Posting will be light this weekend as I head off to the north island for a family engagement. I’m taking my laptop, though, so things will still be happening.

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An update on the leasing thing….

GMAC are going to post a 2.5 billion dollar loss this quarter. So I guess that’s why leases are off the table for a lot of brands.

As for GM, they’re going to take leases off the table for a number of models (mostly SUV’s) and adjust their offerings for other vehicles.

From Automotive News (sub):

….while we obviously can’t make guarantees, we are in the market today with competitive programs to make GMAC leasing more affordable and plan on continuing to offer this financing alternative as part of our August incentive play on ‘08 and ‘09 models (with some adjustments and exceptions).”

GM plans to continue offering a “balanced menu of options” for buyers including cash incentives, lease deals and attractive financing, one dealer briefed on the plan told Reuters.

I have no idea what this will mean for Saab in particular, but I have a feeling it’s not going to be good news.

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As a cross-play, GM plans to hike incentives on the vehicles most effected by the lease situation - SUVs, crossovers and some poorer selling vehicles.

Some SUV’s will see up to $4,000 on the hood, though I haven’t seen anything about Saab in the article.

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It’s the 1st August here in Australia. I think GM will breathe a sigh of relief that they get a weekend off before having to report what will be another slaughterhouse month in sales terms. This time last year Saab USA sold 3,247 vehicles. I wouldn’t be surprised if the didn’t get over 2,000 in July this year (and that’ll be the second successive month).

Again, Automotive News:

Automakers are expected to report on Friday that U.S. auto sales fell for a ninth consecutive month in July, as the industry hits its worst showing in 15 years.

After recording reasonable worldwide sales in 2007 of around 125,000 units, Jan-Ake Jonsson did an interview with a German publication earlier this week where he said they hope to reach 110,000 this year, and the same next year. Consequently, I can’t see July being a good month anywhere in the world for Saab.

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Back in May, Saab spent a bucketload of cash promoting the Turbo X in Automobile Magazine.

Here in July, Automobile Magazine has at least proven it’s journalistic independance by heaping a bucketload of crap all over the Turbo X’s head. Not satisfied with getting one reviewer’s opinion about the car, they writeup everyone from a senior editor to a copy editor. I guess the janitor was busy.

When you scan the specifications on the Saab Turbo X SportCombi (despite the 9-3 badge on the back, Saab insists you call it just the Turbo X), you can’t help but get excited…..

….Sure, the traction of Saab’s all-wheel-drive system is impressive but the overall driving experience of the Turbo X does not live up to the impressive specifications list, especially for close to $45,000.

That’s typical of what you’ll get at the link.

Of course, all the people that have actually paid money for the car write to me and tell me they absolutely love it. Having ridden one and driven a pre-production version, I can see why.

But it doesn’t mean that Saab couldn’t benefit from some serious investment. If they’re talking of the 9-3 as feeling old now, imagine what they’re going to be saying about Saab’s volume seller in a few years from now.

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John McElroy makes sense at Autoblog:

Every day Chrysler LLC builds Euro-spec versions of the Chrysler 300 at its assembly plant in Canada, bolts a V6 diesel engine into most of them, and ships them off to Europe. That diesel 300 gets better fuel economy, over 30 mpg, than all the other vehicles in Chrysler’s U.S. showrooms. But it’s against the law for Chrysler to sell that car in America.

Right now Ford and General Motors are trying to figure out how to bring many of their fuel-efficient European models to the U.S. and manufacture them here. They’d love to do it immediately, but it will take them several years to modify, test and validate those designs before they can meet U.S. regulations. Until they do, it’s illegal to sell those cars in America.

Anybody else out there agree with me that this is crazy? Let’s let automakers bring their fuel efficient European cars over here immediately. As long as a car meets the Euro 5 emission regulations and the latest European NCAP safety standards, we ought to let them build those vehicles in the U.S. with no other modifications.

Anyone who wants a TTiD Saab 9-3 in the US should lend a “hear hear!” in comments over there. It just doesn’t make sense.

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In another example of Saab Germany starting to get wheels in motion, Saab are getting all fashioned up in Berlin. The story’s not too interesting, but it’s a good photo:

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And while we’re talking fashion, that’s a lotta shoes…..

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GM’s management were tight lipped about which Saab would be produced in North America the other day, but it seems the Swedes aren’t so reserved:

US car giant General Motors is to start production of a new Saab car model in Mexico next year. This is part of an attempt to turn around GM’s disastrous sales figures…..

