You are browsing the archive for 2011 January.

Avatar of Red J

by Red J

AutoExpress compares the Saab 9-5 vs. the E-Class

January 14, 2011 in News

Our friend and TurboX driver, NorthTorontoPunter, has found what I think is the first comparo 9-5 vs. Teutonian 3, at least one of them.

In this case the Saab Aero Turbo6 XWD has been compared with the Mercedes E350 Sport. (link)

To make things short, the Merc has won the battle.

Saab’s new 9-5 flagship provides incredible value for money, with an advanced four-wheel-drive system, more power and torque than the Mercedes, plus a distinctive and roomy cabin. The bad news for the firm’s bosses is that it narrowly fails to make the grade against its illustrious rival….

It doesn’t seem that the big pieces of black plastic, read IP-fascia, have been the problem here, but if we continue reading,

……– and its poor resale values and thirsty engine are the main culprits.

we see that the main Problems of the car are a “unknown” resale value and the auto transmission used in that car.

I can’t say nothing about resale values, I think nobody knows how much a used Saab 9-5 in 3 or 4 years will cost, but if you lease such a car, the lease companies will try to use a very low resale value, just in case. I hope Saab tries to remediate this, but I don’t know if they even can.

And what about the consume values, or as Europeans say, the CO2 values?
The Saab emits 244 g/km of CO2 in the combined European cycle, the RWD Merc only emits 205 g/km CO2, but even the E350 4matic emits 15 g/km CO2 less than the Saab.

And what is the problem here, why can’t Saab get similar values as the Merc with an automatic transmission if they seem to be able to do miracles with the 9-3 diesel?

The problem here, imho, is the transmission. I’ll bet 1$ that changing the current transmission with the new9 speed automatic transmission from ZF the 9-5 would get their values under those of the Merc.

Saab should ask ZF if they are interested in a low volume test series ;-)

Tags: 75 Comments »

Avatar of Swade

by Swade

Saab 9-5 to be used in Hungary for EU

January 13, 2011 in Saabology

The European Union has a rotating presidency and the coming six months will see Hungary take the reigns.

The Hungarian Saab distributor is Polar Mobil. They actually distribute Saab in nine other countries as well, but their headquarters are in Budapest.

As Hungary will be hosting European dignitaries for the next six months, Polar Mobil thought it might make a good impression if those dignitaries got to experience the spacious rear legroom of the new Saab 9-5.

Accordingly, they’ve delivered 10 vehicles to the airport at Budapest, where they will be used to ferry presidents, prime ministers, ministers and promonent polititians of the EU countries visiting Hungary between their aircraft and the VIP lounge of the airport.

It will be a short impression each time, but a very good one.

–

Zsolt from Polar Mobil tells me that the cars will be sold through their dealer network once their EU duties are discharged. Of course, the dignitaries may just fall in love with them before they get there, but….. :-)

Congratulations to Polar Mobil. It’s a great impression for Saab.

–

Tags: 46 Comments »

Avatar of Swade

by Swade

Saab to review US advertising

January 13, 2011 in News

Saab’s Marketing Director, Knut Simonsson, at the Detroit Auto Show (well, at the Sno Hus just outside of it, actually :-) )……

“The U.S. is the most important market for us, and we are now overseeing our agencies,” said Knut Simonsson, executive director of global marketing for Saab Automobile. “You will see an agency review taking place this spring,” he said this week during an interview at the Detroit auto show.

McCann Erickson has had the account since 2007. Saab Automobile replaced its European ad agency last year.

If Mike Colleran read this, I’m sure this line would have made him wince a little….

The action follows the removal last Friday of Mike Colleran, Saab Cars North America’s COO.

I’m not sure if Automotive News didn’t get the press release relating to his resignation, or just ignored it.

In any case, I think all concerned will find this review welcome news. Some might even say its 10 months late, but the guys in Sweden have had a lot on their plate and they’re supposed to be able to delegate these things to some degree.

For what it’s worth, the volunteers at the Saabs United ad agency have been working hard, and on a more serious note, I know that Curvin O’Rielly’s probably available for a chat, too.

Tags: , , 21 Comments »

Avatar of Swade

by Swade

Custom Saab Badges

January 13, 2011 in Saabology

I was looking for something on Google Images the other day and was struck by the number of custom Saab badges that different people have made over the years.

I guess it’s become a lot easier to design your own badge these days, with companies like Heko and others online (if you know of another good custom badge place, let us know in comments).

Here’s a selection from the ones found on Google earlier today. A few have been featured on these pages in the past, but there’s a bunch of new ones there as well.

