Recently in Editorial Category

Hey Victor,

In the past, I've written open letters to head honchos at Saab, usually in the USA. Jay Spenchian got one, as did Steve Shannon. Those open letters were written out of concern that those guys didn't really 'get' the Saab brand and given that they were in charge of Saab's single biggest market, it was felt that maybe they needed an introduction to the brand and the customers they would be serving.

This is a little different. First, you're not in charge of a particular market, you're in charge of the whole Saab Spyker operation. Second, I'd never actually met Jay Spenchian or Steve Shannon before I wrote to them, whereas I have had the pleasure of meeting you personally. And finally, You're a different kettle of fish in that you don't hold the same fears for us when it comes to understanding what Saab might be all about. There's a feeling that you do already "get it" when it comes to Saab.

Nevertheless, the custom exists and there's no more poignant a time in SU's and Saab's history than now for me to put figurative pen to paper and craft an exhortation.

Officially - Welcome to the family

One thing most of us know about tight family units is that they stick together, through thick and thin. And I don't think times get any thinner for a business/family than what they did for Saab in the last 15 months.

Whilst there were some skeptics, most of us welcomed the Koenigsegg Group with a lot of optimism, open arms and a great deal of excitement. It wasn't until that deal fell through, however, that we really felt the threat to Saab's continued existence and with GM's very serious threats to close the company down, it was time for a family meeting.

There were a collection of fine speeches made at the dinner to celebrate the closing of the Saab deal last night. I guess I felt a little intimidated by the surroundings and the people present, but it remains as my only regret from this trip (aside from not bringing a better camera) that I didn't create an opportunity to take my stand and present the enthusiast's point of view on the deal that was made.

For those of you who were present last night and are reading this today, please feel free to pass the link to this entry along to your colleagues if you feel it's worthwhile.

------

I hope none of you mind me standing here and presenting you with a glimpse into the enthusiasts' point of view on this deal. I know I didn't expect to be here tonight, getting the insight to this deal that all of you have provided. In a similar spirit, I'd like to offer all of you a perspective that you've possibly read about, but still may not understand.

First of all, I'd like to thank Victor for gathering together such a distinguished group of Saabs United readers. It really is wonderful to have met you all today and especially in such beautiful surroundings. Your commitment* to keeping Saabs United's statistics up there in the clouds has been outstanding :-)

Given that so many of you have been readers of the site at one time or another, there's a fair chance that I've offended you at some stage. That's because you were probably being a bastard :-) but now the deal's done it's fist pumps, high fives and manly hugs all 'round.

But of course, we are all here to celebrate a deal that many of you, at many different stages, possibly thought may never happen. I can tell you that as an enthusiast, with the comforting blindness that comes with being a layman on these issues, I always maintained a belief that this day would come. You shook that belief more than once, but it remained.

For us in the enthusiast community, a life without the Saab company making cars is unimaginable. That's the case most of the time, but especially over these last 15 months. To me, personally, it just never ever made sense that a company with such a rich heritage, a great workforce, great management and a stable of brand new vehicles waiting in the wings...... it just never made sense that such a company should close.

Mention has been made of the various campaigns and gatherings that took place in the Saab community, especially over the last few months. These gatherings were incredibly important for us as a gesture of support for the company, but they were also important because they generated attention that meant that a decision about Saab could not be made in the dark. This is what we wanted all along.

With due respect to our friends from GM who are here tonight, the notion that Saab would be closed at the behest of some guys in a far away land, and mainly due to an adverse finding in a spreadsheet, was beyond comprehension.

Saab deserve the chance to carve their own path. The road ahead is not without risk but I believe that the combination of Victor's energy, entrepreneurial spirit along with Saab's incredible management and workforce means that Saab have their own chance at being very very successful. To quote Bruce Dickinson and Iron Maiden, "if you're gonna die, die with your boots on."

But that won't happen, of course. Saab are ready and able to kick ass and I can't wait to see that happen.

On behalf of the enthusiast community, I'd like to thank everyone here for the efforts you've made at bringing this affair to a successful resolution. You've done a great thing today. A great thing.

There are two people that I'd like to thank especially, however.