….Paul Åkerlund, IF Mettalls union spokesperson for Saab Automobiles in Trollhättan, western Sweden, told TT news agency that it shouldn’t affect jobs in Sweden. According to the union, building a new model on the other side of the Atlantic has long been part of the plan…..

….Eric Geers, head of information at Saab Automobile confirmed to TT that it’s the Saab 9-4X crossover that was shown at Detroit earlier in the year that is to be produced in Mexico during 2009.

So, all that discussion can be set aside. It’s the 9-4x as expected.

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If you’re in the US and you’re in the market for a new Saab, AND you know someone who works for GM, then you could get a substantial discount up until the end of this month (not much time, I know).

From Automotive News:

General Motors is allowing U.S. employees a one-time opportunity to offer an employee discount to anyone they choose, through July…..

….An employee discount offers a substantial savings. For example, a Buick Lucerne with a sticker price of $34,200 would carry an employee price of $29,758.03 after cash incentives, says GM spokesman Pete Ternes.

In a memo to employees today, GM’s sales chief, Mark LaNeve, urged employees to offer a friend or neighbor the discount…..

….Employees register for their discount on www.gmfamilyfirst.com. They print a certificate for their friend to give to the dealer for the discount.

So if you know someone who works for GM and you’ve been considering a purchase, this week might be the time to pull the trigger.

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I don’t normally cover cars for sale but this is no normal car, in fact, it’s pretty rare so I’ll gladly make a rare exception. Golfhunter tells me there’s a Saab 92 for sale……on Ebay!

It’s a 92B and possibly one of the last ones, too, as I see the date 1955 mentioned there. The last 92s were made in 1956.

The price is set at 14,000 Euros and the car is in Austria (thx, Wulf!).

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Mo has hooked me up with a story stating that Saab are going to reduce their warranty in the 2009 model year. The author provides no source and I haven’t been able to track one down as yet but the site seems to be quite genuine.

With the 2007 model year vehicles, GM introduced the 5-year / 100,000-mile powertrain warranty and brought Saab closer to copying the warranty coverage of all the GM makes.

It looks like that is changing for the 2009 model year.

For 2009, Saab is going back to future by rolling back to some of the same warranty coverage that was offered prior to 2007.

A separate powertrain warranty will not be offered but powertrain components will be included as part of the 4-year/50,000-mile bumper to bumper warranty. Roadside assistance and courtesy transportation will also be covered for the same period.

I’ll keep an eye on this one and see what else come out on it. Take it as being just a possibility at this point, until we hear something from Saab.

UPDATE: It looks like it’s for real. This comes from a press release covering the relationship with SaabUSA and the “Burn Notice” television program:

For the 2009 model year, Saab offers XM Satellite Radio and OnStar standard in its entire vehicle portfolio. In addition to 4 years/50,000 miles bumper-to-bumper warranty, including roadside assistance and courtesy transportation, every new Saab comes with 3 years/36,000 miles no-charge scheduled maintenance.

As the first source indicated, there’s no separate mention of a 5-year powertrain warranty there, which was always mentioned in the past. So in summary, it looks like customers might lose one year of powertrain warranty (from 5 to 4) and I guess we’ll have to wait and see if there’s a new mileage limit on powertrain components in those 4 years.

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It was a huge weekend for sport here in Australia, and given that I’m a bit of a sports nut, I have to give it some space here:

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Cadel Evans came 2nd in the Tour de France….again. He was trailing the leader by 94 seconds coming into the final time trial (and he’d beaten the leader by 150 seconds this time last year) but the pesky Spaniard pulled out the ride of his life to hold on and win. But we’re still proud of our Cadel.

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The Aussies beat the Kiwis for the Bledisloe Cup, our annual Rugby match. I’m not a huge rugby fan but I get up for the big games, and this one was huge. The Aussies have been down for a few years and hadn’t won the Bledisloe for a while, so it was good to get a resounding win against the old foe.

One of the main features of the Bledisloe for non-rugby fans like me is the Haka, performed by the New Zealanders prior to the game. Here’s one from a few years ago:

And it gets even more interesting when you’ve got a simultaneous haka response, this one coming from Tonga:

The year, Australia responded to the Haka with the organisers playing our unofficial national anthem, Waltzing Matilda, over the public address system. The crowd joined in and it was all quite loud and probably fun for those who were there. It wasn’t quite as intimidating as a haka, though.

Then again, a rousing song about a sheep thief is probably just the thing to make a New Zealander tremble

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The undoubted sporting highlight of the weekend for me was my fantastic Carlton Football Club unleashing a brilliant 13 goals to 5 second-half to beat the highly favoured Western Bulldogs in the Australian Football League.

After 5 years in the desert, the Blues are back in town, baby!

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