–

Tags: 21 Comments »

Avatar of Swade

by Swade

Saab Swiss Fondue Meeting – January 22-23

January 13, 2011 in Saabology

For the Europeans with a penchant for Saabs ….. and cheese.

Dimini.ch, purveyors of fine Saab models (I’ve still got to order one of those new C900s) are putting together a gathering of a social nature for the Saab aficionado in Le Côty, Neuchâtel, Switzerland.

They already have around 60 people attending from a number of countries in Europe. If you’d like to join them, the details are below and you can register online either here or here. There’s also a Facebook page for the event.

——

Saturday 22 January 2011 :

  • from 11h. lunch-aperitif
  • afternoon, activities according to the weather and to the snow
  • From 18 h. Aperitif followed by the meal cheese fondue Neuchâteloise, Restaurant La Vieille Fontaine, Le Côty, CH-2058 Le Pâquier

Sunday 23 January 2011:

  • from 10 h. Brunch at the restaurant La Vieille Fontaine

Costs : Saturday evening meal CHF. 35.–/€ 27.– , brunch CHF. 25.–/€ 19.–, night in dormitory CHF. 15.–/€ 12.–

Tags: , No Comments »

Avatar of Swade

by Swade

DI.se – GM clear way for Antonov to be part of Saab deal

January 13, 2011 in News

According to Dagens Industri online today, GM have cleared the way for Vladimir Antonov to become part of the ownership structure for Saab Automobile.

The Spyker purchase nearly fell over last year when GM acted on (unproven) suspicions and barred Antonov from being part of the deal. Antonov stepped aside, acting as a financier only (and even that was in the background) in order for the deal to go through.

Subsequent investigations have cleared Antonov from any wrongdoing and according to DI.se, he has now been given the formal green light to become part of Saab’s ownership structure.

Antonov has said that he will update people after January 26, which will be the first anniversary of Spyker signing the agreement to purchase Saab from GM.

——

It’ll be interesting to see what changes, if any, this might bring to Saab.

Having a banker on the board could lead to easier access to finance for Saab. Not assured, but *could*. I’d imagine they might be subject to rather high interest rates if they want to access external finance at the moment.

Antonov has also spoken previously about taking old Saab tooling and building cars in Russia with it (see here for a more recent report, too).

Whatever happens, it’s definitely going to be interesting :-)

Thanks to Carl-Henrik for the tip!

Tags: , 36 Comments »

Avatar of Swade

by Swade

Hirsch Performance: Saab USA upgrade availability

January 13, 2011 in Saabology

I have received a list of vehicles for which Hirsch Performance – Saab’s official tuning house – have received the OK to provide vehicle ECU upgrades.

To give you an idea of the process involved……

This list comes from an Executive Order issued by the California Air Resource Board. Each of the vehicle congiurations on this list had to be tested and certified in order to be given the tick by CARB. This is a lengthy and expensive process, especially with this number of vehicles involved.

If your car is on the list, then you should be able to access a Hirsch ECU upgrade (costs for which are as yet unknown) from your local Saab dealer if that dealer is one that’s been approved for Hirsch distribution.

Here’s the list (click).

——

Congratulations to Hirsch for finally making it over the pond an into the US market. It’s been a long time coming, and is a breakthrough that’s well deserved.

Saab performance by Hirsch

–

Tags: , , , 28 Comments »

Avatar of Swade

by Swade

Saab independence celebration – Dallas TX

January 13, 2011 in Saabology

There will be several groups re-living the Saab Support Convoys they held last year.

Some Saab nuts in Dallas will be gathering in a celebration of Saab’s independence.

Date: Saturday, January 22 from 01:00 PM to 4:30 PM

It’s time to gather and celebrate that SAAB lives on after just one year of a pending death sentence! This date was by far the most popular so I hope you can attend.

I thought we could meet for lunch and a mid-day margarita if you are so inclined at Fuzzy’s Taco Shop since they have good parking. (www.fuzzystacoshop.com)
From there it is a short drive over to White Rock Lake. There is a great spot for a photo overlooking dwntwn Dallas at the old Dreyfuss Club spot located at E Lawther Dr Dallas, TX, 75394 (East side of White Rock Lake).

Access from Lake Highlands from N Buckner Blvd

Take Tiffany Way Left from Lake Highlands down toward lakeside trail. Keep right to Dreyfus Club spot on top of the hill.

The goal of this meet is to celebrate all things SAAB and be thankful for the future. Unless it is just pouring rain please try to make it out! Please call or email with any questions!

Thanks – Daniel

If anyone in the area is interested in attending and hasn’t got the contact information, please let me know and I’ll connect you with Daniel.

