Saab distribution for Canada - details revealed

We've been wondering about the situation in Canada for some time. It seems some concrete information has hit the news.

I'd expect this to be a template for other Saab markets outside of the US, Sweden and Great Britain. And I expect we might here similar announcements for other unresolved markets soon, too.

Saab, one of four brands being jettisoned or sold by General Motors Co., will continue in Canada under new ownership and a smaller dealer network, Canadian dealers say.
Saab Cars North America plans to hook up with distributor International Fleet Sales Inc. of San Leandro, Calif., to import Saab vehicles into Canada, said Chris Budd, who owns Budd's Saturn Saab in Oakville, Ont.

"It's going to be a pretty simple operation in Canada with a fairly small organization and we will leverage the U.S. operations for much of the hard-core stuff like marketing and advertising," Mr. Budd said.

The network will consist of 12 to 14 dealerships in major metropolitan markets across the country, Mr. Budd said, with dealers operating standalone stores or linking with other existing franchises.

The full story is available over at the Globe and Mail, but those are the basics.

It's really good to see a resolution to this situation, and one that won't see the dealership base pared down too much from where it is right now. It's still a small base, but it's a start.

International Fleet Sales Inc are a vehicle export company that currently facilitate the sale of GM North American vehicles into overseas markets. As such, they should be familiar with GM's systems, as are Canada's Saab dealers. This should make for a smoother transition.

Hopefully my old mate Bill Convery in Vancouver's still going to be spinning yarns to customers for some time to come.

8 Comments

grumpy | November 18, 2009 10:38 PM | Reply

Swade, good news for our Canadian friends. But, I don't think this will be the template you propose. The EU has different laws which makes it possible to act without a national importer and for non-EU, non-big3 markets it is more likely that Saab will use the time tested importer setup, especially in far away markets where it will be near to impossible to handle dealers directly. IFS is a small company and I don't think they could hanle much more than they have signed up for now.

Just my 2c

Swade | November 18, 2009 10:52 PM | Reply

Hey Grumpy,

I didn't mean to suggest that IFS would handle Saab's distribution into all other markets. What I meant is that the IFS model could likely be the sort of model that will be used, but with different agencies in different places.

Many European markets are already established in this manner. Belgium/Holland etc, for example, where Beherman do the importation. Or Hungary, where I believe it's handled by a group called Polar.

Whilst some markets were set up in this way, others were handled by GM. Australia is one of these, for example, where it used to be Saab Australia then moved to GM Premium Brands. I expect Australia will move to a setup like this Canadian one (albeit with another importer) some time soon.

By they way, it may well be that most markets are set up correctly right now, with an importer already in place and an arrangement that won't need to change except for the names on the contract.

grumpy | November 19, 2009 1:03 AM | Reply

Swade, I get your point but I don't think one can compare IFS to a "normal" importer. I would suggest that IFS is more of a virtual importer not really based in the market but with enough knowledge and skill to handle a market like Canada. Compare that to Taiwan or Belgium where you have a company based in the market handling all import related activities. I believe the best way forward for Saab is to build up their "real" importers in exchange for rather bad GM Nationals Sales Companies.

It all comes down to focus and market knowledge and I believe a good importer partner is the best way forward.

Ultimately I believe we mean the same thing.

Bernard | November 19, 2009 1:55 AM | Reply

With only a dozen dealers, you hardly even need an importer. Let's hope IFS knows how to keep the overhead down.

Saab needs multiple dealers per large city, never mind per province. I can see the "original 12" becoming a bit of a cartel and shooting themselves in the foot. Their second priority should be to have Saab reach critical mass in Canada, which will mean splitting the large territories that they've just been granted.

zippy | November 19, 2009 2:19 AM | Reply

Swade, Im sure Bill will be selling Saabs for a long time to come. Glad to hear the Canadian situation is being resolved.

SaabScott | November 19, 2009 3:09 AM | Reply

The only problem here is ... Saab hasn't said anything.

While I would be the first to jump up and down with joy over hearing this news, I am very skeptical when it is a single dealer saying this vs. Saab themselves.
I mean, come on, SCNA should have something to say.

No offence to Chris or anyone else at Budd's ... but where is Saab in all this?

Mitch Leitman | November 19, 2009 10:46 AM | Reply

I'm glad to hear that we'll continue to see Saabs in Canada, but being an appendage of the US market (though a US distributorship) does not bode well for a Canadian-oriented product mix. No diesel or biopower is likely. Are we going to see mph on our speedometers. So now we'll look to a Saab importer in California, instead of Detroit. Oh well. I suppose it's better than no importer at all. I can't wait (wishful thinking, I know) for the day when Canada accept EU standards for cars so that we are no longer stuck with the product selection that our US neighbours want (or their importers think they want). VW, BMW, Acura (Honda) and Mercedes Benz treat Canada differently. I hope others come to as well.