We've been trying to compile a list of remaining Saab dealers. I'm pretty pleased that we have managed to get over the 50% mark, though I have a feeling it's going to be a hard task to complete.
Let me put on record now my frustration at the new SaabUSA not being willing/able to provide a list of remaining dealers. What could possibly be wrong with letting your customers know where they'll be able to purchase/service their cars in the future? It doesn't need to be the final list, especially where service outlets are concerned, but some communication would be so welcome right now.
Whilst we're talking service outlets, it appears that whilst there will be 137 dealers left, there will be likely be more that 137 outlets where authorised service can be provided. I've personally heard of one dealership that is likely losing sales authority but will be continuing to provide authorised service. That'll be another list.
What I'd like to turn this site to for this post is the list of dealers who won't be selling Saabs anymore. Some of them possibly won't care about this fact too much. They've got big businesses that Saab was most likely a very small part of.
But there's going to be a few on that list for whom Saab was everything. For many (if not all) of them Saab has been the center of a family business for several generations.
Losing these Saab dealers hurts.
You've possibly read the comments by Kevin Brewer and Ron Collins already. Here are some excerpts.
From Kevin Brewer at Brewer's Saab:
We have been a exclusive Saab dealer for 41 years. We are a family owned and operated dealer that has been with Saab through thick and thin and this is how we are repaid. No notice, no nothing, we learned from an email of an Automotive news article that they were axing 81 dealers and the next day we get a letter saying we were not chosen to continue with the new company....no real reason. We will no longer be a Saab dealer effective November 30, 2009. That's barely two weeks away!!!
See. That hurts.
Ron Collins, from Trio Motors in Michigan:
It is with much sadness to have to make this announcement. After being the oldest continuosly family owned SAAB dealer in the United States, with 51 years of service, SCNA has informed us that they are not renewing Trio Motors franchise agreement...... Trio Motors, like Brewster SAAB, is a small dealership with sales that average about 125 cars a year. After 51 years of service and dedication to SAAB, I think we at least deserve an explanation...... We have learned from experience, and input from our customers, that they would rather come to Trio Motors, where they are treated like people or family instead of going to the larger dealerships and be treated like a number. Personal attention is what the people like and they get that from the smaller home town dealers. Why would SCNA want to end that?
One guy we haven't heard from is Tim Haddle from Kunkle Motors in Pennsylvania. They've been selling Saabs for 52 years and like Brewers and Trio, are now off the list.
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Saabs are sold here in Hobart by a Holden dealership called Motors. Years ago, though, they were sold by a dealership called Kingsway, and they were an outstanding organisation.
Kingsway had an old-ish looking dealership in a great location and Hobart was a Saab town. There are still heaps of Saabs here and many of them old ones. The owners of Kingsway sold the business in the late 1990s. They got an offer that was most likely too good to refuse.
A big dealership group from northern Tasmania bought it, mainly for the real estate. They renovated the premises and filled it with Volkswagen Beetles, with Saabs stuck in the back corner. I visited there once and was charmed by a textbook salesman with stories about excellent Swiss engineering. I didn't have the heart to tell him.
My mechanic, Steve E, was the lead mechanic at Kingsway. When he left them they had 1,100 service clients on their books. That's pretty significant for a population of around 240,000 people. Steve moved on to a new place of business and took 1,000 of those clients with him.
The current sales group, Motors, have had some guys who have tried hard with Saab but a combination of limited product and exhausted faith by management has seen Saab once again tucked away. They're now lost amongst a forest of Holdens and barely visible from the street.
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If you go Trollhattan during Saab Festival, you get a good appreciation for how important history is to this brand. History might be the one major thing that separates the European (and many American) brands from the Japanese and Koreans.
For Saab, history shows how the little guy can win sometimes. How size doesn't necessarily mean smarts. It shows how details, practicality and the ability to adapt built a customer loyalty that still baffles many in the automotive industry.
Time in the market means something to this brand. At least as far as I know it.