Tags: , 1 Comment »

Avatar of Swade

by Swade

Saab Austria to run ‘XWD Days’ in February

January 13, 2011 in Saabology

UPDATE: Extra dates and online registration now available.

Saab Austria have added another weekend to this event, such is its popularity. The original dates were (and remain) Feb 18-20. I’ve been advised that another event has now been added for the weekend before – February 11-13.

Also, the XWD Days website now has a separate page for online registration.

Enjoy!

——

This sounds like a rather special Saab event.

Interested parties in Austria are able to book themselves in to “XWD Days”, which will be run between the 18th and 20th February 2011 at Mayrhofen – Tyrol.

SaabAndee tells me that people interested in going along can book through their local Saab dealer. The XWD Days program will see a number of side activities such as skidoo and sledding, as well as a night in a mountain cottage (other accomm is in a 4-star hotel).

The focus of the event, of course, is the opportunity to test vehicles equipped with Saab’s XWD system in some of the conditions they were built to handle.

The best part is the price, at just 249Euro per person.

The information page is here.

Tags: , 6 Comments »

Avatar of Swade

by Swade

Some final small market Saab sales for 2010

January 12, 2011 in Saabology

A few good people have sent through sales data for their local markets.

——

AUSTRIA

Sales in December – 14 (vs 16 in 2009)

Eight of these were 9-5s and six of them were 9-3s.

Saab sold more than Lexus (8) and were only two cars behind Jaguar (16), but lightyears behind Alfa (186), Subaru (171) and Volvo (238). I don’t think there are too many markets outside of Italy where Alfa Romeo outsell Subaru.

For the full year….

Saab 9-5 – 34 sold (vs 13 in 2009) +161,5 %
Saab 9-3 – 68 sold (vs 222 in 2009) -69,37 %

Total: 102 sold (vs 235 in 2009) -56,6 %

I’m further told that Saab have sold 3 Saab 9-5s in Austria in the first days of 2011. There were only 4 of these sold in the first two months of 2009, so it’s a great start to the year.

For those who think about such things……. there were 15 Cadillac SRX’s sold in Austria in the last four months of 2010 (Cadillac only started Austrian sales in September). There is room for some 9-4x’s there.

Thanks to Andee for the numbers!

——

SLOVENIA

There were no Saabs sold in Slovenia in December, unfortunately.

Sales for the year reached just 12 vehicles, after they sold 26 cars in 2009.

I think the words “the only way is up” are appropriate here.

Thanks to Marco (who sent along a bunch of charts wrt to market share as well, but let’s just say it’s very, very small).

–

Tags: 31 Comments »

Avatar of Swade

by Swade

Saab dropping production to 28 cars per hour

January 12, 2011 in News

This news has been running as part of a discussion in comments but it’s worthwhile bringing it to the front page here.

There are several reports around, but the best informed seems to come from TTELA and was translated in comments by Börjesson:

——

Reduced rate of production for Saab

Saab has reduced the rate of production from 39 cars per hour to 28.

- I am confident that we will raise the pace again, and then we will need more employees again, says Håkan Schött, chairman of IF Metall (union).

The sales target of 80 000 cars a year still stands for Saab, but in the factory, the production rate has now fallen to 28 cars per hour. January and February usually mean lower demand in the automobile market.

- Sales usually pick up in early spring, and then it remains to be seen what we need to raise the pace to, says Håkan Schött……

…….Is the sales target of 80 000 cars this year a realistic goal?
- Absolutely. I do not see why we shouldn’t make it, says Håkan Schött.

The union chairman thinks the future looks bright for the industry, and Saab will increase the production rate later on, when the order books begin to be filled.

The first step is to increase the production rate, the second step is to reintroduce a second shift.
- I have no crystal ball, so I can’t say much more about the future than that it looks bright, says Håkan Schött.

Joachim Flodin, TTELA

——

This seems to be a seasonal cut – Saab responding to real-time demand. Saab can step things up pretty quickly when Spring gets closer.

As I mentioned in comments, a friend in Trollhattan with well-placed contacts has indicated to me that there are plans to bring the plant back to capacity in the very near future (a matter of weeks was mentioned, however I don’t want to hold him to that in light of the report from TTELA).

–

Tags: 28 Comments »

Avatar of Swade

by Swade

Saab Support Convoy re-enactments

January 12, 2011 in Saabology

How many of you are considering some sort of formal remembrance of the Saab Support Convoys?

The bulk of convoys were held on January 17, 2010, with more following on the weekends after (and one held earlier on January 7, in Detroit).

