Cadillac HUMMER Saab consolidation comes to the Music City
It was bound to happen sooner or later — our local Saab dealership is no longer an “independent”. Our area is now serviced by a full-line Cadillac-HUMMER-Saab combination dealership. For us, it’s probably a good thing.
As I’ve written here before, in the 1980’s I bought my first Saab new off the lot at Thoroughbred Motorcars here in Nashville, Tennessee, USA. Thoroughbred exists no more, but at the time that I bought my 1986 900 S (3-door, 16-valve NA, 5-speed, Admiral Blue) it was a combination Saab, Jaguar, British Leyland (just MG and Rover), Alfa Romeo and Ferrari dealership. They still had the remnants of their days with Lancia and Triumph hanging around. It was a heady mix of sporting cars of the day with plenty of red carpet panache in the showroom and service area.
Over time, the automotive business changed, and they changed with it. First came Porsche, who had obviously decided that the local Volkswagen dealership was no place for them. Alfa exited the North American market as did Rover and MG. Sterling, the joint venture with Honda and Rover, came and went as did Maserati. When Audi fell on hard times, it was the last straw in the demise of the local Mercedes-Benz/Audi dealer (who had also previously sold Peugot and Renault as well). Audi quickly signed with Thoroughbred, which now consisted of Jaguar, Saab, Porsche, Ferrari and Audi. Ferrari at some point was sent packing or vice versa.
The four remaining marques existed peacefully together for years — at least 15, perhaps 20.
When I refer to Thoroughbred Motorcars as an “independent” Saab dealer, I do so in quotes because, obviously, they’ve never been a Saab-only enterprise. Indeed, in the 1980’s, Saab was a leading volume brand for them. Perhaps 50% or more of their sales (in units) were Saabs. Jaguar has always been popular around here, and there were always a few folks who bought the Alfa Romeo Spider Veloce which was by then the only Alfa available in the US. As times changed, Saab certainly took a back seat increasingly to the higher-end cars available there, especially for service. Once Audi regained its footing with some great new cars they took the volume leader position occupied by Saab 20 years earlier. Jaguar, by now selling disguised Fords, was also doing well. Of course, servicing a Porsche or V-12 Jag makes a LOT of money, so they got priority in the service department. In short, Saab hasn’t exactly been treated well by Thoroughbred Motorcars, and they have a horrible reputation for raking your wallet pretty well when you take your car there for service. In perhaps the worst disservice of all, Thoroughbred did NO Saab marketing at all. I’m talking ZERO.
Just last night, I heard for the first time and advertisement for Crest Cadillac-HUMMER-Saab located in downtown Nashville. This was the first I’ve heard of the change, and I know that it is a very recent occurrence, no more than a month past. I wish that GM had worked it out with Andrews Cadillac because they are much closer to me and have a great reputation for service, but they also sell Land Rovers so I figured that was a long shot.
This leaves Thoroughbred Motorcars with Porsche, Audi and Jaguar, and they’ve opted to change the name of the dealership to Jaguar Porsche Audi of Nashville (doesn’t that just roll off the tongue?). They’ve already updated their website, while Crest seems a little behind in that regard (saabofnashville.com redirects to crest-cadillac.com for now).
In short, counter to other Saab dealer consolidations, I think this is good for Saab in our area. For starters, Crest has proven that they can market cars, albeit in a different market segment. It’s up to the cat in the hat to help them to learn the Saab target audience and how to reach them. That will come with time. As far as service is concerned, they can’t be less attentive than Thoroughbred, although it’s possible that they may not have the expertise to work on Saabs quite yet. Once again, only time will tell.
So, you can chalk up at least one win for the GM luxury brand consolidation strategy.
More from this category
- Saab Barn Find (sort of) - for sale!
- Who knows what - about the 2.1 Saab 900i??
- Saab ain’t quite GM’s minnow brand
- Question: how would you go about starting a Saab car club?
More from this author
- Top Nine Things that I envy and don’t envy about BMW
- The EnG Pride of Ownership Entry
- Swedish Car Day Number 9 - Sunday
- EnG Monday AM Snippets
Subscribe to this author
Recent Comments
- Robin M on Saab Hybrid spotted in Netherlands!
- Jeff on Pollhattan Saab - Old vs New
- carl on The GM/Chrysler deal and what it could mean for Saab
- Alex on Pollhattan Saab - Old vs New
- Tom on Pollhattan Saab - Old vs New
- Tim in Denver on Pollhattan Saab - Old vs New
- swade on Pollhattan Saab - Old vs New
- Wimpbeef on Pollhattan Saab - Old vs New
- ctm on Pollhattan Saab - Old vs New
- Fasttrader on Pollhattan Saab - Old vs New
By the way, why is HUMMER always written in capital letters? Is it because it appeals to the type of people who write their emails all in capitals?
