I know there’s a cynical crowd out there who thing that the leaking of those 2010 Saab 9-5 photos was a ploy concocted by Saab to generate some interest and enthusiasm.
I don’t know how to convince you about this, but I’ll try.
I can tell you first of all from my own brief email communication with Eric Geers yesterday that he was not too happy about it. Later, he was a little more resigned to the fact that they were out there and there was little that could be done, but initial reactions were not positive, to say the least.
Second, Allt om Motor have a brief piece about the exposé today. This is the most interesting paragraph (and thanks to Carl-Henrik for the translation!)
– We had a written confirmed date with the photographers that had our permission to take photos of the new model. An agreement that was clearly broken. What’s going to happen now, we don’t know. But there will be no photos until we release them. On the other hand we’re happy with the excitement the photos has created on the Internet, says Gunilla Gustavs.
What Gunilla is talking about here are the photographers who were invited to Trollhattan to do photoshoots for their own publications. Other magazines like Autocar, AMS and others were all there too last week, and are all subject to the same embargo date (in late August).
Autobild threw caution to the wind and put their images online whilst the others have honored the embargo, which is why you don’t see any photos up at Auto Motor and Sport right now – Saab contacted them, asked them to remove the initial images and honor the date set, which they’ve done.
If you’re still skeptical, then ask yourself this. If I’m Auto Motor and Sport (or any one of the other publications) what do I have to gain by allowing Saab to do a sweetheart deal with Auto Zeitung or Autobild?
Saab are taking this punch on the chin, but it’s one that should never have been thrown.
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As an aside, Allt om Motor also give some print space to my idea of Saab taking charge of their own releases via a dedicated website for fans and media.
It’s nice to see the idea getting just a little traction.
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