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I understand that Saab needs a strong dealer base. They need dealers who are capable of making money, being happy and showing the brand off to its fullest potential. They need a scale that the new Saab can handle without many of the backoffice functions that GM have provided in the past.
Business is business. If you want to make an omelette, you've got to break a few eggs. I know that.
But guys like the ones mentioned above and others like them have carried the torch for Saab in the US for years. In some cases, generations. These people, just like the Saab 93, Sonett, 99 and 900 owners who crowd Trollhattan during a Festival..... these people are the fabric that makes up Saab's history.
Some of them serve small communities. Saab can now count those communities as lost.
I don't know what it costs Saab to keep a small dealership operational. I wish I knew more about the dealership industry. But these people are here to make money and if Saab are serious about the cars they're bringing to market, surely these entrenched dealerships with loyal customer bases would be able to make money - for themselves and for Saab.
I'm not going to encourage you all to write to anyone, hold up signs or complain. I don't know these people personally enough to do that and I think the people at Saab have got enough on their plate right now.
My enduring hope, however, is that Saab can reconsider some of these decisions and preserve some of these dealerships where the love of Saab cars still matters.
And at the very least I hope that Saab can support these shops by maintaining a wider spread of authorised service outlets. To cut of these people's avenues for new car sales is one thing. To deliberately throw away decades of accumulated knowledge is another all together.
Toto.... I don't think we're in Kansas anymore.
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The real comment that I wanted to make is that I agree with you. It's unfortunate but necessary.
As far as costs go, the costs of keeping a dealership open is greater than you may think. Think about this one aspect: if you offer ANYTHING, you must offer for all. So, offering to subsidize advertising? You just bought a bunch of ads that you know won't sell a single car. Offering training? You just signed up to train people that may rarely use it.
Onward, with heavy heart, but onward.
I feel that this shift happened for me a year and a half ago. Thoroughbred Motorcars in Nashville, Tennessee changed hands and were forced by GM to give Saab to a Cadillac dealer as a cost-cutting/consolidation move. I wasn't happy about it; the Cadillac dealer is completely on the other side of town (an additional 30 minutes minimum).
So, I lost the red-carpet dealer where I bought my first Saab about 18 months ago. I lived.
Again, it's hard, but we must keep moving.
I've read that an large percentage of Saab sales in the US were through the GMS process (which was ended for the 9-3 a year or so ago). If a particular dealer had an inordinate percentage of sales through the GMS process I can see where that dealerships business plan may no longer be viable in the future when that opportunity is completely gone.
I am a fan of GM cars, not how they handled Saab or thier managment, but i do love GM cars. GM is all I have ever owned. ( having a wife that works for GM helps too)
Anyway, I think it is shameful to cut long standing dedicated Saab dealers. Sadly, I am sure those decisions are made by bean-counters at SCNA, not Saab enthusiasts around the globe.
The unknown issue is how many customers for new Saabs models will pass due to length to service or lack of convenience. Existing owners have been put out but if a BMW, Audi, Lexus dealer is nearby, Saab will lose some sales - they needs all the sales they can get.
Like I have said in other letters both posted and not posted, Kevin is an aquantance but he is also someone I would be proud to call a friend. He is the type dealer Saab built there company on. He has his faults like knows every cust by name, helps within the community, honest, oh yer and the biggest thing against him is when you meet Kevin he makes you feel like friend. These are all traits that Saab is against because after 41 years of just selling Saab he's history.
I hope he wins his appeal and I hope the decision is a fast one as not to drag this out the would just be adding salt to a open wound.
Kevin if you read this Good Luck.
Like I have said in other letters both posted and not posted, Kevin is an aquantance but he is also someone I would be proud to call a friend. He is the type dealer Saab built there company on. He has his faults like knows every cust by name, helps within the community, honest, oh yer and the biggest thing against him is when you meet Kevin he makes you feel like friend. These are all traits that Saab is against because after 41 years of just selling Saab he's history.
