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Saab US sales data - July 2008
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Saab US sales data - July 2008

August 2nd, 2008 · 14 Comments



Everybody hurts…..some time.

Mini were up by 14% in July and for just about everyone else it was a case of managing the pain. I opined yesterday that Saab might struggle to break 2,000 unit sales in July, and in a way I was right. They did struggle, I’m sure, but they got their 2,000 units. If 2,000 was the goal they were aiming at, that’d be great. Unfortunately you’ve got to measure it against the 3,000+ they sold in the same month last year to get an idea of just how hard they’re finding life at the moment.

Saab USA sold 2,026 vehicles is July 2008, which was down by 37.^ on their July 2007 volume, which was 3,247 units.

Individual model sales were as follows:

Saab 9-3: There were 1,394 sales of the Saab 9-3 in July, down from 2209 the year before. This was a fall of 36.9%.

Saab 9-5: There were 227 sales of the Saab 9-5 in July, down from 480 the year before. This was a fall of 52.7%.

Saab 9-7x: There were 405 sales of the Saab 9-7x in July, down from 558 the year before. This was a fall of 27.4%.

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Rather amazing, that. In these SUV-beating times, the 9-7x took the smallest dent in sales numbers.

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Tags: Saab sales data

14 responses so far ↓

  • 1 NJ_NickNo Gravatar // Aug 2, 2008 at 11:40 am

    I wonder how many new 9-5’s you can actually find at dealers. I was interested to have a look at a new 9-5 with an automatic (sedan) and my local dealer only had two on the lot. One with manual transmission and one wagon. Not the greatest selection.

  • 2 smoke_jaguar4No Gravatar // Aug 2, 2008 at 11:56 am

    July was a bloodbath. Everyone is down, even econocar poster-boy Honda. Compared to the beating everyone else took, Saab didn’t come out so bad.

  • 3 joemamaNo Gravatar // Aug 2, 2008 at 12:30 pm

    I’m surprised they sold 2,000. Better than expected. It will be interesting to see how everyone else did.

  • 4 SwadeNo Gravatar // Aug 2, 2008 at 2:10 pm

    Joemama - everyone else’s results are at Autoblog. Bad news all round. Only 3 green arrows in the whole collection.

  • 5 BernardNo Gravatar // Aug 2, 2008 at 9:53 pm

    Saab is outselling Hummer in the US! That’s unreal.

  • 6 TedjsNo Gravatar // Aug 3, 2008 at 6:24 am

    The Hummer dealer near Beachwood, OH recently acquired several other ‘points’ (not Saab) to supplement the dying Hummer brand. Gasoline is down a bit, but even if it got closer to $3.00 a gallon again, I don’t think that people will be jumping back into their SUV’s anytime soon.

    I still find it interesting that Mini sales are up so much. Something to watch.

  • 7 joemamaNo Gravatar // Aug 3, 2008 at 6:55 am

    Tedj - it makes perfect sense Mini sales are up, no? I’m surprised Volvo C30 sales aren’t higher….

  • 8 cjNo Gravatar // Aug 3, 2008 at 12:33 pm

    Canadian sales are up vs PY, but still down vs prior year. Likely due to a $6K price cut on the 9-3 now starting at 29.9.

    Sales up to 268 units vs 200 PY (34%), total 986 vs 1,423(-30%).

  • 9 BernardNo Gravatar // Aug 3, 2008 at 9:28 pm

    CJ,

    Saab.ca doesn’t mention any special offers or price cuts in Ontario. Where in Canada are they selling new 9-3’s for 29.9?

  • 10 EdNo Gravatar // Aug 4, 2008 at 4:36 am

    I’m interested in getting a 9-3. Hopefully these dismal numbers will encourage the dealers to deal. There is a dealer near me in Atlanta which I drive by often. The place looks like it’s overflowing with inventory. Now that the housing ATM (aka HELOC) is closed, nobody has money for cars anymore and this will not change for a long time to come.

  • 11 RonaldNo Gravatar // Aug 4, 2008 at 7:31 am

    Its funny that Saab’s Sales are almost at par with Volvo’s. Volvo was down 50.4% (!)…compared to Saab’s 37%..

  • 12 zippyNo Gravatar // Aug 4, 2008 at 9:00 am

    Saab Canada is knocking off $6000 for cash purchases only so I doubt its gonna make much difference to those of us in the real world who dont have $29950 + tax hanging around under the mattress.

  • 13 KroumNo Gravatar // Aug 4, 2008 at 10:32 am

    What Zippy said - $29,950 is a cash purchase offer, effectively they’re throwing $6K on the hood if you buy the car cash. With no leasing through GMAC, I wonder what August will look like.

    As for Ovlov’s sales’ 50% drop, I’ll assume most of the lost sales came from the XC90.

  • 14 SensonicNo Gravatar // Aug 4, 2008 at 2:12 pm

    About 9-5: I guess that almost everyone’s really waiting for that new model. Here in Finland GM has tried to boost 9-5 sales by lowering the prices of 9-5 models. Maybe they want to sell as many “old school” 9-5s as they can.

    Volvo has created their “classic” model which they’re putting out just before the new model is launched. They’ll offer the car with maximum accessories with the same (or almost the same) price they’ve sold the regular models. Saab should do the same. That should increase the sales, well at least I think so.

    While I was discussing with my favourite Saab salesman and getting a good offer of YM. 2009 9-3 Sport Combi, another customer called to the salesman and started to talk about 9-5 he had ordered before 2009 price lists were introduced. After the salesman was done with the phone call, I asked him: are there really anybody who wants to buy YM. 2009 9-5 since the new model is gonna hit the street next year? The salesman answered to me: yes, there are. Especially this guy. I guess they just want to buy the last year model of that “classic” 9-5.

    After that discussion I truly hope that there would be more of these kind of people who really want that “classic” YM. 2009 Saab 9-5. Otherwise Saab’s gonna all on its nose with the sales of YM. 2009 9-5 if everybody’s waiting for that new model.