one off the rack!
There are some options in my ageing beast that I wish the original owner had ticked and others which I could do without. But she was 1st cab off the rank so to speak and got what she obviously wanted. I ain’t complaining anyway.
Also re the Turbo-X, love the black, hate grey cars…though most people seem to like them? Dreary and not aggressive.
Most people will buy either what the dealer has in stock and thus get a better price, or what Saab Oz has landed in their yards. Freedom of choice counts for alot although in the Devo song of the same name “Freedom of choice is what you got / Freedom from choice is what you want.”