Best of the Road Wowed By Saab
June 24, 2011 in News
Here’s a great little video that shows when the 5 Best of the Road teams got acquainted with their new Saabs for their trip from NYC to LA. We’ll be retweeting a lot of the Best of the Road tweets and coverage when it pertains to Saab (hear that teams? The more you cover Saab the more coverage thousands of Saab lovers will get 
). I think I speak for all of us when I say I’m a tad jealous.
maanders said on June 24, 2011
Road trip in a new Saab? Of course, we are all a bit jealous!
JasonPowell said on June 24, 2011
Great video, love the reactions. Very jealous, wish my wife and I could do something like that. Looks like such an adventure and to do it in a brand new Saab….
dave said on June 25, 2011
+1
zippy said on June 25, 2011
Jason, maybe you could talk SCNA to do a Canadian edition. Just make sure you put me in a 9-5 Aero when they come calling for volunteers.
Jason Petho said on June 25, 2011
That makes two of us, zippy!!
zippy said on June 25, 2011
Or three if we count Mr Powell.
JasonPowell said on June 25, 2011
zippy, right now I’ve been working on trying to get the 9-4X out here to make a stop, as it was in Toronto last week. The 9-4X is a vehicle that I think will be very well received in BC. If something like this Best Of The Road thing is to ever come our way, you can rest assured that I would let you know as soon as I knew about it. Unfortunately for me, I probably wouldn’t be allowed to enter being that I work for a Saab dealer. That being said zippy, anytime you want to come out and take a 9-5 for a cruise again, just head on over, the only day myself or Rob are not here is Sunday because we’re closed. Have a great weekend.
Bravada from GMI said on June 25, 2011
OK, this is seriously brilliant. Dunno whose job is it, a super-quickie arrangement by Tim Collbeck, a fruit of long and dilligent work on a brilliant idea by Michelle Tinson or perhaps somebody whose name we don’t even know, but THAT’s the kind of marketing I expected from Saab.
If anything gives me hope in Saab’s future, it’s that. And the fact that the competition’s sales people state flat out they give up when they learn they drive a Saab. Last week one actually wanted to test drive MY car!
ryanonsrc said on June 25, 2011
A number of folks at my office, wanted me to drive them around in my 9-3 that I just purchased and I’ve been getting a lot of glowing comments about it (one of them wanted to drive it to an out-of-town meetup, with me sitting in the passenger’s seat!).
Bravada from GMI said on June 25, 2011
I actually get everybody I can to drive my Saab, that’s the best sales job you and I can do for Saab. This is one of those products you really need to experience to get hooked, but once you are, you ARE.
PS. I love how the teams are really excited and complimentary of their Saabs! I am looking forward for more between-the-lines Saab coverage. Make sure you tell all your friends of this cool event and send them the link. It’s cool on its own, but augmented by the presence of Saabs!
ryanonsrc said on June 25, 2011
good point. I’ll have to let him drive it then.
But yeah, when I first test drove it … I had to try *really* hard to contain my excitement. It was just an absolute dream to drive.
zippy said on June 25, 2011
Tim Collbeck, he is the man to make the Saab brand great again here in North America.
Tim Up!!
Saab Up !!
JasonPowell said on June 25, 2011
+1
I agree, I’ve seen more happening in the US since he’s been on board then I did for most of the last year.
Peter Gilbert said on June 25, 2011
I am curious how these teams were selected. They are obviously novices to Saab and that is the brilliant intention.
Getting new people to step outside “The Box.”
Jeff said on June 25, 2011
This wasn’t really a competition arranged by Saab, it’s USA Today’s event. Saab just got a really lucky break and got to be sponsor for the trip. It’s one huge advertisement, and it’s a coup. A last minute coup, but we’ll take it however we can get it
These drivers were picked because they’re experienced bloggers and won a competition set up by USA Today and Rand McNally. When the selection process took place, there was no mention of Saab being a part of it. The news has been public for a day, I knew about it only shortly before then but wasn’t allowed to talk about it. That’s how amazing this all is. We intend to give them wall to wall coverage on the site, so I hope you enjoy hearing these people’s stories! You’ll be learning a lot about small towns in the US over the next 3 weeks, lol.
These towns they’re stopping in are rolling out the red carpets for them, too. Their local news departments are really covering the stories, and they’re all part of major news markets. For instance, CaptainandClark, team blue, will be first be stopping in Coral Gables, FL with their 9-4X. Coral Gables happens to be one of the wealthiest suburbs of Miami, and Deel Saab is located there in fact.
