Category Archives: Saabology

Saab 98 exposed!!

Posted on by

That is a very dramatic headline, but unfortunately it’s not a very dramatic story. It’s a fun one for those who might consider themselves Saab anoraks, though (thanks Dave!).

Further to the story about the 1:43 scale model of the Saab 98 for sale on Ebay, I received a telling photo via email today, which lifts the skirts of the Saab 98 from the Saab museum to see what’s underneath.

Shock horror!! All isn’t quite as it seems.

To my scant knowledge, there was only one Saab 98 built. It now resides in the Saab Museum in Trollhatta, is painted Sienna Brown and comes out on show just every now and then. It wasn’t on show when I visited the museum last year, though Steve B from Melbourne managed to sneak out back and shoot this photo in the storage area.

Here are some more shots and angles dug up from around the tubes.

When I say that to my knowledge there was only one of these built, it seems my knowledge isn’t complete as there’s an orange version of this car floating around, too.

On Jpowell’s site, he asks whether there’s two of them or if it’s the same car, to which he received a reply as follows:

Yes, they are the same cars only in different colors and as you can see, the Orange Saab 98 has the Saab 99 EMS Wheels. Keep up the good work!

So it may be that there is only one of them, but it was painted brown, then orange, then repainted in it’s original brown again. If anyone’s got a clue here, please feel free to share the full story in comments.

——

Now to the exposed bit….

As mentioned in the previous post, the Saab 98 was a prototype built on the bones of a Saab 95. How much of it was 95? Well, according the build plate and the color of the firewall, the whole thing started life as a white Saab 95.

David R took this photo at the Saab museum some time ago and sent it through to me via email today.

As you can see, the internals are a very white shade of Sienna Brown and the VIN starts with a “95…”

Sergio Coggiola did the coachwork for this prototype (which had the internal name X14), so they must have just shipped him a white Saab 95 and a set of drawings and let him loose.

Thanks Dave, for the pic.

You can now all sleep easy knowing a slightly fuller history of the Saab 98.

–

SaabUSA ‘build-your-own’ website is still crappy

Posted on by

If the guys at Saab USA thought I was just going to cover this once and then forget about it, they’ve got another thing coming.

See, I’m ticked off at the fact that in a time of financial crisis, they went and spent X-thousand dollars on a company that put together a Build Your Own Saab website that is a really poor reflection on the brand, one that pales in comparison to the one that existed previously.

My original rant about this website is here. Read that article for the full details.

I’ve just been over there and checked it out, thinking that it might have been upgraded or finished off, but here’s my Fusion Blue sport sedan:

As you can see, it looks pretty much the same as my Titan Gray 9-3 sedan from a week or so ago:

In chatting with Eric Geers from Saab Sweden last week, he conceded that whilst Saab would ideally like consistency in their websites around the globe, some countries like to put together their website in a way that speaks to their market.

The SaabUSA website does feature some pretty good graphics and whilst not looking as sophisticated as the global site, it’s not bad by any means.

But that BYO site – it’s got to go!!

It’s plain to look at. It doesn’t match the flashier main SaabUSA site. And of course, most of all, it just plain doesn’t work like it should.

SaabUSA: please, please, please – demand that the people who put this thing together finish it off properly. Or get your money back and get someone else to do it properly.

–

Chatting with Eric Geers from Saab Sweden – part III

Posted on by

Recently, I chatted with Eric Geers from Saab Sweden. Eric is the Director of Communications for Saab Automobile and splits his time between Gothenburg and Trollhattan.

In part one of this interview, we covered the general conditions at Saab at the moment, especially in light of the current situation facing parent company General Motors.

In part 2, we looked at the progress with Saab’s new key model, the Saab 9-5, as well as a little info about the 9-3x, which will be seen in testing soon.

Here’s the third and final instalment, where we cover a number of topics in brief.

——

About Trollhattan:

Trollhattan Saab: What will you be building at the Trollhattan plant in 2010? Assuming the 9-5 is being built on time in Russelshiem, that will be out of the plant and 2010 was the time when we’d heard that Trollhattan was scheduled to start building vehicles on the Delta platform.