I hope he wins his appeal and I hope the decision is a fast one as not to drag this out the would just be adding salt to a open wound.
Kevin if you read this Good Luck.
They are making the assumption (probably not incorrectly) that no one will knowingly buy a car from a dealer that is going extinct. The thing is, anyone venturing onto any SAAB lot anywhere in the world is 99 percent likely to know about the company's current situation, so the uncertainty of buying/not buying - in my view - is not different if the list is publicized or not.
If I were advising SAAB, I would encourage them to make the list public. Be transparent about your business decisions. Be transparent about the appeal process. Be transparent about your new focus and plan for success in the US market.
It looks as though the Saab Brand will continue, and we are one of the lucky few to retain the privilege of selling and servicing such fine automobiles.
While it's tough living through the down times, I am confident that our industry will recover and be stronger after the dust settles, with even better Saab conpetitive offerings.
Peter Keast, Sales Manager
Valenti Saab - Watertown, CT
Is that correct? If so, that is of concern.
But then again, I live in one of the most densily populated areas of Western Europe, which has its negative points too.
I don't know about the situation in the USA but here in Europe it is not a big problem foor a good Saab dealer when he loses his contract as a dealer.
From that point on he calls himself a Saab-specialist and continues selling and servicing Saabs.
There are enough dealers wanting to supply him with new or used cars. After all, they want their bonus and want to get rid of excess supply of used cars (ex lease).
Even the service personnel is able to get schooled by Saab.
I know more than one who told me that they think they are better of than before.
If you are any good, the new saab dealer in the neighbourhood will have few customers because they still visit you.
Under Sinclair Saab's monthly sales figures rose every, repeat, every month in the 1980s.
To see SCNA wiping out all this history and legacy really does raise my level of concern. An eastern seaboard scalped of Saab dealers!
Losing the smaller, dedicated, customer focused dealers who have been with Saab for 30 or 50 or more years across the USA, is madness.
Accountants always forget, that if they hastily remove staff and infrastructure / operating costs way beyond any reasobale level, they save no money at all- why? Because the sales, servicing, presentation and delivery standards of the product / brand plummet and the customers go elsewhere - especially if 'their' outlet is killed off and the nearest one is miles away...
So, saving money like this, does not preserve the company, it kills it. This is the equivilent of sacking all the staff in a restaurant to save on wages, and then wondering why the turnover and yield collapses when all the customers choose to eat elsewhere - leaving an empty restaurant.
In the airline industry, this kind of savage cost cutting has reaped many victims.
SCNA needs to save its oldest, finest, most appropriate, customer orientated Saab dealers as true purveyors of the excellecne of the brand experience. Real Saab owners do not want multi franchise corporate speak robots who, God helps us, will be "achieving synergy going forwards" - no b....y doubt.
Right now going backwards looks better... Ah, but we must 'move on' goes the mantra- trouble is this insisting on 'moving onwards' and 'forwards', fails to learn from how and why the here and now is, what it is - ah but forget that, move forwards with the mantra.
No thanks.
Don't cry for me Saab, I left my heart in a Ford Cortina...
Our dealer "Lehman SAAB" in Harrisburg, PA had the franchise wrestled from him in the Summer of '08 and GM gave it to the local Hummer Cadillac dealer (Sutliff)... now Sutliff was non-renewed (along with the next closest dealer, Kelly in Lancaster, PA)... Our nearest point now is West Chester, PA (about 90 miles away)... this is particularly troublesome with a '06 9-5 Aero wagen, an '07 9-5 Aero Sedan and an '08 9-3 Aero XWD Sedan...
Thank you! Jan
Certainly it is trying to cover for the soon to be closed dealers to move their remaining inventory without too much hassle
probably by late December we will know all for sure ;)
I am a Saab enthusiast and I found out that my preferred dealership is being cut after 45 years selling Saabs. I am trying to advocate, as a consumer, for the new Saab to retain my preferred dealership in their dealership network. I have been trying to contact decision makers, but I am receiving a stone wall.
