What do you want first – the good news or the bad news?

The bad news is that April was another negative month for Saab in the UK, though I know few people there who consider that not so bad as it probably means they’re not fiddling the numbers with pre-reg sales like they have been accused of doing in some prior years.

Saab GB sold 1452 vehicles in April 2008, compared with 1620 in the same month last year. That’s a fall of just over 10%.

So far in 2008 they’ve managed 6,876 sales, which is around 17% down on the 8,295 sold from Jan-Aprl in 2007.

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Whilst that’s not the best news Saab GB could wish for, they’re quite possibly patting each other on the backs today, albeit briefly.

The good news is that the JD Power customer satisfaction ratings have recently been reported and whilst I don’t know exactly where Saab GB finished in those rankings, I can tell you they were the most improved brand in the survey, growing their rating by 24 points.

Lexus were #1 and believe it or not, Skoda were #2.

Saab sales for Sweden are in, and it’s a case of steady as she goes for Saab in their own market.

Sales of the 9-3 are still rising, though not at the rate they once were. There’s possibly a few alarm bells ringing at Saab at the performance of the VW Golf this month, which raised sales by 98.1% in the month to outsell the Saab 9-3. Volvo also had two vehicles that outsold the Saab 9-3 during the month, with the V50 and the new V70 both outselling Saab’s top model.

Saab 9-3

There were 1,175 vehicles sold during April, up 11.6% on last year. So far in 2008 there’s been 4,592 vehicles sold, which is up 24.9% on last year.

Saab 9-5

There were 575 vehicles sold during April, which is 45.8% less than the number sold in April 2007. For the year to date, there have been 2601 vehicles sold, which is down 35.8%.

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Of the 1,175 Saab 9-3s sold, 779 were E85 and 285 were Diesel.

Of the 575 Saab 9-5s sold, 477 were E85 and 68 were Diesel.

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Our old friend, Cadillac………

100: Cadillac BLS
Apr: 15 vehicles sold
Jan-Apr: 146, +46%

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So, sales in Sweden – 11% for the 9-3 and down plenty for the 9-5.

Good? Bad? Indifferent?

Next years sales figures are going to totally kick a$$!! They can’t do anything but kick a$$ when they’re going to be compared to this year’s sales.

I mentioned a week ago that the best performing regions in the US had only sold around 40% of their month’s target by the time 66% of the month had passed them by. Yes, those were the best performing regions. They all got their usual scramble on by the end of the month and the end result was better, but not encouraging.

SaabUSA sold 1,580 vehicles during April, which was massive 32.8% fall from the same month last year, when they sold 2,350 vehicles.

Intotal, Saab sales in the US are down 17.6% this year so far. They’ve sold 8,048 vehicles so far, compared with 9,770 from Jan-Apr in 2007. This isn’t a good thing in a climate where the Chief Financial Officer of GM is saying that the only thing keeping all eight GM brands together in the US is the prohibitive cost of casting one or two off.

Individual model sales were as follows:

Saab 9-3: there were 1,098 units of the 9-3 sold in April, compared with 1,738 last year. That’s a fall of 36.8% for Saab’s volume seller. Thank goodness the Turbo X’s and XWD Aeros are coming soon (the first XWD Aeros have landed!)

Saab 9-5: The Saab 9-5 actually saw a sales RISE in April, with 260 units being sold this month compared with 250 last April. A modest rise of 4%, but good to see some life in the old girl.

Saab 9-7x: SUV sales are tanking all across America and the Saab 9-7x is no exception. There were 222 units of the Saab 9-7x sold in April, compared with 353 in the same month last year. That’s a rather massive fall of 37.1% for what has been Saab’s second-best selling vehicle for the last 2 years. Note: it was outsold by the Saab 9-5 this month.

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Obviously, there’s a combination of factors here.

Near-zero marketing for most of the month. The economic conditions in the US. The second best-selling vehicle in the range being part of class of vehicles that’s taking a battering due to rising fuel prices.

I think there’s also a core group of Saab buyers who are holding off for XWD, which isn’t helping either, though I can well understand their wanting to do so. The sensible ones (if they haven’t bought a Turbo X already) will hold off all the way to 2009, when SaabUSA offer a real desireable backage for the XWD Aero, as well as the XWD 2.0T.

Until then, it’s just a matter of hanging in there. Dealers, you have my sympathy and some real hopes for better days ahead.

Saab USA have upped the Fly to the Finish cash available on the 2008 Saab 9-5 during April. There’s now $1,000 FTTF cash on top of $1,500 customer loyalty cash for the 08 model 9-5.

Somehow I don’t that’s going to get it done.

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There’s no cash on the hood of 2008 Saab 9-3s at the moment apart from usual $1,000 loyalty cash.

That said, I’ve just been taking a look at typical lease prices in the US. Geez you guys get it good. $299 a month for 2.0T Sport Sedan. That’s cheap as chips for what you get. I used to spend two thirds of that on cigarettes a month.

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With all that said, though, it doesn’t seem to have helped.

Around two-thirds of the way through this month sales in the US were in a parlous state. Dealers in the west had hit around 40% of their sales target and dealers in the east had hit only around 20% of their target.

Those numbers will definitely rise a bit as the month ends as dealers scramble for business, but I’m guessing that XWD can’t come soon enough. Especially on the east coast.

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Saab Australia have commenced a cool left-brain/right-brain campaign. I just saw it online, my attention caught by this rather noticeable silhouette. She spins around and you’re asked to choose which way you see her spinning. Interestingly, I saw her spinning counter-clockwise first, but after I started reading and realised it was from Saab I perceived has spinning clockwise. Weird.

You make your selection as to which way she’s spinning and are taken through to releaseme.com.au where thy break down the features of the 2008 Saab 9-3 according to your left or right-brain bias.

Hit the releaseme.com.au link and you can check it out for yourself (except for the spinning girl).

UPDATED for Australia.
UPDATED for Canada.
UPDATED for Germany!

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It’s time for the small market sales data for March 2008. If you know your small market numbers, please slip them in comments or send them through via email.

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Germany

Thanks to SaabAudi we hear that there’s some good news from Germany, where they sold 428 vehicles in March 2008.

That’s a 9.5% rise on March 2007. It’s still small potatoes, but if Germany’s turning around then that’s very encouraging.

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Netherlands

Saab sold a total of 179 vehicles in the Dutch market last month, a fall of 53 vehicles from the 232 sold in the same month last year.

There were 161 units of the Saab 9-3 sold (down from 186).

There were 18 units of the Saab 9-5 sold (down from 46).

Thanks Albert!

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Australia

2008 was shaping up as an OK year but it was a tougher month for Saab Australia in March 2008. There were 114 vehicles sold during March, which was a massive drop from the 252 sold in the same month last year. Of these, 29 were convertibles.

So far this year, Saab Oz have moved 344 vehicles, which is a 180 down from the 524 sold in the first quarter last year. Only 20 of those units lost were 9-5s. The rest were Saab 9-3s.

In March 2008, there were 130 Hummers sold by GM premium brands, the same marketing arm that promotes Saab in Australia.

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Canada

As noted in the Turbo X pricing article yesterday, Canadian Saab sales for March 2008 numbered just 79 units. That’s against a figure of 196 last year, a fall of around 60%.

I’ve bitten a fair chunk out of Saab Canada’s backside in recent months. Some of it deserved and maybe some was a little harsh. Recent knowledge acquired suggests that it’s more a matter for GM Canada, in that Saab Canada is down to a shoestring staff of people trying hard but just treading water.