Eric Geers: Yeah, we call it compact premium. Delta is an internal code. It’s the size of the architecture that’s very important. It’s not so much the platform itself, but the manufacturing size. So if you are, say, a midsize or a compact plant, it means that you can build any of these types of cars in any of these types of plants in the world. So if there were a demand for compact premium vehicles anywhere in the world, it will be easy for us to build them there.

At this point, for example, with the 9-5…if there were to be a huge demand in Chine, for example, you couldn’t make it there. So with 30% or 40% import taxes in China or in Russia: if you want to be successful in these markets then you have to manufacture there.

TS: OK, so getting back to the fundamentals of the question there, can you build the current 9-3 and the compact premium vehicles together on the line at Trollhattan?

EG: Well, the 9-3 is on premium compact – the next generation.

TS: So, you just keep building the current 9-3 there until the next generation is ready?

EG: Yes, absolutely. The 9-5, 9-3, BLS…they are all still built in Trollhattan [until the 9-5 moves to Russelsheim]

——

On the 9-5 and the reasons why we can’t talk about it too much…

EG: …it’s not so much about discouraging sales of the current model because it’s not a big seller outside of Sweden, of course, because of it’s age. It’s still a great car, but it has 11 years of history.

TS: Yeah, it must be hard to sell people their third or fourth version of the same thing

EG: Yeah. It’s a great offer from us. You get a lot. You get proven technology, it’s a good car. But the new one is going to be completely different, I can tell you.

——

The 2009 Saab Festival

TS: Is the festival going ahead?

EG: We don’t know exactly about the festival but it might be that we do an event where we invite the Saab clubs to celebrate. We might look at some sort of activity that not necessarily is a Saab festival as we know it today. I can’t promise too much because we haven’t taken a decision on the festival at this point.

TS: I think a lot of people will just assume that it’s happening and turn up anyway.

EG: (laughs) Yeah, quite possible.

——

The roof

SW: The 9-X Air….when are we going to see the roof?

EG: Ahhhhh, the roof!

TS: Yeah, we keep hearing about the roof, reading about the roof, but no-one will show the roof in action.

EG: Exactly. We don’t want to do that because then people will see how it works and it’s going to be copied. And that’s what we don’t want.

TS: So, is that a patent problem?

EG: Well, part of it is the patent issue. You still want to make sure you own the technology and that no-one can copy you because it is a unique system.

TS: So once the patent comes through will you show us how it works or will we have to wait for a production model?

EG: This system could show up when we would introduce the next gen convertible. Not so many decisions have been taken on that one.

That car in that size is extremely good for Saab, we believe. It’s the right kind of technology: small engine, less size and weight, and so on. In the end, how the car will look….we’ve seen all sorts of media headlines like “Build it” etc etc, so the response has been very good. Now, it’s a matter of, well, how is the next generation 9-3 going to look? Obviously it’ll be very much Aero-X inspired, 9-X inspired. You’ll see a lot of it there. So I think we’ve found our new design lanuguage.

I wish I could show you some of the new products! The design language and also the rear end of the new Saabs are going to be very pronounced, it’ll be very identifiable as Saabish from a distance. That’s really what the key thing is. I mean, if you look in the rear view mirror you need to know that that’s a Saab.

TS: Well that’s right. You can see a classic 900 from 200 meters down the street and you know within a quarter of a second what it is.

EG: Exactly. And that’s the sort of thing we want. Not necessarily aggressive, but a stronger presence.

——

On Saab

TS: I’m pleased to hear that everything’s still feeling quite positive. I know there’s a lot of speculation, there’s a lot of worries and everything but everyone is pulling for Saab to come through in good shape.

EG: One of the good things is that Saab is a very relevant brand. It’s Scandinavian, it has the right heritage in terms of small engines. We’ve always been reliant on four cylinders, small turbo engines. Some people thought “Gee, now they’re finally moving to six cylinders” and you get into the big numbers and so on but we see that (small is) still the heart and the soul of Saab.

And it makes more and more sense, especially these days when we see six cylinder sales going down. Everybody, in the end, is going to use turbocharged engines, smaller engines, two litre…..you can expect engines to go down further in size. The BioHybrid was already 1.4 and so on, so from that perpective, Saab is a very relevant brand. It’s admired by a lot of people, so from a brand perspective, we have all it takes to become successful so we strongly believe in this. Now the only thing is you have to make it happen.