**I called Saab customer service at GM twice, requesting the name of the chief decision maker to whom I may petition that my preferred dealership remain open. GM IS TELLING CALLERS THAT SINCE SAAB DEALERS ARE INDEPENDENTLY OWNED, IT IS THE DEALERS CHOICE AS TO WHETHER THEY SELL SAABS or NOT AFTER THE SALE. I find this to be quite deceptive on the part of GM. I think other terminated dealers should be made aware of the mis-information being spread by GM.
I read online that dealers who were cut received letters from GM, but dealers who were retained received letters from the new SCNA. I would love to find specific contacts in the new SCNA and the current GM to advocate for retaining my preferred dealership/service center.
Do any of you have specific contacts/ email/write-in information in the new Saab organization of USA that I may write/call, advocate for retaining my preferred dealership?
Now let me argue the other side of affairs. The quaint low-volume, "mom and pop" dealerships such as Brewer that we so associate with the Saab brand in the US were once the standard of the industry as a whole. Every brand, from Buick to BMW, from Mercury to Mercedes used to be sold in similar small neighborhood dealerships. Then the Japanese companies came along with a much more centralized dealer network, one that was focused on fewer dealerships that were individually larger than their American and European counterparts. This "supercenter" model allowed the Japanese companies to offer a level of dealer experience and amenities that would be simply impossible for the smaller dealerships to offer thanks to economies of scale. This was especially felt in the high-end segments of the market, where these new Acura, Infiniti and Lexus supercenters were able to offer a leve of buyer experience and support that had previously been limited to the realm of Bentley and Rolls Royce. This really scared the European brands and it has led to VW, Audi, BMW, and Mercedes adopting their own "supercenter" dealerships as well, something that you'll see today if you look at any of the new MB/Audi/BMW dealerships under construction.
Now here's where the harsh realities of the market come in. Selling cars is all about remaining profitable, and to remain profitable you need to have good numbers. Good sales numbers, good market share, good customer loyalty numbers, and the list goes on. These small, loyal dealerships for one reason appeared to Saab to lack the numbers, and appeared to Saab to more importantly have little chance to improve their numbers. Brewers, Trio, and the Maine/Vermont dealerships that got the axe all have one thing in common, they are small dealerships that serve small markets in areas that have been especially hard-hit by this recession. You'd be a fool if you thought that a 35 car a year dealership in a small town in economically-depressed northwest Maryland had a anywhere near the same chance to improve it's sales over the next 5 years compared to a larger dealership in the much wealthier Rockville/Chevy Chase/Bethesda area. The same goes for Saab shuttering dealerships in the very-depressed Skowhegan and Rockland areas in order to focus on the wealthy-and-climbing Portland/Southeast Maine market.
We can talk all we want about Saab loyalty but the reality is that these small dealerships have been steadily losing customers, and given their locations in less-affluent areas, the decision to close them shouldn't seem too surprising. As Saab's plummeting sales numbers over the past 5 years indicate, Saab desperately needs to win over some new blood to the brand. Given Saab's small sales volumes, the only way they have a prayer of building cars that can do this is by staying high-end or moving even more upmarket, once again thanks to economies of scale. This means that the people Saab needs to win over are right now either driving around or thinking about driving around in Mercs, BMWs, Audis, Lexuses, Infinitis, and the occasional Volvo or Jag. These buyers are coming from affluent areas in and around the wealthy cities in the Northeast and elsewhere, and they are used to the lavish dealer experience and amenities that these prosperous dealerships can give them. This unfortunately means that in order for Saab to have a chance at competing, they're going to need to focus on these wealthy urban markets by surrounding them with the kinds of large dealerships that succeed in these areas. It sucks for the little guys, but it's an unfortunate consequence of being a premium car company in this down economy.