Victor Muller has inspired a great deal of confidence with his energy, intelligence, enthusiasm, rugged good looks (shall I keep going Victor, or will you offer me a job now?). His dedication to this task and his tenacity in seeing it through - pulling rabbits out of hats** on a daily basis - is one of the main reasons we're all here tonight. To Victor, the enthusiast community says "Thankyou for saving our favourite company, and we are right behind you".

And secondly, the debt owed by the entire Saab community to Jan-Ake Jonsson is beyond description. The day your workforce met you in the carpark of the factory in Trollhattan to thank you really did bring a tear to my eye, and I know I speak for a lot of people in saying that. Such dedication and admiration is incredibly rare - but it is 100% appropriate in this case. I've written it on the website a thousand times, but I'm pleased to stand here as a representative of the enthusiast community and say a very warm "Thankyou" to Jan-Ake Jonsson and his incredible management team, a few of whom are here tonight.

So thankyou all for your work, and for listening to me here tonight. I'm not sure as to whether or not I've gone over the previously mentioned 10 minute fantasy zone***, but if I have then I sincerely hope that it's been personally rewarding for all of you.

------

* The readers commitment - a very high proportion of the people I met in the deal room and at dinner confessed they were pretty regular readers of SU, which was very nice to hear.

*** The fantasy zone - In the first speech of the night, VM indicated that any speech over 10 minutes risked having male members of the audience lose interest and drift off into fantasies of a lewd nature.

Well, gents, it's that time again. As we near the end of the Japanese fiscal year, my work load steadily increases right through the end. Add to that the additional goings on at our home, and my time gets pretty well maxed out right up until April 1.

Additionally, since this is officially a horrendous winter for those of us in the American South, I think that we'll be digging out until then, anyway. We'll also send our children to school until mid-June to make up all of the days lost (they are out of school again today)!

Thus, I'll not be around for a few weeks for any length of time. Bon mot!

-----

On the subject of Saab Independence Day, I'm all for it. As Ken suggested (and I followed suit), Saab Independence Day is appropriate, even cathartic, for we lovers of the Saab brand.

First of all, we should drive our cars. (duh!) I think that each location and person should celebrate in public fashion, but that's the only admonition that I make. Since each town has its own unique roads and scenery, I'll leave it up to you to choose. Some will spend an entire day driving a long loop, others will spend half an hour. That's great with me. Just show yourself well, with courtesy and aplomb.

Second, there shall be cake. We've had such a great showing with these tasty little billboards that it would be a shame to stop now! Again, uniqueness is the key! If you like cupcakes from a famous bakery, an elaborate Ursaab-shaped cake or a homemade cake that is made with lots of love, it doesn't matter. Suit yourself and treat yourself.

Third, there will be remembrance. Remember the shackles of ownership and remember the freedoms that we will enjoy. A moment of silence and pictures of Jan-Åke Jonsson and Rick Wagner may serve as reminders. Victor Muller, in his role as our own Simón Bolívar, should also be noted as the catalyst that brought our struggle to a close.

---------

In a note similar to Swade's giving up his 99 turbo, I believe that I've found a taker for the white 1988 900 convertible. I need the room in the driveway, believe me.

--------

Finally, your Saab moment of Zen, courtesy of Tommi and the Saab Club of Finland:

Recent Flickr photos to follow after the jump.

The deal is all but done and as customers, we've all got something to look forward to in terms of new vehicles to talk about and drive. Saab have a future and it seems with the right vision and the right people, the sky's the limit.

The immediate concern, of course, is getting cars produced and getting those cars out to dealerships so that they can be sold. I've already heard about one dealership this week in Europe who just sold their only Saab in stock - and that was one they had to get in from another dealership in their region!

Saab have several key markets that need to be re-stocked. They have some markets, key or otherwise, who haven't received new stock since around the middle of last year.

Beyond that, though, there are some dealers who are hurting even more.

I've heard from another dealership of more than 40 years standing who is in severe danger of closing its doors. As you might know, leasing was taken away from Saab customers as an option during 2009 as financiers thought Saab to be in to perilous a state to support. This move slashed new car sales for dealerships in most of Saab's bigger markets.