TS: Yeah, exactly right. Even Ford have got an engine variant now that they’re calling Ecoboost, or something, which is a direct ripoff of the old Saab Ecopower name. All the companies are going that way (i.e. turbocharging) and Saab’s had that philosophy for years. All we need is for people to see it.

EG: That’s what it is. And sometimes if you’re a small brand, that’s not always easy. In Sweden it’s easy because everyone knows what Saab is but as soon as you go outside of the borderlines of this country it becomes more and more difficult. That’s one of the biggest challenges.

——

On websites

TS: Why do some countries have different Saab websites to others?

EG: Well, you can have one main look and feel for websites, but there are some markets that still want their own look and feel for their specific customers. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes there’s advertising that you don’t want to see. You want advertising that we develop but you have to give some sort of freedom to make sure you hit the right audience in a specific market.

In the end, of course, the goal is to get one global look and feel with everything you do and say, and so on. That’s one of the things that the brand center is doing. It’s not only just looking at cars, but also looking at communications and the way we sell ourselves to the customer. The more consistent you are, the better. Especially when you’re a small brand. You need certainly to be consistent, which we haven’t always been in the past. It’s one of the things that Jan-Ake’s hammering all the time: consistency.

TS: Well, the Swedish site looks absolutely fantastic and it’s based on the international one, and I think the UK one has gone with the same basic look and feel. I hope the others can do something about it. It seems like it’d be more cost effective.

——

Once again, I’d like to thank Eric Geers from Saab for taking the time to have a chat.

And the photo at the top is Eric’s original photo, Simpsonised. :-)

–

Tim’s Viggen – RIP

Posted on by

I alluded to this sad bit of news the other day and Tim has passed on the OK to share a little more.

Late last year I ran the Saab Pride of Ownerhship competition and Tim S was one of the five finalists. Tim’s car was a beautiful black 2002 Saab 9-3 Viggen. It was a rather unique example, too, being the only Viggen I’ve ever heard of with a tan interior instead of the usual two-tone Viggen interior.

Tim’s car was renowned amongst the Seattle Saab crown for being an exceptionally well cared for example and Tim was a master detailer. I’ve seen some photos of this car where it had a shine that you wouldn’t believe.

Sadly, Tim had a run-in with guardrail this week. He’s given me the OK to share the story here, as posted by him at Saablink:

I’ve done this route hundreds of times. Took a high way overpass turn too quickly with TCS off.. Hit the gas, wheels spun, back end went out … and then the car lurched across the other lane (two lanes one way) and hit a guard rail….

…Im not hurt and no one else was….the mystery here to me is, the air bags did NOT deploy. Am I missing something? Looks pretty bad, but shop guy is optimistic that the frame is OK. Engine block looks ok, but anything in front of that was damaged.

Actually, the description of the movement of Tim’s car sounds very much like how my Viggen exited this world. Much different type of damage, though.

Here’s the pic. More at the link above.

It looks like his insurer will probably write the car off, which means that Tim will be tootling around in his NG900 for a little while and quite possibly looking for a bargain at the new Saab showrooms in the area.

Tim, I too have loved and lost a Viggen, so I feel your pain, bud. It goes away eventually. I’m not a drinker, but I’ve heard that beer helps.

——

My 0.02c on the whole GM crisis thing

Posted on by

Someone commented earlier that this site is getting to be a bit of a GM Deathwatch site. Not so. I’m just trying to keep abreast of everything that’s going on.

Why? Because it matters. It not only has the potential to be the biggest moment in modern automotive history, it also has the potential to shape the future of that little brand that we love – Saab.

So, for what it’s worth, here’s a quick examination of the various elements at play here, and the TS take on them. This is the prism through which I’m watching all these events.

Let’s start at the bottom line, eh?

What matters to me

The only thing that matters to me out of all this is that Saab comes out of it with some sort of decent future. I couldn’t really give a hoot what happens to the rest of the company. Saturn? Who cares? GMC? A waste of brain cells.

Out of every difficult time comes opportunity. GM won’t come through this unscathed. Saab mightn’t either. But if they do make it through, I’m confident that they have a philosophy on motor vehicles that’s 100% in line with the near-to-medium term future of the automobile. Give them their head and I’m sure they’d come up with the long term future, too.