@Lance_Cole: "SCNA needs to save its oldest, finest, most appropriate, customer orientated Saab dealers as true purveyors of the excellecne of the brand experience. Real Saab owners do not want multi franchise corporate speak robots who, God helps us, will be "achieving synergy going forwards" - no b....y doubt."
>>> YES! <<<
SAAB should take advantage of this special enthusiasm for the future. SAAB needs good small traders with love and commitment and know-how.
Here, the unique spirit of the brand is kept alive!
I'm a businessman too. Our own (design) business depends very much on enthusiasm and love for the very best work. We have to keep the flame every day.
For me, the historical piece of Saab dovetails a few ways into my experience with Saabs.
1. I do not have my Saab serviced at the dealership because I have an independent mechanic who knows more about Saabs than the collective group of techs at the dealership itself. I trust him to diagnose issues without referring to the playbook. He knows the car, the brand, the history. And he's just a proper greasy nails mechanic.
2. In recent years, when I have visited my dealership, I'm finding that the Saab sales people who really knew and appreciated the brand are fast disappearing. I go in there now and find that I am the one who knows more about the vehicle, the upcoming models and the history of the models than the sales person. Perhaps that will change as Saturn is flushed from the system. Part of the enjoyment of owning a Saab is the sense of community and history of it. Dealers who know this and share it will get my business.
3. Saab history. Every time I drive my Saab at night and look down at the soft green glow of my instrument cluster, I see Saab history. That means something to me.
I do understand the bean counters' need to balance the books and make it all look good for the investors. But there needs to be a way to quantify those other elements that go into owning a Saab. I would venture to say that a website like SU probably generates sales for Saab that the company does not give credit for. I think Swade attributed at least one Saab sale directly to feedback from this site. Saab is NOT just about numbers. It is passion, it is identity, it is community. Quantify that Saab - and you may find more sales than you might have otherwise thought.
Which goes back to history. If a dealer has been selling Saabs for 40-50 years there's a pretty good chance they know what they're doing through these lean times. Who was it that went bankrupt again? Oh yeah... GM.
Buckle your seat belt, folks. The ride is just beginning.
Compare that to a large multi-franchise company that now looks after our new Volvo; the front of house staff try hard, but the quality of aftercare service is not in the same league as our local independent Saab franchise. The costs are liable to be high (although my car is still in warranty) despite the perceived lack of quality.
I think the quality marques need to realise that owners would be happier if the aftercare was better, and the best service seems to be offered by small, independent franchises.
SAAB management, please start to give the intelligent, well educated, knowledge, well spoken, articulate, loyal customers the dealers the treatment they deserve.
It is time to wake up and realize that communication in the time of Internet puts an extra load on the leadership for an international corporation with, customers who demands answers and a solid argumentation for all sorts of issues.
Owners who do not get answers, top brass who do not even care to reply on a simple email.
Saab can not deliver enough cars to the dealers..... I can not believe what I read.
When asking about the 9-5 NG the dealers have no prices no lists of what upgrade/packages etc will be possible. After New Years we might know the dealer says.
Why not just set a reasonable price even if it is to low according to the future owners (K-egg BAIC), but on the other hand loyal customers can place an order be herby campers and Saab will get a good hint on the scale of the production.
I am ready to place an order....... but I can´t!
Would be great to have a Black 9-5 NG with the blue/yellow design of the Saabsunited Historic Rally Team. Diesel, tow hitch...
Now I don't blame Saab for this, it's GM's fault for losing market share through sub-par products, but in those years since 1988, the small mom-and-pop BMW, Audi etc dealerships have grown up or been absorbed into the kind of supercenter dealerships that people in the income brackets that can afford to buy a $40k car clearly prefer. It's a shame that GM kept Saab from enjoying the kinds of stratospheric sales increases that BMW and Audi have seen over the past 20 years, but you can't fault Saab for trying to catch up.
