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Comments
--Sal
I am so happy to hear the great news. While it will be tough ahead, the fact you are all together will help immensly. If you can, look into the nurses aid- they definitely help.
Mark
Craig
Craig
It's a positive move.
Re-badging it as a Cavalier on the other hand...
-Dave
It does help Subaru with economies of scale, at least. OTOH, some fear that it limits how far upscale Subaru can go (no leather, no moonroof, no AWP on US wagons for instance).
The Saab gets the AWP and a leather and moonroof option on the WRX wagon, basically, things you cannot get at your Subaru dealer. Cornering lights, too.
-juice
OTOH Subaru - which is hoping to move upscale - gets to test the market waters for a tarted-up version of its product while GM/Saab takes the risk.
-juice
cars they ruin it and they will do that with this Saab. When they start falling apart because they are asembled here in haste by people that dont care about the end product or have proper experience
...the blame will got to Subaru...if they stay tight like Imprezas do (since they are completely built in Japan)..IT will be GM's credit. I say they keep their greedy little mits off of the awesome Impreza that has taken 30 years of refining and hard work to evolve into a near perfectly balanced all around great car. Americans should stick to making food and building weapons which is all we can seem to do correctly....cars....look at the depreciation of ANY american car ..after 1 year.they are worth squat. They are disposable razors.
Subaru need GM's capital and their buying power (economies of scale). Now GM wants payback, and 9-2x production is the first payment.
I hold a moderate view, that it's OK as long as no GM products infiltrate Subaru here. I just don't want to see yet another Blazer clone or even worse something minivan based with VersaCrap.
-juice
~c
Bob
The key is to look at the VOLUME, we're talking 8,000 cars per year. Someone did the match in another thread and it amounts to a few cars per dealer per year.
If Saab can give dealers a small car to round out the lineup, and most shoppers get a 9-3 anyway, that's probably just fine with them. Saab had a record year for sales last year. It shouldn't be hard to them to sell 22 WRX wagons per day.
I feel differently about the 9-7. Most Saab service staff have probably never even touched a truck.
-juice
I bought a WRX wagon.
I've been here. Where there is no factory leather. Maybe you've been in Japan?? Point was, the Saab brings some options that SOA/SOC have refused to offer to it's cutomers, but which some of us would like.
Don't bring up the STi. It's a sore point with me - if the Sti wagon was here, there'd probably be one parked in my driveway.
Nicholas
Back in the 80's Saab had its best moments and even then the Turbo's were unreliable and problematic. Saab has been a lost child for the last 10 years and a liability...The only people that place the "Saab" name in high regard are the same people that think Jaguars are great cars because they fit some yuppie niche from days gone by. Those in the know are aware that if you want reliability, high resale, outstanding performance and dollar for dollar the finest value around...its Subaru....others hung up on nametags dont buy subarus because they once were considered a poor mans car that was slow...but always reliable. Times have changed and GM is well aware that Sub is about to launch past the German's ....in fact they just did. If you have a BMW or Benz or Saab....keep the windshield fluid full because you will need it to see through the vortex of dust that gets blown across your windshiled as you get smoked by just about any Subaru.
Keep in mind Saab just had a record year, best ever.
-juice
Craig
But I'd go for Door #3, the one with a Legacy GT behind it.
-juice
-Frank
They know better than to go mainstream, though. I hope.
-juice
But look at it on the bright side. Your daughter has made it out! That's just tremendous news!
Ken
-mike
Patti
There are many varying opinions about this at the office, but - if you can't beat 'em...
Patti
Huh? Is this the same Mike who use to rail against the evils of even the slightest hint of GM meddling in Subaru's affairs as that would be the precursor of the Detroit giant sucking the life force out of Subaru and discarding the shriveled husk in the graveyard of has-been auto manufacturers ala Isuzu? Or have you had a change of heart? ;-)
-Frank
GM will suck the life out of Subaru in the long run, but at this point there is nothing you or I can do to change that. So having a wrx re-badged a bit upscale is cool with me, cause subaru refused to make a more upscale interior.
As I've posted before, I'd love to see Saab become the Lexus of Subaru.
Then you'd have Subaru = Toyota and Saab = Lexus they can share technology, etc.
-mike
FHI should concentrate on making their vehicles the very best performance per dollar spent in their niche.
~c
I hope this helps!
Patti
You want a luxury car Saab...then go build one. Lay off the Subaru's. I makes me want to regurgitate.
And if you want leather ...get the aftermarket...its cheaper and higher quality than Saabs factory payless cardboard they call leather anyhow. This merger is a desperate last gasp for Saab...and if everybody is saying Saab had its "best year ever" then why are they now making a new car thats a subaru? Desperation...the worlds worst cologne...now worn by Saab.
-mike
PS: I'm a die-hard Subaru fan owning 3! But I'd still like a fullsize sedan/luxury sedan from SOA/FHI.
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/ultimateexplorer/weekly/lostgir- ls.html
The 1 hr program follows a group like ours, but also discusses the social implications of China's one child policy.
Amazingly, of all the cities in China that Americans are assigned to, this show happens to follow much of our own adventure in the adoption of Annie!!!
Our port of entry was Hong Kong, this group flies into Beijing. From that point on it is our trip - they fly to Nanchang in JiangXi province, stay at The Lake View Hotel and do their paperwork in the same room at the Registrar's Office in Nanchang (although we received our babies the night before at the Lake View). They get to see the orphanage (Nanchang Social Welfare Institute) standing in the same spots we stood, and meet with the foster parents that temporarily cared for their new daughters.
They travel out to an abandonment site (town of Xinyu) which was were several of the babies on our trip were from. Our afternoon trip was to a different village, but the street scenes were virtually identical.
They then fly on to Guanghzou, stand on the street in front of "Jennifer's Place" were we bought some gifts, stay at the White Swan Hotel, and do their exit paperwork at the US Consulate before preparing to fly home.
A flood of emotions swept over us as we watched essentially our own trip being filmed.
(and now back to our regularly scheduled Subaru / Saab debate)......
Steve
~c
The catch with mike's plan of Saab being Subaru's Lexus, is that sort of stunts the whole "upscale" idea. The Legacy should have been a Saab, if that's the case, and then Subaru could have gotten a more budget priced model without all the upgraded interior materials but with a price cut.
-juice
I agree. The more I think about it, the reason the WRX wagon doesn't get the Premium Package option, is because the 9-2x offers those features. I also bet if the 9-2x were offered in a sedan, the WRX sedan would never have gotten the Premium Package option.
Bob
-juice
However, those features were offered on all Canadian WRXs from day one, long before the 9-2x was even a pipe dream.
Bob
But if the 9-2x sells well I wouldn't be suprisde to see a legacy/9-3 around the bend at some point.
-mike
:-)
-Dennis
p.s. - Hey, Mike. I need a skid plate!
I might be out of character here, but I'm hoping Subaru can hold on to the value equation and not go upscale, so in a strange way I'm hoping they don't start adding all this fluff that I don't want.
The Saab idea might contain costs a bit for Subies.
-juice
it would be fine by me, though, if the Subarus didn't offer luxury.
~c
Actually, I'm OK with it as long as they also offer a value model.
I'm still waiting for my Forester XT with the unpainted cladding, with deletions for the climate control and a few others things.
-juice
So people are amazed by these things even though they can't/won't buy them, but some do like those who get Accord V6 EX with leather and Nav.
Just my 2 cents.
When you're as small as Subaru, it may just not be cost effective.
Just make it an option, so the 95% can opt out.
-juice