So, on to other things…..

Who’s fault is this crisis?

There’s a lot of blame being thrown around in news reports and on the internet. Most of it seems to be falling on GM and sure, they haven’t been building, selling or even planning for the future as much as they should have.

But let’s not kid ourselves here. The assertion that GM don’t build cars that people want is just flat-out wrong. They’ll probably be overtaken by Toyota on a global basis this year, but even if that’s the case, they’re still selling the second highest number of cars on the planet. Ipso facto, they’re selling cars that people want.

Should they be selling more fuel efficient vehicles? Yes they should. Should they have toned down their reliance on SUVs and pickups in the last few years? Yes they should have.

But no business that deals with GM’s kind of product, with GM’s legacy costs, could withstand the double-whammy that’s hit the automotive business in the last 3 months. First, there’s the lost sales: a 45% drop in sales last month. Second, there’s the inability for both customers and GM themselves to access the funds they need.

Some of the customers that can’t access leases or loans probably shouldn’t have them in the first place. Others would like to buy and may even be in a position to buy, but can’t access the finance. Then there’s GM themselves, for whom money is now as rare as rocking horse poo.

Have GM been trying?

GM – and others too – have run into the perfect storm. GM just have leakier boat.

GM weren’t in the position they should have been in order to weather this credit crunch and the crash in consumer confidence. But I do believe they were on their way there.

They’d renegotiated the union deals to a large degree, an arrangement that would take greatest effect in 2010.

They’ve lifted their over all quality ratings.

They’re releasing more fuel efficient vehicles and have more coming down the pike.

They’ve cut their workforce heaps in the last few years.

Based on the level of automobile sales that were expected in the US at the start of this year, GM would have been fine and would have continues their restructuring efforts, albeit most likely at a slower pace than what they’re doing now. Around the start of this year, the market believed in GM’s plans enough to have their stock price around $30.

But at the start of this year, no-one forecast that we’d be where we are now.

Bankruptcy

In a perfect world, a procedure through the US Chapter 11 bankruptcy code would be ideal. Economists live in a perfect world, one full of assumptions about situational conditions. Ever hear about the economist trapped on a desert island with only tinned food to eat? He assumed a can opener.

Chapter 11 would keep the wolves from the door, or line them up in an orderly manner, but only for so long. GM would still need access to operational finance and that wouldn’t be likely to come from an influx of customers.

Despite the things we like to tell ourselves, we don’t always act with the calm surety that we like to think we would. Back in August, while I was in Canada, I listened to a professional, educated man tell me that Barack Obama was secretly a muslim extremist. I’ve also heard another very intellectual guy whom I love and respect a great deal tell me that 9/11 was basically an insurance job with the tacit permission of the US government.

Scary stories are easier to act on, and that’s exactly what will happen if GM go into Chapter 11. GM should be able progress through a bankruptcy procedure in an orderly manner and preserve the warranty rights of customers, but do you think customers will believe that? Or will they believe the story they read on the internet about how every obligation that’s owed to them will dry up overnight because of a bankruptcy?

The GM hierarchy

I found it disappointing to read today that when one of the Senators asking questions of the Detroit CEOs posed the query as to whether the chiefs present would work for just $1 a year until the business was turned around, that only Chrysler’s Bob Nardelli said he would.

I think Rick Wagoner’s done a good job at GM in recent years. The restructuring stuff I mentioned above is the main reason for that opinion. But if Wagoner really believes in the future of the company, he should be willing to hang around and live on the money he’s already earned whilst he brings his board’s plan to fruition.

I don’t hold to the idea that GM’s current management are the only people who can steer the company through its current crisis. If Wagoner has to take one for the team, then so be it. Alan Mullaly’s performance at Ford in the last 18 months tells me that there’s more than one way to skin this particular cat.

Mullaly’s a former airline executive and he’s come in fresh and shown a member of the Ford family how it should be done. Ford are now regarded as the most likely of the Detroit three to get through all this relatively intact. I’m sure there’s another executive out there with the skills and passion to take on this challenge and win.

Can it all work?