Following that there came another blow to dealers as lending groups stopped offering floorplan finance. This is the money that dealerships use to get new stock in the doors and keep it in the showroom until it sells. It takes a lot of money to stock a dealership and dealers in various parts of the world have been struggling to finance even the few vehicles that they've been able to carry.

Even though Saab is about to be purchased and ramp up production of all-new models under new ownership, things don't look like they're going to get easier too soon for some dealerships. Whilst big combined dealerships with multiple brands might have an easier time, some of the smaller dedicated Saab shops are really struggling.

One of the problems is that the banks, when assessing this type of finance, look at historical sales for the last three years or so. If you've been Saab-watching for some time, then you'll know that sales in the last two years have been down, most notably last year when they were down by around 60% globally. So for these smaller Saab-only shops, it's a real uphill battle to keep the doors open.

Beyond the dealerships, there are the employees that work for them. Some dealers have had to cut costs in order to keep the doors open and one way to cut costs is to cut staff. I'm sure it's a last resort as the right human resources are some of the most important resources any business can have. But it does happen.

Last week I heard from a guy in just that position. Greg Rockefeller has around 18 years experience working on Saabs and is a factory trained Saab master technician. He had to leave his employer recently because work was too slow for him to stay. He's now taking a chance and starting up his own shop (Rocks Automotive - 2345 16th St, Troy, NY 12180, ph# 518-274-1501).

------

These are just another group amongst a big pile of items on Victor Muller's desk, but they're big ones. Many of these dealerships and people are the heart and soul of what's known to be a dedicated brand. They've been struggling just to make it this far and the guys I heard from this week are in severe danger of being tripped up at the final hurdle, just as things are about to crank up again.

I really hope something can be sorted out soon, for the brand, these dealerships and their customers.

WooDz is one of our long-termers from the days of Trollhattan Saab. He's got a bit of a unique perspective on things given that he lives in Germany but it is an expat Brit. Oh, and he used to sell Saabs for a living, too, so he's pretty familiar with markets and customers, etc.

He's sent me a little ventitorial and I figured it'd be good to get out in the open.

------

There's a few things that have been going through my mind lately and it's now reached the point where I need to vent a little.

First up is OPEL and the recent news that Nick Reilly is convinced that GME OPEL can return to profit if they kill off 20% of their production and 10% of their workforce (not meaning they'll literally kill 10% of their workers, but.....you know....).

I can only guess that means 95% blue collar, hard grafting people and 5% white collar managers on 4 times the blue collar wage, who for the past year have endured a few bouts of RSI, churning out bar graphs and pie charts in true GM fashion, quite possibly showing the forecasted levels of 'Pi**ed-offedness' felt by Magna and the German government for each month they dragged their heels on the sale of said German company.

The Great Plan also consists of injecting 11 billion Euro and bringing 9 new models to market. Naturally this 11 billion isn't just for new models, it will also be used to improve OPEL's facilities, meaning the canteen will now offer latte and cappuccino as well as regular filtered coffee. Maybe that's where the nearly 3 billion Euros will go from requested government aid.

What confuses me, and maybe some of you would like to open my eyes to something I'm missing here, is why should the German government give 2.7 billion Euros in aid, when the result still leaves over 2,000 people in search of work? In January, 340,000 people registered for state benefits in Germany, pushing the total of unemployed, in one form or another, to over 10 million for this month.

How about OPEL cutting its production by 20%, cut off the dead wood in redundancy packages, stop 'crying wolf' to the EU and invest 8 billion Euros instead?

Even 8 billion Euros is an obscene amount of money. This is a company who couldn't find 500 million Euros to invest in a premium brand like SAAB each year. OPEL has 9 products and is looking to increase that by a further 3 new products. SAAB, on the other hand, should have at least 5 products. A Sub-Compact, A Compact, Mid-size Sedan/Estate, Over-sized Sedan/Estate and an SUV/MPV. If you want to give them names be my guest.

If GM had invested 4 billion Euros into SAAB I'm 100% convinced that SAAB's product wouldn't be in so much need of attention. This 11 billion Euros is just another reason why I am so happy to see SAAB finally setting off on another course and the quicker they can stop using GM components the better. I'd much rather see SAAB use Peugeot/Citroen as a supplier than have GM receive one more Euro of their money ........which brings me to the 9-4x.

