Another month, another sales data entry. And if you listen to Saab (and Aftonbladet), perhaps a small ray of light.
Saab sales are still way down on previous years, but dealers are getting to a point now where they're more confident of Saab's future, even if the Swedish government isn't.
Sales of the Saab 9-3 totalled 555 vehicles in June. This is still a rather large fall from the 1224 vehicles sold in the same month last year, but it's a significant increase on the 390 sold last month.
396 of the Saab 9-3 sales were BioPower vehicles, and the 9-3 is still in 4th place on the "green cars" sales table.
Sales of the Saab 9-5 totalled just 295 vehicles, well down on the 862 sold last year. Again, though this was up from 169 sold last month. 252 of the Saab 9-5 sales were BioPower vehicles.
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Aftonbladet reports as follows:
For the first time in a long time, the figures up for the ailing car manufacturer:- We can see a general increase in confidence for Saab's future, "says Gunilla Gustavs.
The deal with Koenigsegg, which is now approaching its final stage, is reported to be a contributing factor.
Car with Saab in Sweden will now increase after holiday periods. This is to meet the market's increasing demand.
.....A ring-around by Aftonbladet to Saab dealers in the country also shows that the current stocks are about to die.
- You can no longer pick and choose among the Saabs [in stock] as you could have done before," says Johnny Schmidt at Järna Car in Stockholm.
Numbers are still down, but it's nice to have something good to report in a sales data article.
This coincides with Saab's identified need to lift production in the near future. They've been saying they'd need to increase production for the last few weeks and Jan-Ake Jonsson mentioned a need for bridge finance to do so just yesterday.
The better news is that if SAAB can't increase production, the usual trend of poor residuals could become a thing of the pas. Where by customers may start to be pay respectable prices for a nearly new vehicles instead of dealers almost having to force them onto customer with huge incentives.
The first vehicles to see an affect would be the convertible which could be running into a November build at present. Missing this year's summer could mean a lot to some and so the used market may get hit hard in the not to distant future.
Total:602, -65%
9-3: 503, -65%
9-5: 99, -63%
9-7X; 177, +10%
Also, how come the 9-7X numbers aren't included in the total?
Good point! The "total" number should be "779, -58%". GM's press releases are confusing to read with all their different vehicle classes... The numbers are compared to June last year, hence the big dip.
New models and new tech is where the money is. Any short-term increase in orders will reflect improving economy and greater certainty as Saab at leats has an onwer.
Cheers from Norway!
-Olav-
Always on the longest way home when out there with my SAAB. Always!