I’d like to believe that if GM can secure the lifeline they’re seeking (around $10B) that they could trim enough costs to see themselves through the storm, but I’m really unsure.

As of the end of last month, they had around 2 or 3 billion in cash above their operational needs. Make that $12B with the lifeline and they get around 6 months of breathing space at their current burn rate. Maybe 8 or 9 months if they breathe in a little.

The big question is whether the rest of the market can recover in that time. There’s no use proloinging GM’s demise if the conditions they operate in don’t improve.

GM believe that they need to hold out until some time late in 2010. That’s when the mother of all Hail Marys is due to come online – the Volt. Will they hold on and even if they do, will the Volt be good enough to tip them over the line into a sustainable state?

Time will tell.

The preferred option

So what of Saab in all this?

I don’t know how the technicalities work in this situation. If GM go into Ch11, is it just the North American division that’s effected or does it hit every GM division around the world?

If GM Europe could manage a spinoff from the mothership and Saab could remain as a part of GM Europe, then that’d be fine with me. It means all the current plans and structures would largely remain intact.

Saab’s heritage has already suffered enough uprooting and transplantation. The thought of them being bought up by a company from some developing nation or other isn’t palatable for me at all. The less disruption, the better. If Saab must be sold, please let it be to someone who wants to make Saab cars, not cars with Saab badges.

I want to see Saab stay in Sweden, with Saab cars designed by someone with a European philosophy rolling out of the plant in Trollhattan. Call me an idealist, but a situation that’s hugely different from that would really place Saab in danger of being just another automotive brand. Right now, they’re still much more than that, and that’s how I’d like it to stay.

–

Lance Cole: Notes from a Saab Island

Posted on by

As some of you know, I am on holiday here in Australia and our man Swade has kindly agreed to let me make a somewhat personal post…

People have taken Saab and the spirit of Saab to their hearts the world over. Yet in a far off land with cultural frameworks far removed from a Swedish winter, Saab has a following that has surprised even this dedicated Saabist.

-

Lance Cole is a writer living in England and has penned several books on automobiles and aviation. Saab enthusiasts would know him best for the book Saab 99 and 900: The Complete Story, which is an excellent volume and available for sale at the TS Shop. At the bottom of the left sidebar you’ll see a list of authors here at TS. Click Lance’s name to read all of his contributed pieces.

-

All photos by Lance Cole. Click to enlarge

You know that there is an Australian stereotype – in fact there are several. Cars ‘Down Under’ have always been big, brawny, rear wheel drive affairs best suited to the huge mileages Aussies do on their cross country and interstate journeys. Holden and Ford have ruled the roost for decades with their own brands of modified bodies and engines that started life in Europe and the US as other cars.

GM used the doors off the old European Opel Ascona/Vauxhall Cavalier to create a Holden Commodore a few years back. And by adding huge front and rear overhangs to the Opel Omega, the Aussies created the last-but-one, Holden Statesman.

But times and fashions change and other cars have now begun to make inroads into the Aussie car market.

Yet, Saab is huge here and has been for decades. They bought 99s and 900s in vast numbers – and now 9-3s and 9-5s.

On a drive up into the Blue Mountains west of Sydney I was swept aside by a red Classic 900 SPG Turbo, a three door beauty blasting up Katoomba hill. The car had to be 15 years old and yet it looked brand new. Coming down the hill a few minutes later was an early Classic 900 turbo in white, screaming down through the S bends – its driver grinning hugely.

Then there was the farmer’s wife driving a red Classic 900 convertible, which seemed incongruous in a land of huge four wheel drive monsters and pick ups – ‘Utes’ to the locals. And the old 1950s Saab 93 I found as a barn find in the back-of-beyond in Victoria underlined the point. Melbourne is packed with Saabs – especially convertibles.

In Sydney, the local Saab Car Club blokes, organised by Brendon – Trollhattan Saab readers all – turned out in cars ranging from a new Turbo X to Simon’s pristine, restored 99 Turbo three door in Cardinal Red metallic. The by-now infamous Belgian Beer Cafe provided a strong backdrop. These guys are true hardcore Saab nuts.

Joe Lobo asked me what was it that made Saabs so popular in Britain. I guess the next question is what is it that makes Saabs so popular in Australia?