I like the 9-4x, it fills a massive void in SAAB's product line-up. If you don't like SUVs then it's not going to be for you. However, please don't be all elitist and start spitting fire at the thought of a SAAB off-roader. If Porsche can have one, then any manufacturer can have one.

However, why on earth are we waiting until 2011 for this vehicle?

The concept debuted 2 years ago. It's production ready. What excuse does SAAB have not to launch the 9-4X sooner? Production costs? Shipping Costs? This is the beauty of the 9-4x. GM build it, SAAB slap on their margin, customer pays for it.

I know what you're think though. Marketing; we need flashy TV adverts. No we don't! TV is dead and expensive. Stick to print and online marketing.

So SAAB what are you waiting for? Place an order for 100 Units per month to get started and watch your demand rise to over a 1,000 units a month by the end of the year, without the need to discount them. Keep at least a 6 month waiting list as orders rise and see how well the residuals hold on the used car market. I'm not teaching these boys anything new, just reminding them that flooding the market with unsold cars is very bad for business.

With SAAB producing just 100 units per day they are in a very advantageous position over presumably all other manufacturers who are looking at cutting production and down-sizing. SAAB doesn't need to just right-size their vehicles - they can right-size their production too.

My hopes for SAAB are high but maybe, like many of you, I'm still getting over the fiasco of the last 15 months. I'm tired of all the what if's. I want to see some action, new products and I want to see them soon; not in summer and not in 2011.

Now's the time to capitalise on all the press coverage and launch a new model every 6 months, starting with the 9-5 sedan in March. If it can't be ordered, it can't be sold. If it can't be sold it's not earning you money.

Just remember you own advertising "The Time is Now!"

I'm positively as giddy as a schoolgirl with anticipation.

It occurred to me while writing a comment on Swade's last post that Saab will now have an opportunity to reinstate the European Delivery program that General Motors discontinued for good in 2008.

This is a double bonus from my point of view. First, Saab has historically had one of the best European delivery programs in the business. In round figures, a buyer picks the car up in Sweden after a night at one of the historic landmarks in Skane. A Saab training pro gives you a complete orientation on your new Saab and a tour of the factory and the Saab museum. You then have two weeks or so and an additional US$2000 to tour Europe in your brand-new Saab! You may then drop the car at one of the designated ports and fly home. Your Saab arrives at your dealership about a month later. I would expect no less from Saab this time around.

The potential second bonus just dawned on me: Spyker could also extend an invitation to visit their facilities and test drive a Spyker as a part of the deal. Would that not be amazing punctuation to your European dream vacation? Driving to the Netherlands in your new Saab only to transfer to a Spyker super car for your laps on the track? I'd say that's a package!!! Even if it were optional or at slightly higher cost it would be worth it to me.

What else, if anything, would you want in such a package? Could this really get much better? Hmmm.... new Saab, trip to Sweden, visit the Saab museum, drive a Spyker. Nope, I can't improve on that one. That would pretty much work for me. I guess that I could ask for a quick spin in UrSaab, but I don't think that's going to happen. I'm sure that some of you have ideas, so comment away.

Footnote: For me, personally, this is the way to get my wife on board with the idea of buying a new 9-5. For her, buying a new car -- meh. Getting a huge trip to Europe in the deal -- she's totally in.

TheReferenceCouncil.com, a website previously unknown to me, brings us a nice, breezy little read on the general history of Saab entitled "Nulla tenaci invia est via - the story of Saab" Our own Steven Wade is noted as "Swade, head of the one and only saabsunited.com, the #1 only-resource for anything that is connected to the Griffin". True indeed.

-----------

Also a pleasant read, although filled with somewhat anachronistic stereotypes about the "typical" North American Saab owner, Meghan Daum's column opines that Wine, cheese, infidelity, and Saabs are linked for many Saab owners. She's got a bit of a point, but I'll not believe that most of us fall into the categories or behavior that she's described. You be the judge.

