by TimR
August 29, 2011 in News
I just love stories like this so I had to tell it to you as well, yesterday a customer had decided that they were tired of waiting for their ordered 9-3 Griffin, which would have been a fairly regular equipped 9-3.
The customer approached the sales man whom I know very well and asked, isn’t there something new in stock that you can sell me instead?
by TimR
August 29, 2011 in News
DI.se (original article here) & TTELA.se (original article here)
On friday afternoon the union Metall has the right to demand bankruptcy for Saab. The union gave its notice to Saab through a swedish notification-service with a demand for salary payment.
This happened according to legal representative Darko Davidovic last friday at 16:15 local time. Read the rest of this entry →
by TimR
August 29, 2011 in News
DN.se (original article here):
Saabs CEO Victor Muller considers a reconstruction for the company. He discloses this in an interview with the newspaper Automotive News.
- We are not excluding any options, he said. We are focused on finding a solution and if the enforcement agency steps in we need to protect ourselves.
The newspaper also directs to a source close to the negotiations who say that Saab Automobile is very close to finding a financial solution that could solve the financial problems on a short term, for example the salaries and payments to suppliers.
With this the company could survive until the chinese partners have been approved by the NDRC and the long term financial possibilities become active. Read the rest of this entry →
by TimR
August 29, 2011 in SaabsUnited Related
This beautiful car belongs to Tobias who is actually not living too far away from me. We share the love for the brand and also the fine streets of the city of Växjö =) Tobias has always been a strong supporter of SaabsUnited, by sending us a lot of tips on current stories that we’ve published!
by TimR
August 29, 2011 in Sotw
This weeks Saab of the week comes from France and Julien Collet and this is his story:
I’m just one of those 20 years old, french students (in electronics engineering & computing). I decided to send you photos of my father’s Saab 9-3 Aero as i’ve just seen your request on the Facebook wall. It’s because of this 9-3 that i love Saab 
. My father gave me the “virus” driving this car Technically it’s a 9-3 V6 255Hp Aero MY07 if i remember right. The color is a kind of blue i’ve never seen in france, it’s called Fusion Blue and it’s truly beautiful.
by TimR
August 29, 2011 in SaabsUnited Related
The new permanent link is now up on the top left hand side of this site, in case you’ve missed it! =) And there is a print version of the new logo available here, please print it and spread it around as much as you can! - CLICK HERE -
THIS IS A PRELIMINARY LIST OF THINGS HAPPENING ON OCT 1st! Read the rest of this entry →
by TimR
August 28, 2011 in News
A few weeks ago we wrongly reported about a dealer giving up on Saab, since then I’ve been talking with that dealer getting the true story and also the story of other dealers who are NOT giving up on Saab!
I spoke with Joeri Michiels and Marc De Prijcker at the dealership De Prijcker in Lier, Belgium a while back, his passion for Saab is incredible and this is what he said:
First of all, I have a strong passion for cars. Moreover, Saab is a car brand which thinks ‘out of the box’. As one of the world’s smaller car companies, they are free to challenge convention. Some innovations, such as harnessing the turbo for use in series-production cars, were revolutionary..To make themselves heard, Saab does not need to scream. When we started our business, the sales figures grew from 30 to +100 cars/year in a few years. So we strongly believe to reach those sales volumes again when the situation is stabilized. We believe to sell even more cars when the future product portfolio rolls out. In our company are working with 7 persons in total. We still work with our full capacity, despite the current situation.
No doubt about our belief in Saab. Our power is independent thinking. And if you see the efforts of the Saab management in Sweden, it gives us the strength to ‘carry on and keep calm’. Besides this, our customers keep their trust in Saab and the future of the company, that gives us extra support. We are even planning to invest money in Saab, when the situation has sorted out well.
What was your best memory with a Saab? – The recent launch of the New 9-5 Sedan in Trollhättan, Sweden. It was a sober presentation, but extremely professional and well organized. We could experience the feeling of ‘the New Saab’.
Some years ago, one of our customers had a really bad accident with our 9-3 (previous model year). The fireman who helped her out of the wreck said her car saved her life. The car was total loss, so she had to buy a new car. The 9-3, new model year, was already launched (cleaner engines, sleeker design), but she still wanted exactly the same model like she drove before. So, we searched the whole country for that ‘old’ model and with the help of the importer, we found one for her!
As with many other dealers, De Prijcker has had to add other brands in order to keep business running while Saab sorts out its current situation. But as Joeri pointed out to me, the brands they’ve added are not meant to compete with the Saab cars that they are selling, its more a function to have a product for every customer that walks in through the door. From the smallest of cars to the largest of cars!
by TimR
August 28, 2011 in News
These news are about one day old, I’ve been trying to find reasons for the postponement or any comments directly from Saab but haven’t been able to. Most people involved in the process are busy with other matters right now, which I don’t blame them for.
