Aussie sales data - Sept 2008. The HOLY CRAP! edition
I know carmakers are suffering and I know Saab are taking a beating in various places around the world.
But this is just…….just……….stabworthy.
In 2007, Saab Australia sold 1862 vehicles and it looked like they were on the front foot, moving forward. That year, we had great 60th anniversary models and a 2008 vehicle waiting in the wings. Things were looking up.
In 2008, that new model hasn’t been well received, despite it’s improvements and the new TTiD engine being available, and Saab are only going to break the 1,000 sales mark in the 10th month of the year. There’s a good chance they’ll struggle to break 1,300 sales this year.
Saab Australia sold just 40 vehicles in September 2008. That’s a massive 79% fall from the same month last year. Saab are down 37% for the year in total, with 967 vehicles having found a home so far this year.
——
For those who are interested, here’s a chart of the Australian sales for September. The data is sorted in descending order by sales for that month.
Ay Carumba.
——
From Marketing Week comes news that GM, like other car companies all over the world, are slashing their ad spend:
General Motors (GM), which owns brands that include Chevrolet, Opel, Saab and Vauxhall, is to cut 20% of its managerial overheads. Alain Visser, chief marketing officer for General Motors Europe, is one of the group managers facing a pay cut.
According to one of GM’s roster agencies, Visser has instructed agencies to “cut marketing spend to a minimum and focus on highlighting the strengths of individual cars in the most minimalist methods possible.”
File that under “reasons why now is a bad time to be blending Saab, Cadillac and Hummer”.
I need to fill in some gaps in my own data, but I’ve got an idea about looking at Saab sales here in Australia in the last few years (i.e. pre- and post-Hummer). Saab Australia was turfed out and GM Premium brands was formed in its place to accommodate the arrival of Hummer and Cadillac (and possibly Corvette in the future).
Whilst the number of brands doubled in 2008, I’m pretty sure the human and financial resources would have stayed pretty much the same.
-
More from this category
- US Sales Data - October 2008
- Swedish Saab sales - October 2008
- Some slightly better (and worse) news for Saab
- Saab Sales Snippets
More from this author
Subscribe to this author
Recent Comments
- MarkoA on Saab rumours abound….
- Ken H on Wednesday Snippets
- Talonderiel on Wednesday Snippets II
- Joel on Aero-X in alt colors
- MitchbSC on Wednesday Snippets II
- me on Wednesday Snippets II
- tom on Wednesday Snippets II
- Jeff on Wednesday Snippets II
- swade on Wednesday Snippets II
- aeronaut on Wednesday Snippets II
Cutting marketing budgets in times of low sales simply creates a death spiral. Low marketing, fewer new sales, further cuts in marketing, even fewer sales, etc.
Aye Carumba indeed. Its definitely gettting tougher to sell cars but clearly Saab are doing it really tough here.
Sheesh.
On the plus side, Saab is now down there in the company of ye Aston Martins, Lamogrhinis and Bentleys.
Grim humor, I know. Just mind-boggling to see Hummer outsell Saab with gas at the price levels that it’s at.
Well Parveen seems to be blaming Sydney Dealerships for the sales problem (which I agree with). Why don’t Saab do what BMW did and open a Saab owned Dealership in Sydney
Hummer sold more vehicles than Saab last month. That’s even more depressing than the low sales numbers..
I prefer to think of the poor worldwide Saab sales not as “sales decreases” but rather “exclusivity increases”.
^^^^
Comedy Gold. Comment of the year there, Gripen!
The dealers need new product. A new SUV isn’t going to help much neither is a crossover version of an ‘oldish’ wagon. The new 9-5 can’t come too soon. Unfortunately it will be too late for some….
At this point, ANY new product would be great. Those numbers are seriously painful. Lets hope its upwards from here and not something more final.
BTW - if we think its Just Saab having a bad day, check out the stockmarket. Holy crap indeed.
PT - a lot of money is lost on the stock markets but fewer jobs. And governments are flooding money to the financial institutions.
Car companies are feeling this in blood. They are axing people in thousands, it’s just a matter of time before Trollhättan is slashed.
Who is in deeper crap?
Ken - no argument from me there. All the same, you’d have to agree that its been a very tough day for all aspects of the capital /equity financial and social system that we live within. People who work in the city are feeling it too - I know someone who works in the city who had to go home last night and tell his wife that they would need to sell the house.