En route to finding the answer via Swade, I discovered the stunning, amazing collage of scenery that is Tasmania. Imagine the Scottish highlands, the Lake District, the Blue Hills of Virginia, blended with vistas of Kenya and dotted with lochs, lakes, harbours and wooden lodges.

I came here to meet Mr TS – our man Swade and visit Trollhattan Towers. And if I thought mainland Australia – the Big Island – was Saab mad, that was as nothing to the sheer size of the Saab population in Tasmania.

Hobart and the rest of the place is seething with Saabs – it’s a Saab island, however small; the locals love them. I saw eight Classic 900 four doors in a few days, hoardes of convertibles and it is a sea of newer models too.

Maybe this Saabness is in part behind Swade’s obvious passion and dedication to Saab. Maybe that is part of the creation and success of Trollhattan Saab – mixed in with the Big Island’s love of Saabs too?

It was a privilege to meet Mr Trollhattan Saab and see him at work. I have tried to convince of his achievement with TS but he is so modest he hates any suggestion of PR plugging! But I reckon there’s a whole lot more to come from TS.

Drew B – he of the incredible Saab collection and local Saab Club Chair, organised a dealer day with the local Saab dealer (Motors Saab) and we took off to the hills in a range of cars including a Turbo X wagon – great fun on amazing roads.

Drew and I also headed south a few days later in the beautifully balanced 9-3 TTiD courtesy of Saab and took some photos. It is superb car and in my view pick of the sub-Turbo X range – except for the rubbish electric window switches and low-rent fascia plastics. The auto box works really well with the TTiD, by the way. Despite the poor cabin trim, I loved this car and reckon it is the best diesel power application on the market – it’s turbine smooth with that auto.

Oh and Tasmania is full of Alfas too – so we can forgive Swade picking me up at the airport in an Italian job… I think it’s just his sense of humour.

All the Aussie Saab nuts need now are new models and like me, they cannot understand the delays to the 9-5 and 9-4X. After all, Bob Lutz justified the stop-gap Saab-Subarus by saying they would create new models whilst Saab dealers and customers awaited the real, new Saabs. Ok, so now they are ready, using that logic, how on earth does Saab justify the reverse logic of delaying these cars?

The Saab Island expects.

Finally, huge thanks to Swade and everyone for hosting me and making it the trip of a lifetime for Saab nerd from Mud Island.

——

——

From Swade:

And if I may respond, it was an absolute pleasure having Lance come visit with us at Chateau TS. My thanks to Lance for his patience and forebearance with this addicted Saab blogger, and for resisting temptation and not photographing me at work writing blog articles in my dressing gown and ugg boots (dressing gown = housecoat for you alt speakers).

And of course, thanks for this reflection on what is an uncharacteristically Saaby country. See you on the rebound, mate!

SW

Saab flash ads archive

Posted on by

Just like I don’t know where/how to download TV shows on the internet, I’m also MIA when it comes to downloading flash animations. Luckily the folks at adverlicio.us know how, and they’re putting together an archive of ads from all sorts of companies, including Saab.

Ads on the internet have become a lot more important to Saab in the last few years. As the ad budget has decreased, Saab have turned to the web to better target potential customers according to the websites they typically view. In the same manner, they’ve been inviting bloggers in certain niches to attend auto shows and GM functions at their expense. For example, there’s a Gay Day at the LA Auto Show this week and GM will be hosting a number of prominent journalists in the segment so as to get coverage in their markets.

Anyway, back to the ads……click through to adverlicio.us if you’re interested in seeing some of what they’ve been doing. Different ads run in different markets so you probably haven’t seen some of these before. If you’re interested in advertising (I love it) then it’s a great way to kill a few minutes.

–

SaabUSA BYO website – what have they done??

Posted on by

What we have here in the new build-your-own section of the SaabUSA website is a classic cock-up that just may point to why GM is currently in financial distress.

If you’re reading this from the offices of SaabUSA then please look away now. You might be responsible for this and I’m going to give you a good kick in the internet gonads. If you’re reading this from the offices of SaabUSA and you choose to continue reading, then maybe you know the person responsible for this – please kick them in the gonads on my behalf.

