Yesterday I offered up our first SU question and answer session and there were a (small-ish) number of questions posed, so here are the answers as best I can answer them.
We might try this again in a few weeks….
——
On a normal weekday, how many hours do you spend working on this blog?
Probably around five hours or so. An hour or two in the mornings and three or more at night whilst doing dinner, family stuff, TV. I have a very understanding wife.
—
Do you feel like a king walking down the streets in your home town?
Nope. I feel old, overweight and cold. It’s nice to switch on the computer and get amongst more friends, though. A sign of the world we live in?
—
I read the latest “Saab 7 dagar” which is an internal mag for saab empolyees. [Eric] Geers was talking about future PR technics and general customer communications. He said the formal corporate press release still has some values but he is looking into new channels of releasing news. Interesting stuff and I thought about you and SU…….How can we, as readers, make it happen? How can we help you?
I don’t know if, nor how, you could possibly help. I’ve said for a while now that I’d love to see Saab get more involved in social media and connect more directly with their customers and yes, I’d love to be a part of that.
The decision to get involved has to come from within. The popularity of sites like this one, Saabnet, Saab Central and Saab History (and plenty of others) shows that there’s a level of involvement in the Saab community that’s quite high compared to their sales numbers. These may not necessarily be new customers for Saab, but they’re ones that they definitely want to retain. I’ve heard enough through my inbox to show that TS and SU have helped people buy for the first time, too.
All I need to keep on going is a story to tell and a good environment to tell it.
—
I guess you have answered this before, but I was wondering what led you into liking Saab?
It all started with a drive in a Saab 9000 into Philip Island…….
—
A few months back I put a question about ECU upgrades for the Turbo X and wanting to see comparisons or feedback on how BSR and Hirsch, Abbotts compared etc’ I just saw Robbodog did respond with comment on his BSR but is there a section dedicated to this topic?
No there isn’t, but that’s a great idea.
I’ll try and compile that information in the next little while, though it will probably be just for recent model cars.
—
Do you have any (relatively accurate) information about how far away a signed deal between GM/Saab/K-egg might be?
I’d happily make a well-educated guess that a deal will be signed between GM and Koenigsegg in the next week and a half for the sale of Saab. The announcement may come from Saab at the Saab Days gathering in Trollhattan this week, but if it doesn’t, it shouldn’t be more than a week or so later than that.
That Saab Ads post, is it really a poll about how many active readers you’ve got on the site or something similar? 🙂 I just can’t help but reading something more into it than the post says. Btw, wouldn’t it be a great motif for a t-shirt?
I understand in these time of high drama and Saab intrigue why you’d think that way, but “no”, it was nothing more than an effort to get a great poster/advert out to people who wanted it.
I have stats that I publish here monthly that tell me how many people are stopping by.
Agreed on the T-shirt idea, though it may have to be a smaller (i.e. less models) version to make sense on the T-shirt.
Does it look like that NG9-5 test drive will happen now? In which case, do you know when? I would LOVE to read about that.
This relates to the possibility of me travelling to Sweden to test drive the new Saab 9-5 when it comes out. I don’t know if that’s still a possibility or not. It’s certainly something I’d discussed with them earlier in the year, but then I went and released the CGI’s.
I hope it’s still on the agenda as I can’t wait to get back to Trollhattan, but I understand that this is Saab’s show and they have the right to run it how they choose.
Do your neighbours know what you’re up to?
Perhaps the question should be do I know what my neighbors are up to?????
—
With all the shakeups within GM, what has become of the GME design group and specifically Anthony Lo? Do we know this yet?
I haven’t heard any specifics yet. Saab’s design presence was pretty small in Sweden, led by Simon Padian. From what I understand, the vast bulk of work on the 9-3 and 9-5 has been done in Russelsheim with a lot of the 9-4x work done in the US.
I’ve had passing chats with some people in Russelsheim over the last few months and the prevailing thought seemed to be that whilst Saab were a very desireable company to work for, the relative lack of long term security may be a factor in deciding against it.
Also, designers love their design surroundings, so Saab might have to build a decent design studio to attract the talent. I’m sure they’ll have no trouble convincing Bard Eker of the need for this. Perhaps the Eker Design people might take a prominent role in Saab’s future (I just hope they’ve got enough automotive experience if that’s the case).
—
Is it true Jose is really Pablo Escobar in disguise?
I’ve never seen them in the same room together, so maybe……
Then again, I don’t think anyone sees Escobar in any rooms anymore, do they?
—
Whats going on with Cadel Evans on LeTour? Lance Armstrong is giving him more support than his own team it seems.
Crap team that had a crap time trial. I haven’t seen much of the tour since.
Why didn’t Australia win the first test at Cardiff?
Our captain’s a dud. Great batsman, great Tasmanian, dud strategist.
How many people now need to apologise to Mark Webber for all the rude comments they’ve made over the years?
I dunno. Presumably heaps. I’m just glad Tasmania could play its part in forging his character with a leg break earlier this year.
Ah, swade, I feel so much better knowing that you can answer all these things.
You’re not helping the credibility of this exercise, you know, Pete…..
——
Now you’ve got a feel for this, maybe you’ll have a question or two for next time.
Please save it for then, and I’ll open up an invite in a few weeks from now.
Thanks to this week’s group of inaugural questioners.
Comments are closed.