But in a brief statement Swedish Automobile states that the report is postponed about five days since the earnings report is incomplete. We should be able to expect the report on wednesday. This news was not given a warm welcome on the stock market though, the shares dropped 14%.
by TimR
August 27, 2011 in Uncategorized
Congratulations Andreas (sportsedan) and Hanna 
by Red J
August 27, 2011 in News
Frankfurt in September, a city full of car crazy people from all over Europe, but no Saab at the IAA. However, few will notice it. Therefore Saab is planning to shows presence before the exhibition entrances, at the parking lots and on the Frankfurt hot spots.
During the motor show a convoy of 15 new Saabs will cruise twice a day for several hours through Frankfurt. The Saabs will be made ready next week and will get a flashy livery. Saab is giving the on-line community the possibility to help.
by JasonPowell
August 27, 2011 in Saabology
Little follow up to this post, Aj sent me an email yesterday with some photo’s of the two 9-4x that have just arrived in Ice Pearl and Atlantic Blue. These vehicles were part of the test fleet driven by Saab execs in Detroit during the test period and the colors were not made available once production started. Read the rest of this entry →
by Carl-Henrik
August 27, 2011 in News
Svenska Dagbladet (SvD) is one of the two major Swedish newspapers and they have reported on the upcoming SU October Fest:
http://www.svd.se/nyheter/inrikes/langvaga-konvojer-till-fest-for-saab_6420368.svd
It’s just a short entry, but still rather interesting that they post it.
by TimR
August 26, 2011 in News
There were reports from Swedish radio that Saab was preparing a reconstruction. This was today denied by Saab.
We also had reports from the inside that this has been a thought in order to work as a back-up measure.
Lets wait and see what happens…
by Jeff
August 25, 2011 in News
That may be the weirdest headline I’ve ever written. No, she’s not some fat angry lady causing trouble, she’s a big fat hurricane causing serious havoc on millions of Americans’ lives this weekend. Because of the impending hurricane (after the east coast’s first earthquake in as long as anyone can remember, my house shook…), Pierre from Charles River Saab let us know that Swedish Car Day will be postponed one week. From Pierre:
The change is official.
Swedish Car Day has been rescheduled. I am announcing this earlier than previously stated. The museum needed to know today so as to arrange their staffing, and it did not look like there would be any significant news regarding the weather pattern. If anything, the forecast for 2-10” of rain in the northeast corridor preceding the hurricane made the change inevitable. Therefore:
Swedish Car Day 2011 will take place on September 4, 2011
Read the rest of this entry →
by JasonPowell
August 25, 2011 in Uncategorized
As many have read the article in the Automotive News titled “Steady Drip Of Bad News Wears On Saab Dealers” , what some may not know is how much was left out of this article. Below is a copy of an email we received from Aj Murphy, General Manager of Just Saab, a very loyal Saab dealer and friend.
Gentlemen: As you are well aware there was a very grim tone to the article. I was quoted as saying “Saab needs to get production restarted and stop the bloodbath on perception”, which I stand behind and believe needs to happen sooner rather than later. Further, in the context of what I said was that perception and image improves once production restarts; One follows the other. I believe the media is creating Saab’s image more than Saab is. Which is sadly, just the way it is right now. Unfortunately what wasn’t written was the comments about the faith I had in the long-term outlook of Saab once we get through this short-term crunch. And I stand behind that statement 100 percent. Unfortunately all that matters is what was put on paper to paint the picture of what they wanted to write. Saab dealers losing faith in the brand. Well, I’m not that dealer! Please put me on record as a dealer who has all the faith in the Saab team in what they are doing and they can count on Just Saab Cincinnati and Dayton 100 percent to stand behind the brand all the way. I know Victor Muller and I have great respect for him as well as Tim Colbeck and his team. They are the right people for this job. Just Saab is not a dealer that will give up on the brand. We believe in Saab’s future and are very excited to be part of it. No dealer stands behind Saab more than the Just Saab family and you can ask anyone who knows us.
I personally have known Aj for the past year and being a Sales Manager at a Canadian Saab dealer who has to rely heavily on SU and my US counterparts for news and information, can honestly say that he has proven to be a man of his word. Aj sums it up quite well when saying that the media paint the picture of what they want to write and we should take note when reading headlines, especially right now and know too, that there are plenty of other Saab dealers out there that feel the same way as Aj and Just Saab.
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