These gatherings, held in around 60 locations around the world, were an unprecedented show of support for a car company. Many were covered by news services for days afterwards, leading to a three-week campaign where the impending sale of Saab was in the news – an instrumental part in keeping the spotlight on GM.

I’ve received notice that there will be a couple of countries working to remember the convoys with a similar gathering this year.

——

UPDATE: Sydney

This drive starts at the Porter’s Scenic Lookout at Dural.

We then drive up the Old Northern Road to Wiseman’s Ferry; we can stop at the lookout just before descending into the valley for a photo opportunity. Then proceeding to the shop near the actual ferry for an ice cream or coffee etc. The shop is fairly basic but it has a nice view to the river and the ferry. From there we cross the Hawkesbury River on the ferry and have a winding drive alongside for several kilometres passing through the hamlet of Spencer before climbing out of the valley and up to Mangrove Mountain. Turn left, heading north for a couple of kilometres before turning right and driving down into the Yarramalong Valley to the Yarramalong Manor for lunch.

After lunch we head back down the Yarramalong valley towards Wyong and back on the F3. For anyone who wants to they can break off the freeway at Calga and come back on the Old Pacific Hwy for more driving fun!

Full details here.

——

Czech Republic

Saab Underground in the Czech Republic will be leading a gathering this Sunday.

We at SAABunderground decided to recall the exciting and important moments we experienced last year, when nothing was sure yet and we rallied in the chilly and windy January weather for our beloved car brand. Thus, this Sunday we’ll be meeting again, to celebrate SAAB and the people and community and fun that is always connected with it.

Good luck to all the Czeck Saabnuts this weekend. Please send pictures!

——

Poland

The Saab Turbo Club of Poland will also be getting together on Sunday, to remember last year’s convoy with a drive in Warszawa.

Anyone interested in attending can contact me and I’ll put you in touch, if necessary.

——

Are any more of you considering celebrating last year’s Saab Support Convoys?

Please let me know and I’ll be happy to add your event to this post.

–

Tags: 14 Comments »

Avatar of Swade

by Swade

Saab ad blitz in February to shout Saab is Alive

January 12, 2011 in News

There has been a lot of talk in relation to Saab advertising, much of reflecting no small amount of discontent.

Many have argued, quite accurately, that Saab did not tell the story of their survival. The fact that many dealers and enthusiasts were still receiving questions about whether Saab were still alive only seems to support this notion that Saab still have a lot of work to do.

Victor Muller attended Saab’s outdoor exhibit at the Detroit Auto Show (which seems to have received good attention, by the way) and in speaking to the New York Times, he indicated that that lack of storytelling was about to change:

“Saab was perceived to have died with old G.M.,” Victor Muller, the chairman of Saab’s new Dutch parent, Spyker Cars, said. “People mentioned Saab in the same breath as Hummer, Pontiac and Saturn. But in fact we were the company that got away.”…..

…..[Saab] plans to begin an advertising campaign next month aimed at convincing consumers that it is still alive and plans to stay that way.

“The buyer needs this confirmation that he’s not an insensible person if he actually buys a Saab,” Mr. Muller said.

Of course, February will see the one-year anniversary of Saab’s acquisition by Spyker Cars. There will be a lot to talk about and it would appear Saab plan to talk quite loudly about the acquisition and the fact that Saab are still alive.

More coverage from Detroit:

Photo: Inside Line

–

Tags: , , 70 Comments »

Avatar of Swade

by Swade

Poll: Your planned automotive activity for 2011

January 12, 2011 in Saabology

I asked the question as to what people were planning in 2011 last night, but with nearly 150 comments on the article, it’s difficult to get a quick feel for what’s happening.

I figured a poll might be a good way to get a snapshot of what SU readers will be doing this year to satisfy their automotive itch.

In recognition of the fact that some of you might be doing a few things, you can select up to three separate answers in this poll. As such, this will be a measure of ‘events’ rather than just what’s the most popular option?

Thanks for your participation!

Your planned 2011 automotive activity

View Results

Loading ... Loading ...

–

Tags: , 29 Comments »

Avatar of Swade

by Swade

Another mini-milestone for Saabs United

January 12, 2011 in Troll Stuff

From my WordPress dashboard today…..

–

“100%Saab” was the one who brought us to this magical all-9′s comment milestone (thanks!), which in some Saaby way feels every bit as important than the one that came after it…..

–

–

Thanks to “74Stingray” for providing the first 6-figure comment here at SU.

It’s nice to see two regulars here fill in some important milestones. I feel like I should get a set of steak knives for both of you :-)

Thanks all for your ongoing contributions to the life of Saabs United.

Tags: , 8 Comments »