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If their foray into the mainstream with the 9-7x and the upcoming 9-6x (the Subaru Tribeca) doesn't work out, they will probably be out of business by the end of the decade..
http://www.detnews.com/2005/autosinsider/0503/11/autos-112395.htm
Bob
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
The V50 has the tech cloth interior option, a big plus for me. The exterior, while nice, veers just a little bit toward cute.
The SportCombi has a very purposeful look. I really liked the biege, light blue interior color combo in the Geneva Auto Show car. The SaabUSA site does not show interior colors. I do not know whether Saab will go with the show combo. If it does, that will be something of a first.
Nippon: I think the sign on the Saab design building will say 'Opel Russelheim.' I would not be surprised if the sign on one of the SportCombi production plants says Saturn Spring Hill.
As for the rest, well, as I think you know I was being a bit sarcastic with the "design by accountants in a GM building" thing. In fact, I suppose Saabs will become Opels with a different nose, perhaps a moved ignition key (until keyless start pervades all the premium brands), and leather. Which kinda makes you wonder how they will be distinguished from the "new" Saturn. Perhaps Saturns will be all cloth interiors?! :-P
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
http://www.autoweek.com/news.cms?newsId=101966
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
Saab could target Audi, since Cadillac is targeting BMW customers and Buick is chasing after Lexus buyers.
PF Flyer
Host
News & Views, Wagons, & Hybrid Vehicles
The Subaru Crew Chat is on tonight. The chat room opens at 8:45PM ET Hope to see YOU there! Check out the schedule
They did the test fleet round-up on the 9-2x in Autoweek recently. In the customer comments section, all the remarks centered around how they knew the car was just a WRX, but paid extra for the nicer interior or the additional noise suppression. One also mentioned the slightly longer warranty, although this is really neither here nor there since you can just pay to extend the warranty on the Subaru, if you like.
Seems like if Subie put in some sound insulation and gave the WRX an interior to match the Outback (which is after all priced the same), it could gain a lot of sales.
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
Also, in the latest Car and Driver, it shows a picture of the Chevrolet S3X, (the Euro only SUV that is designed and built by Daewoo) photoshopped with a SAAB nose on it and the name 9-5x.... I don't know how much truth there is to it, but their report was the 9-5x could very well be build by Daewoo.
Talk about diluting the brand...
But the Impreza will be all-new, and I wonder what will happen with the WRX and STi. More power? Or more refinement? Or both.
But wait, this is the Saab thread. That would be the crowning moment, wouldn't it? If they added leather and a moonroof to a Daewoo S3X and called it a Saab?
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
The S3X is built on the same platform as the Vue and the Equinox. The S3X was designed by an Australian formerly with Holden who transferred to GMDAT after GM bought some factories from the liquidating Daewoo.
Platform swapping among brands can work and is highly advisable. Volvos share platforms with Fords, Mazdas, Land Rovers and will share them with Lincoln and Mercury as well.
The difference between Volvo and Saab currently is that platform sharing was not planned from the start as it is in the Ford system. After the GM purchase, Saab continued to act as it did when it was independent, scrapping for pieces to assemble as it saw fit. The problem is it no longer had the aerospace engineers and deep pockets to fall back on. Better integrating Saab makes more sense and can work, as Volvo demonstrates.
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
Volvo will make the next gen Volvo SUVs in US Ford facilities.
And again, everyone of the Volvos are made on platforms manufactured and used by other Ford brands, including Japanese Mazda and British Rover. If Ford had a Korean facility, there is nothing to suggest Volvo would not source products from Korea.
Independent Saab sourced major components from other European companies.
There is no special magic in where an auto is assembled, is there?
If there is, are you worried about Lexus plans to begin making Lexi in the US?
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
Maybe GM would be smart for once and sell off what's left of Saab to Fuji as a luxury brand like Lexus is to Toyo. Heck, their both quirky, different, unique brands who would probably work well together.
Again you focus on the 9-7, which GM says was a stop gap fix to keep US dealers from dropping the brand, but ignore the 9-3 sedan and convertible and Sport Combi.
The 9-3 sedan is light years better than the junk independent Saab was putting out in the late 80s and early 90s. The 9-3 convertible is as good a 2+2 fwd convertible as you are going to get anywhere. It is pricey, aimed as it is to people with more Euro car as fashion sensibility. But the Saab convertible was always comparatively pricey. Start making them in NA and Saab could lower the price.