------------

Venerable automotive magazine Car & Driver have this to say in their mention of the upcoming Saab line-up under new owner Spyker:

This is Going to Be Very Interesting

For Saab-philes, the brand's acquisition by Spyker was the best possible scenario. (Of course, when the alternative was Saab's swift death, any scenario was better simply by default.) But it remains to be seen just how fruitful Saab can be under the care of an eccentric outfit with experience building cars by the dozens, not by the hundreds of thousands. The future of Saab rests on Saab Spyker operating as the very antithesis of GM, which couldn't think small enough to preserve the beloved Swedish marque's trademark quirkiness, the only real distinction among its competition. The decision to revive the hatchback was a good start; let's see where things go from there.

The emphasis in the middle of the paragraph is mine, and, as chief General Motors apologist here at SaabsUnited, even I have to recognize that statement is true. GM's "careless stewardship" of Saab is recognized pretty widely these days.

-------------

From Denis@ on Flickr comes this fantastic image of a Sonett III negotiating the recent Monte Carlo Historic Rally 2010. Wow!

There's a comment in tonight's site statistics post that I wanted to bring to the front page here because, quite naturally, it's been something that's been on my mind - for a number of years, in fact.

Good indeed, but this is just the start! We shall now concentrate on the future. How to collect all this enormous interest in SAAB and its future, how to generate as much power in making the new setup a success. There all friends we can make some impact on the car history helping SAAB out to the market and get the 100 000 cars sold out there! Are you ready? I am!

The essence of this - how do Saab capture and build on the enormous interest generated by the story of their sale?

It's clear that there's a big, engaged and motivated audience out there for Saab, so what do they need to do in order to turn those interested people (you, and others) into customers again?

First, of course, they've got to build product. This is the car industry we're talking about and you can have all the hype, bells and whistles that you can buy, but at the end of the day it's all about the product.

Then they need to market that product, and as I've believed for a long time now, the internet can play a large role in that task.

There should be no illusions about me writing this piece here on the site. Would I be interested in participating in such an exercise? Absolutely! I've always been interested in doing that.

This is a big area of interest for me as a blogger and I have a bunch of ideas about how Saab could build on the goodwill generated in the last few months. I've written about them numerous times in the past but one huge obstacle in implementing any of them was the GM corporate presence and culture. With that about to become a thing of the past, there's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Saab to step in at a time when there is already momentum there.

It's up to Saab, however.

Victor Muller is a guy who understands marketing. The Spyker Cars website is true to the brand's image, well presented and well organised. There's even a spy-cam that can be used for customers to watch their car being assembled. Spyker owners have created a forum that whilst small in number, has a passionate following. These people love their brand.

Something as personal as a build-cam might be a bit more difficult at a bigger company like Saab, but that sort of personal approach is definitely the right direction. Create some engagement, some participation.

Studies have shown that Saab owners are more inclined to be interested in their cars and the company that builds them in comparison to the owners of other marques. Why not give them the facility to act on it, in direct contact with the organisation?

------

You're the customer.

What would you like to see? What sort of presence would you be inclined to engage with and perhaps share with your friends and colleagues?

It seems this is a night for getting things off my chest....

I just wanted to put together a quick defence, however unnecessary, of the Saabs we have today and the Saabs we will have for the next few years.

There is a small but persistent thread of thinking out there in the internets that is willing to write off Saab's current crop of models because Saab is still associated - and will be for some time - with General Motors.

Quite frankly, it's elitist and it's just plain crap.

As a Saab enthusiast, I'm accustomed to some accusations of elitism. I do think Saab cars are better than others because of a vehicle philosophy I understand and believe in. But there is a line.

I'm as keen as anyone for Saab to be carved out and separated from General Motors, but that's not to say that there's no Saab design integrity in the models we have now or the models we will have until the next generation of the 9-3 range arrives.

Yes, there are things I'd like to change in both the Saab 9-3 and the new Saab 9-5. Yes, GM did go too far with parts sharing and yes, Saab's DNA has been diluted somewhat over the last 20 years.

But the one thing you can say for GM is that some time in the recent past, they realised the error of their ways. If I was to nail it down to a particular year, I'd say it was late in 2004 or early in 2005. If it weren't for what GM did at that time, there's a reasonable chance that we wouldn't even have a Saab to celebrate today.

What GM did back at that time was make a decision. That decision was to actually take a conscious look at Saab, shake some trees and make a conscious investment in the brand.