Comments on: SaabUSA ‘build-your-own’ website is still crappy

By: JV

JV — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 13:33:06 +0000

It appears that this issue might be a GM north america issue. I was on the Saturn BYO doing some research for my sister and it had the same feel and same problems. It also lacked information on options and did not list all the options that I know exist on that car. Here is the link to their BYO. Here is my deep blue Saturn Aura XR

By: joemama

joemama — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 22:31:22 +0000

I have news for everyone – this might be all we see for this year. As I designer I can tell you this site is either a”soft” launch, which would be on a devsite, not a live one, and we wouldn’t be able to see it, or this is the official 2009 website.

I think the latter. If SaabUSA is predicting a bad year just like the rest of us, why put money into a new website?

I guarantee you a company was in the middle of redesigning the old one for Saab, then Saab ran out of money and pulled the plug, and the web company “scrapped” together a resemblance of a site based on whatever was left in Saab’s budget.

I’d bet money on it.

By: Wulf (NW Michigan, USA)

Wulf (NW Michigan, USA) — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 21:57:48 +0000

There is a 9-5 Sedan and 9-5 SportCombi. Why isn’t the 9-5 sedan called Sport Sedan? And why isn’t the convertible called Sport Convertible? I agree with others that it is time to drop the “Sport” from all models.

And why are they using Sport Sedan with a space instead of SportSedan? The wagon is 9-3 SportCombi.

I hope someone at Saab USA is reading this and have all these errors and inconsistencies fixed asap.

By: gordon

gordon — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 21:12:15 +0000

I love that “Exciting Version” Toyota

By: gordon

gordon — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 21:11:14 +0000

But what about the 9-5? Both models are *Ltd Avail*

By: eggsngrits

eggsngrits — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 20:56:03 +0000

Is there a real reason for metallic paint to cost $550 more? I’ve always been amazed by this difference. Is the cost more or does the market simply bear more cost?

By: RMinNJ

RMinNJ — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 20:28:57 +0000

I checked out the site and it is different then it was. I found I was immediately confuses as the
main site does not explain what touring, comfort and sport is (or I couldn’t readily find it). Only
difference on the site was in initial prices of the car

When I selected sport and selected automatic transmission it did not add any amount to the
cost…does that mean that level comes with an automatic?

The different option levels are bound to confuse the casual shopper.. Even an ethusiast like myself
forgets what the difference between the touring and comfort is..

More sadly, from a practical standpoint I would want to avoid a trim level like “comfort” thinking
its bounces all over the road like my dad’s Buick.

Not sure what they were thinking.

By: peter

peter — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 16:59:06 +0000

Thank you for staying on this, Swade. I admire your dedication, and I’d love to see this featured weekly until they get it right.

Wulf pointed out another error but there are plenty more when you pull up the features and specs on the 9-3. One example: the 2.0T Touring is not available with a 6-speed Automatic Transmission. It really is not that hard to edit this stuff, but you have to employ somebody that knows the product. One last nitpick, if providing links to pictures within features, make sure the picture illustrates the feature clicked on.

By: Alex

Alex — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 15:15:43 +0000

Forget those stupid GM gimmick names like “linear” and “arc”, just bring back S, SE, and Aero. Does Audi, BMW, etc give their trim levels the kinds of trim level names that you’d expect to see slapped on a pontiac? I don’t think so.

So the 2.0T touring becomes the 9-3 S
the 2.0T Comfort becomes the 9-3 SE
the 2.0T XWD becomes the 9-3 SE XWD
the 2.0T Sport becomes I dunno, the 9-3 Sport?, the 9-3 Vector? the 9-3 Griffin?
Of course the 9-3 Aero XWD would stay the 9-3 Aero XWD

And let’s lose this 9-3 “sports sedan” garbage from the site, it sounds like silly marketing-speak at best and 80′s era engrish at worst. Does BMW call the 3-series the “3-series sports sedan” on their website, does Mercedes refer to the “C-Class Luxury Sedan” anywhere on it’s site? Consumers are smart, especially Saab consumers and when they see that the brand needs to constantly remind it’s prospective buyers that it’s sporty, 40k+ sedans ARE, in fact SPORTS SEDANS it just comes off like they’re trying a bit too hard. Or to put it this way, if the products and the advertising campaigns are doing what they are supposed to do, then Saab shouldn’t have to plaster “sport sedan” all over it’s site.

Seriously, I can’t be the only one here who reads “9-3 Sports Sedan Sport” and only thinks of stuff like this: http://www.engrish.com//wp-content/uploads/2008/08/exciting-version.jpg

By: Snotfjold

Snotfjold — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 14:58:20 +0000

Swade, I am starting to think nobody is home. The lights are for sure out at SaabUSA. If that means the brand team is now handled by some grey group of multi-brand responsible types nothing can save the brand in the States. The BYO site is probably the first example of what we have to expect in the future from people that have no interest in Selling Saabs, just more Caddies.

Look how GM handled it in Australia for crissakes.