And what all this underscores is the problem with Saab vis-a-vis Volvo is not that GM is running it down. It is that Saab was never much of a brand in sales or, quite frankly quality. It had a small following of people who were willing to pay near BMW prices for a car not nearly as good as BMW. Saab people felt they were projecting an image and were willing to pay for it. Saab had not done anything of much value to the car enthusiast since it discontinued the Sonnet (itself more unique than performance)
The SportCombi will have an option for Saabs first supercharge OHC V6. This is the 2.8 litre from GM's new family of high output V6s. Fuji has no equivalent.
In any event, Fuji would drop Subaru if it were not for the money GM puts into it.
I agree with the post above from anythingvbutgm, there's a difference between platform sharing, (i.e. the Saab 9-3 shares a platform with the Malibu, G6, Vectra) and total 'badge-engineering, like the 9-2x or the 9-7x.
Platform sharing is fine, it's good...badge-engineering just cheapens the brand...
Using the Volvo example - let's say, instead of the S40, they just took a Focus and put a Volvo grille on it and a leather interior. Or, instead of the XC90, they just took an Explorer and put a Volvo grille on it....
Saab dealers in the US were threatening to close their doors because they did not have enough product to sell. the 9-7 and 9-2 are not the future of Saab. They are there only to keep Saab in place until other vehicles arrive.
P.s. I do think the S3X looks great - they should bring that to the US ASAP with as few styling changes as possible... just put a Saturn badge on it or if it's a Chevy just start selling it.... I do think it looks much better than an Equinox
MT had a blow by blow of all the new NA cars GM was going to make on the Zeta platform.
In other words, the 'news' in the buff rags is often suspect. The buff rags are not peopled with journalists. They do a good job testing cars and talking about performance. Their news reporting stinks.
I would not be surprised if a Saab is built in South Korea. But as I point out above, Volvos are no longer exclusively made in Sweeden either.
The next VUE will be very much like the S3X if spy shots around the web are to be trusted. The Saab will have to be a considerable step up from the Saturn.
That's the point I wanted to make up in post 172. If they just bring over the S3X and slap a Saab nose on it, that would be a big mistake. Might as well just drop Saab if that is all they plan to do.
(I went to the C&D website, but they don't have the picture there... but if you look in the magazine, you'll see it... it's obviously an S3X with a Saab nose photoshopped on)
Now, if they give it unique sheetmetal, but share the same platform as the S3X, VUE, etc... that's a different story altogether...
An official release from GM would include an artists drawing if there were no concepts available, or otherwise a picture of the concept.
This is what I mean about the buff rags not being much for journalism.
If they use the S3X, Vue, Equinox platform with all new sheetmetal, that's a whole different story - (although, that's a lot more expensive to do than a simple badge job and IMO probably isn't worth the investment)
Honestly, if I were running GM, I would probably pull the plug on Saab.
Sportcombi? Cool, bring it to market, see what happens. Looks good, OHC SCV6, cool. But it needs to not only support aging 9-3 lineup, but it needs to pick up the slack that the 9-2x and 9-7x have failed to do. I don't see it being that much of a runaway hit. And unfortunately, based on where I live, Saab has about as much market presence as Suzuki.
Saab never had much market presence in the US.
Fair to question why GM bought it in the first place. Kind of a stretch to say GM brought it down.
Saab has always been one of those 'there is no there there' things.
I used to question why Ford bought Volvo. But from a safety aspect, Ford had a lot to learn and who else to learn it from but Volvo. And since Volvo has been the biggest success for the PAG shows that if done right, purchasing a niche swedish brand can work out. Volvo quality and reliabilty had faltered pretty badly before Ford bought them too so there was alot of work to be done as well.
3 years old is aging IMO. Not ready for immediate replacment, but the sales peak is over. The 9-3 is not "hot" anymore which is where the Sportcombi will help yes, but not enough to catapult Saab out of the basement. Also add in the slack of the 9-5 you mentioned and that's alot of pressure.
Exactly. Saabs had a loyalty. They were cars back in the day where you could claim sucking from a tailpipe was breathing better air than you could in the open. They were an attitude, Richard Pryor's beloved Turbo in "Moving", the old Sonnets, the SPG!
Now it's just "State of Independence" B.S. tagline attached to a Subaru.
Thanks for your cooperation and participation.
PF Flyer
Host
News & Views, Wagons, & Hybrid Vehicles
I was posting this a.m. during a real long conference call (they had my divided attention!). So I kind of forgot what I wrote.
I'll pay closer attention to what I am shooting off.
Carry on!
Personally, my favorite version of the Kappa is one they aren't building - the closed coupe version of the Solstice. They showed it as a non-running concept in 2002 or 2003 when they first showed the Solstice convertible at Detroit. I thought it looked somewhat like an original 240Z.