Arild has been kind enough to send me this full translation of an article covering the Saab 9-3x winning car of the year, according to the people’s vote, in Norway.
Again, it’s good to see both the Dagbladet newspaper and the Saab organisation in Norway acknowledging the massive following Saab had on the internet. Their good humour in reporting it is also appreciated.
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“The whole world” voted for Saab
Enthusiasts worldwide voted Saab as “the people’s winner” in the Car of the Year Competition in Norway.
(Dagbladet): A powerful mobilization of Saab enthusiasts from the brands biggest fan site – www.saabsunited.com – ended in a crushing victory for the crisis struck brand in the poll part of the car of the year.
The distance down to the silver winner – Mercedes E-class – was more than 5000 votes.
– People have a “passion” for Saab that is absolutely unique. We notice it on people from all over the world. We get inquiries from both the U.S. and Australia from people who wonder what will happen with Saab, says public relations and information officer at General Motors Norway, Anita Svanes.
Entered the field
A jury – which naturally takes into account the vote numbers, but which nevertheless is sovereign – will determine which car ends up as the car of the year in Norway. The result can be read this coming Tuesday.
We in the newspaper Dagbladet have noticed the past week that Saab has many extraordinarily enthusiastic supporters. In connection with the issues surrounding the brand’s future, investors with among others Norwegian Bård Eker and not least the participation of the Saab 9-3X in the Car of the Year competition, the enthusiasts really have entered the field.
Small brand
But that more than 10 000 of them would stop by Dagbladet’s web site to vote the Saab 9-3 as the car of the year in Norway, is more than even the biggest fan could dream of. And it was some kind of dream. But the statutes do not say that one can not vote the car of the year in Norway from abroad. And that is precisely what has happened.
We in the newspaper Dagbladet were also a little curious about how a relatively small brand could crush the other big favourites in this way. It appears that the Saab enthusiasts from around the world have voted for their favourite. Many of them have also left compliments to the photographer Krister Sørbø, who has taken the trollish images of the Saab 9-3X at Tryvann.
Enjoyed themselves
In mid-October, it was published a post on the fan site that the Saab 9-3X was in competition to be the car of the year – with a link to Dagbladet’s voting page and the post encouraged readers to vote. The following week it was published regular updates that showed how the Saab climbed on the charts. In recent weeks, the Saab enthusiasts have enjoyed themselves with the fact that no one could catch up with the Saab 9-3X in the vote.
– It has not been done anything particularly to mobilize so many. But the Saab people are very active on the Internet, on blogs and various forums, so the news that they can vote for the car of the year has spread, Anita Svanes says.
She is a little touched by the involvement.
– The Saab people are like a big family. There is so much enthusiasm and love for the brand. And for foreigners Trollhättan and Scandinavia is very exotic, says Svanes
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My thanks again to Arild for the translation and to several others for the heads-up via email. Much appreciated.
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