99GL, Ironically is is SAAB that should be written in capitals as it is an acronym after all.
Anyway having Saab presented with other upscale vehicles such as Cadillac and HUMMER is certainly better than the situation here in Canada where they share space with Saturn. At least more people with the right budgets will see the cars which will never happen with Saturn customers.
99GL: I’ve wondered the same thing, but surmised that like aeronaut alluded to it’s supposed to be an acronym. We all know what SAAB stood for (pre-GM renaming) and even AUDI was an acronym. The HUMMER H1 was based on the U.S. military’s (and AM General’s) High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle, or “HMMWV”. When military folk tried to pronounce the unpronounceable they decided on “humm-vee”, or “HUMMER” for short. I think this is why they put it in caps. In solidarity with HMMWV.
General Motors licensed the trademark from AM General when they began manufacturing the HMMWV for civilian purchase (Arnold Schwarzenegger was one of the first customers and urged them to make a civvy version). I believe AM General still makes the military version, whereas when GM sold the H1 still (it’s since been discontinued) they purchased it from AM General and just re-branded it (not like GM to badge engineer, right?). Then they designed the H2 themselves, which I believe is really a re-clad Chevrolet Suburban. Then after the backlash due to poor fuel economy they came-out with the “baby HUMMER”, the H3.
I have no idea why a new dealer would include HUMMER as is the case with eggs’ dealer. The local Saab dealer to me just DROPPED HUMMER from the Cadillac-Saab-HUMMER lineup. They took the HUMMER sign off the building and there are no HUMMERS left on the lot. Now it’s just a Cadillac-Saab dealer. You can see the “ghost sign” on the side of the building still where the sun bleached “HUMMER” onto the wall under the Cadillac sign.
Well, I think that in California HUMMER has a much more negative connotation than here.
However, it’s likely that Crest simply was glad to get a another couple of lines and took all that was offered. Given the size of their building, it’s unlikely that they will have any new costs incurred to take on HUMMER for whatever short period of time they deem it worth. It costs nothing to try something with HUMMER, why not, especially given that they will get the parts business for all of the HUMMER owners in the area.
H2 has the Chevrolet pickup components underneath, yes.
The H1 was the real deal. The one the the Governator had in the beginning was a true AM General model. If you’ve ever been inside one of those, you will quickly realize why the H2 was necessary. They are a 4-seater, period. The drive train “hump” is almost as high as the window sills to allow for the insane ground clearance those things have. Each person has a little cubicle in which to sit — almost enough room to get comfortable. There is virtually no interior storage. It is NOT a practical daily driver, and it was never intended to be.
Gripen, thanks for sorting that one out.
But while we’re on the subject, Audi was so called because August Horch, having founded a car firm which bore his name, found that he couldn’t also put his name to a second one. So being a scholarly type he used a Latin semi-translation of Horch, audire, to provide the name for his new company.
My Saab dealership (Wright Saab - Pittsburgh) recently has moved their showroom into the Hummer building. I guess they have market research that shows Saab and Hummer buyers would buy either brand. kidding.
99GL: that’s interesting. I thought AUDI stood for “Auto Union Deutchland somethingorother”. I learn something new every day.
eggs: The Governator lives in Brentwood and my wife sees him driving his daughter to The Brentwood School (an expensive private school) in one of his HUMMERs on occasion. He got all kinds of flak for the HUMMERs when he ran for Governor. He did the typical greenwash thing and had GM give him one that runs on hydrogen, he’s got one that runs on biodiesel, and ones that run on gasoline as well. Someone around the block from me has an H1. They really are ridiculous when you look inside them and see how little room there is in such a HUGE vehicle and everyone sits so far away from each other.
Actually, I think the HUMMERs sold pretty well here where I live. People have more dollars than sense here. I don’t know why the dealer dropped HUMMER. Strange.
Grip:
I theory the H1’s with the military-spec engine will run on just about anything — gasoline, diesel, biodiesel, airplane fuel, etc. I doubt they pass Cali emissions, but still….
You will all find a lot more of these threesome dealerships all over, under the banner of GM Premium. Even if Hummer is sold off, they will still need a dealer network. Excellent work on the Audi name Gripen! (The four rings signify the 1932 union of the autos {Auto Union} Audi, DKW, Horch and Wanderer)
Eggs: “The cat in the hat” very funny, I laughted out loud. My wife asked what was so funny, I showed her, she laughed as well.
Mike: Glad that you liked the reference, but I’ve got to hand the honor over to Swade. And, I don’t think that it has any other meaning except that he’s the one in charge — that is McNabb’s the one in the hat. At least to me it doesn’t.
Yea even in sunny Scotland our local Saab dealership has gone from Western SAAB to Western SAAB-HUMMER. So looks like its happening the world over. For me it doesnt bode well that Saab is being partnered with the supposedly outgoing Hummer brand…