Speaking of dealers, very positive news out of the dealer meeting from Colorado is coming for the beginning of next week. Saab is going to make it, everyone. Now buy a license plate holder already while Tim is giving all the money away
Nate 9-3 said on June 25, 2011
Since these folks are experienced bloggers is there any way that the experienced bloggers at SU can reach out to them and see if they would like to share their thoughts on SU?
Jeff said on June 25, 2011
Yep, already invited them to share their thoughts. Most of them seem a little busy right now trying to win the contest though, so out of respect for their missions (and desire to win the 9-4X grand prize) I’m not going to be pushing them too hard right now.
cosmic said on June 25, 2011
Great marketing plan and pr for Saab at a time well needed!
And is that John Libbos, the Saab Product Manager, who is describing the turbocharging?
Jeff said on June 25, 2011
Wow with the all star sighting! John, you’re a celebrity around here
Steve C. said on June 25, 2011
The video player isn’t visible to me on IE but I managed to start it and heard the audio and recognized John’s voice.
I just spend some time at the Best of the Road and noted what Jeff mentioned that Saab wasn’t mentioned in the materials promoting the event and looking for candidates. Saab is shown on the home page as one of the sponsors and there are display ads for Saab at the top of most pages. The last one I saw had a 9-3 front view and the text For Left Land Drivers…and Right Brain Thinkers.
JasonPowell said on June 25, 2011
Jeff, any word on what made them choose Saab, as I understand Saab didn’t even know until the last minute? This is such a cool thing to be involved in and kind of let’s you know what makes a Saab a Saab, Saabs are meant to be driven and are great for a road trip. Heck, we should do stories on where the average SU fan is going with there Saab this summer accompanied with some photos and a short story.
zippy said on June 25, 2011
Jason. You are my local Saab sales manager and you know why they chose Saab.
zippy said on June 25, 2011
Just watching YouTube videos of Saab cars and TopGear from the mid 90s was saying Saab had the second highest brand loyalty of any manufacturer. There is something special about these cars that truly does not exist in other makes. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that we will look back at today’s issues come 2012 and wondered what all the fuss and negativity were about. I also feel that SCNA has found the right man in Tim Collbeck to reinvigorate Saab’s image here in North America. Reviews I have seen of the 9-5 here in North America have been very positive and now SCNA just needs to get the word out to consumers. The Best Of The Road is a great way to show what Saab is capable of. I’m glad to see that VM hasn’t given up the fight for these fantastic cars.
Tripod said on June 25, 2011
Not forgetting the recent Top Safety Pick award, from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, mentioned earlier; Saab 9-5 is among the safest cars in the world, and class leading. That is, Saabs are not only beautiful and a joy to drive in any weather conditions, they are safe. (But we all know this.)
http://www.iihs.org/news/default.html#061611
Jeff said on June 25, 2011
They all are safe too
hint, hint.
JasonPowell said on June 25, 2011
Hope this doesn’t mean they’re going to end up showing us just how safe they are lol. I just went to the website for Best Of The Road and noticed the sponsors on the bottom of the page had links to their websites, but Saab does not, hopefully they will change that.
Jeff said on June 25, 2011
Nah, no accidents. Just hinting at something you might be hearing about in the near future.
Tripod said on June 25, 2011
Indeed. But we who like to drive them, travel with them, work with them usually see that as a great bonus, we know this since earlier, we use ‘em because we love them in one way or another. I mentioned it, or brought it back since you’ve already mentioned it, because I see it as another great argument when you are showing Saab to new people; not only are they fun to drive, they are safe.
And that is worth quite a lot; people have been discussing back and forth the interior quality bla bla vs. some other brands, the last year or so, and we all know that Saab is much better nowadays but perhaps half a step behind in that area, sometimes, (but hey, it costs a lot and since some other brands can sell their cars just being the brand, they can also add quite a premium and use other materials); on the other hand Saab is one step, or more, ahead in safety, thus you get more safety for less money.
(And a “few inches extra in length is only a plus”, as Bravada found as a new tagline in RS’s comment.)
kiriakos said on June 25, 2011
If only they hired Tim a year ago, it seems like the last guy did absolutely nothing to promote Saab in N.A.
By the way i was thinking, why don’t we do our own advertising as well? I would be down for a big eastern Canada/U.S cruise, get as many Saab’s possible, maybe end up somewhere nice in new england? Save Saab 2.0, let’s do it!
Jeff said on June 25, 2011
We will kiriakos. We’re getting there, big advertising event coming soon at SU.