——

A while ago, my employer had a company vehicle called a Mitsubishi Magna. It had the most uncomfortable seats in all autodom. I remember sitting on them and thinking to myself that it was unbelievable that someone in authority could sit in that seat and then sign off on it as being OK for production. Those seats probably lost thousands of first time customers and thousands more in repeat business. A car company just can’t afford to stuff up something as fundamental as a seat.

Today, Wulf sent me a link to the new Build-Your-Own section of the SaabUSA website. They held up the addition of 2009 vehicles to the website because they were re-vamping this section of the site, so I was looking forward to checking it out.

When I clicked on it, I thought it looked a bit clinical to start with. It was when I started to progress through it that my jaw slackened. Like the Mitsubishi Magna seats, I just can’t believe that someone in authority at SaabUSA saw this site, used this site, and then thought that it was acceptable for potential Saab buyers to use.

Let me start at the end.

This is what a Saab 9-3 in Titan Grey with 10-spoke wheels and a black interior looks like when you Build-Your-Own at the Saab Australia website:

As you can see, the color and trim options are shown with your actual vehicle’s exterior and interior represented on the page. I chose those wheels and they appeared on the car.

Similarly, here’s a Titan Grey sedan with ALU73 wheels (again, chosen by me) and a parchment interior – all shown on the Build-Your-Own page at Saab UK:

Now, here’s a Titan Grey 9-3 sedan from the Build-Your-Own section of the SaabUSA website.

I chose 18-inch wheels but I have no idea if that’s them because the wheel size didn’t change when I clicked it. I don’t even really know if they’re the wheels I’ll get as there was no visual representation of the wheel to click – just a check box.

I’m also unsure as to what my interior will look like as there was no examples to see on the BYO website. Being safe, I chose black, though you’d never know as you can’t see it.

And in case you didn’t notice, Titan Grey now looks like Laser Red. As does Black, White, Nocturne Blue and Snow Silver. They all look red because the representation of the car doesn’t change color anymore, no matter what color you select (and no, there are no color swatches to see what the different colors look like anyway).

Effectively, the site allows you to see the price and a rough specification level. The car doesn’t look like the car you’ll order (unless you order Laser Red) and the BYO site doesn’t give you a printable document that details the equipment you’ll get on the car, like the other sites do. US Saab customers would be better off getting a visual of the car from another country’s site and then coming to the US site for a price.

Another bugbear is that the site has been dumbed down. Instead of assuming that people are intelligent and know what their Saab models are, it asks them if they want a “4-door car” or a “Station Wagon”. In Saab-land, these are called a Sport Sedan or a Sport Combi. Why dilute them so they can be understood by the great unwashed? You’re trying to be a premium brand, aren’t you?

–

The big question, of course, is how much did this cost? How many tens of thousands of dollars did they pay to a company somewhere in the US or wherever to actually make their site worse than what it was?

That’s the big joke here (if only it were funny).

SaabUSA’s website (and most of them, really) was in need of a clean up but the old BYO site used to do all the things that the UK and Aussie ones did. It gave you a visual representation of the way you’d configured your car. Pick Snow Silver and the car would show up as Snow Silver. Pick a parchment interior and it would show you a parchment interior.

This site has cost them thousands of dollars and it does nothing to show the premium customer what they’re about to spend their tens of thousands of dollars on.

Again – I cannot believe that someone at SaabUSA actually saw this, used this, and allowed it to go live on the internet. It makes me shudder to think they’ve paid someone for it.

–

There’s one possible get-out clause for SaabUSA here.

It was noted by a number of websites recently that they had no 2009 cars on their web page. This gave fuel to speculation that GM might be about to put Saab on the block. When asked about the issue, SaabUSA stated that the 2009 models were not on the site yet because they had engaged a new contractor to build this BYO website and it wasn’t ready yet, but would be soon.

This is the result.

The get-out-of-a-gonad-kicking part could be that they’ve just slapped this thing up there, even though it’s half finished, in order to give people an idea as to what’s going on. That is, the BYO site’s still a work in progress but they figure something’s better than nothing, however incomplete.

That’s the get-out.

If this is the final product then someone ought to resign.

–

A final question – why don’t they just use the same engine to power all their BYO websites? It’d be much more cost effective. In fact, they could use ecomonies of scale to build in all sorts of groovy features and apply them globally.

–