We can talk all we want about preferring to take our cars to these small mom and pop dealerships, but the question is how many of us have bought a NEW car from them in the past 5 or so years. What Saab desperately needs right now is to start selling NEW cars. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong here, but the enthusiast base I've seen on sites like this seems to be made up of all sorts of great Saab loving people...who all drive used cars. As much as we'd like Saab to keep us used Saab-driving zealouts happy, what Saab really needs to focus on is selling NEW cars.
To do that it's going to need to lure back all the college professors, lawyers, doctors, architects, wealthy New Englanders looking to keep a low profile, etc who once made up the bulk of Saab's new car sales, and who are now all driving Audis, BMW's, Mercs, Volvos, etc. To do that, Saab is going to need to be truly competitive with those companies on every level, from the products to the dealerships.
Saab is in a life-or-death situation right now and if we want to see the brand survive at all, we're going to have to trust the intuitions of the staff at Trollhattan who I'm sure are chomping at the bit to move beyond the GM disaster and reclaim some of that lost brand prestige/market share. It may involve some product re-alignments that we don't like, and it may involve some major changes to the dealer network, but it certainly beats the alternative.
From my read on this decision, once the sale goes final, then the new SCNA organization may reachout to these dropped franchises. Indeed, GM has no motivation to support a dealership that does not sell other GM brands. In particular, Hummer is also on the chopping block, so many of the Cadillac-Saab-Hummer dealers are feeling the heat as well as the small, independent Saab franchises.
Perhaps we should pool our pennies together and open the first Saab-Hummer-Pontiac-Saturn dealership???
So basically it looks Saab is cutting all the small dealers, mostly family owned. These guys tend to be the ones that knows their ins and outs.
A nice 'Ef you' Christmans card from the corporate.
This irritates me no end. I am very very pissed off at this moment.
Sure there needs to be the motivation to 'Move Forward'. This could mean changes and cuts, but at which stage you look back and realise although the name survives, what you represent is not long what you started off as?
If the Saab I know is dead in it's spirit and lives on in it's name only then it's no Saab to me.
The whole organisation is about to change ownership, but why would the new owner not want to try out the whole network first? It would be easy to point out the expected goals for the whole network, and within due time reductions (or increase?) of the network could be made.
Who's to say Koenigsegg will be a fan of Saab more than they are a fan of cash? It's about money and survival right now.
Its easier to take over a smaller amount of dealers right now and start rebuilding the dealer netowrk as they become more profitable. Does it suck for the 81 dealers that are told they are not Saab dealers anymore, yes, its terrible.
But, and I am sure I am going to get flammed for this comment.... but...
All the boo-hooing about this and that "dedicated family owned dealerships", do you really think ALL of them are fans of Saab, or they simply stayed with Saab because it was profitable?
I'd be curious how many of the 81 dealers would have actually survived 2009 / 2010 anyway before switching to a Honda, Nissan, Mini ( or others) dealer anyway due to terribly slow Saab sales?
Don't get me wrong, I still think its terrible to lose such experience and "home town" dealers, but lets not kid ourselves, as far as Koenigsegg goes, It's all about the $$$$$$$ right now.
So with this said, is there any cost to the mothership when a dealership is scuttled? If so, it makes sense that the purchase agreement would make this be a cost burden of the bankrupt GM (old GM) and not a sunk cost to the new KSegg before they even get up and running.
Saab is the only thing we do, we treat our customers well and their loyalty in itself proves it. Although some work or live near another store they won't go there because of feeling unimportant.
The way I see it now my customers will be required to drive and hour or more to reach the next store, longer if its during rush hour drives, which typically is when customers take their cars to service. Considering we're not in a rural area but more a semi-metropolitan populated area, for Saab to think they will improve customer base by spreading the dealers so far apart is unfathomable. It's more likely to have the reverse affect.
Certain we're not the big Taj Mahal type, and never really wanted to be because making customers feel at home was one of our priorities. Not only does this affect my family directly but it has an enormous trickle down affect on customers and employees.
How many of you other axed dealers are still paying for the RED facility Saab demanded of us? What opportunity do we get to find any sort of ROI for the commitment we made for the brand and our customers?