We’ve been wondering about the situation in Canada for some time. It seems some concrete information has hit the news.
I’d expect this to be a template for other Saab markets outside of the US, Sweden and Great Britain. And I expect we might here similar announcements for other unresolved markets soon, too.
Saab, one of four brands being jettisoned or sold by General Motors Co., will continue in Canada under new ownership and a smaller dealer network, Canadian dealers say.
Saab Cars North America plans to hook up with distributor International Fleet Sales Inc. of San Leandro, Calif., to import Saab vehicles into Canada, said Chris Budd, who owns Budd’s Saturn Saab in Oakville, Ont.
“It’s going to be a pretty simple operation in Canada with a fairly small organization and we will leverage the U.S. operations for much of the hard-core stuff like marketing and advertising,” Mr. Budd said.
The network will consist of 12 to 14 dealerships in major metropolitan markets across the country, Mr. Budd said, with dealers operating standalone stores or linking with other existing franchises.
The full story is available over at the Globe and Mail, but those are the basics.
It’s really good to see a resolution to this situation, and one that won’t see the dealership base pared down too much from where it is right now. It’s still a small base, but it’s a start.
International Fleet Sales Inc are a vehicle export company that currently facilitate the sale of GM North American vehicles into overseas markets. As such, they should be familiar with GM’s systems, as are Canada’s Saab dealers. This should make for a smoother transition.
Hopefully my old mate Bill Convery in Vancouver’s still going to be spinning yarns to customers for some time to come.
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