Top 2010 Saab Dealers Announced

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Today Saab Cars North America issued a release listing their “Top Ten” US dealers for 2010. Those with some math acumen will note a dozen names on the list due to ties, as indicated with a T. What struck me as I looked the list is where these dealers are from. The traditional hotbed of Saab activity in the US has been the northeast, yet only two dealers were from New England. Two dealers from New Jersey, one in Virginia and one from Pennsylvania sounds about right, but none from New York? None from Connecticut, their former headquarters location? The Michigan dealers have been strong since the GM days, so no surprise there.

To me, the big surprise was to see THREE dealers from Ohio. Great job, Ohio! Also, to see a Florida dealer gives me hope that Saab need not be an automotive colloquialism.

And the winners are……

TOP 10 IN THE U.S
Charles River Saab, Watertown, MA
Saab of Troy, Troy, MI
JMK Saab Inc. Springfield, NJ
Saab of North Olmsted, North Olmsted, OH
General Sales Saab, West Chester, PA
Saab of Bedford, Bedford, OH T
Herb Chambers Saab, Boston, MA T
Saab of Tampa, Tampa, Fl
Glassman Saab, Southfield, MI
International Motors Ltd, Falls Church, VA T
Reinertsen Motors, Denville,NJ T
Just Saab Cincinnati, OH

——

Hi all. Swade here.

I just want to take a moment to welcome Pierre into the SU family. Anyone who’s had anything to do with Swedish Day in Boston, or Charles River Saab, has probably come across Pierre at some stage.

After reading a number of his excellent posts at the CRS blog, I just had to invite him to share his thoughts here on SU when the urge takes him.

Please make him feel welcome.

41 thoughts on “Top 2010 Saab Dealers Announced”

  3. So saab sells well in Detroit, Cleveland, Dayton(?), Tampa, Boston, NY and Philly.

    I’m not worried about NYC. I would be worried about California….

    You see a lot of Saabs in detroit, and a lot of people like them.

    • “I’m not worried about NYC.”

      Well you should be.

      Time was there were 3 or 4 SAAB dealers in NYC…and ALL were selling a lot of cars. Now…there is ONE…in Brooklyn.

      Not a market to take lightly.

    • You won’t be seeing alot in Detroit anymore. Two years before the sale to Spyker, G.M. shut down access to the G.M. employee buying program. With that program you could buy anything for 4% below dealer invoice cost plus any available rebates or dealer cash.One of the last 9-7x’s I delivered back in 2008 listed at Approximately $42,500……with the GM Employee price, owner loyalty and dealer cash,the customer paid UNDER $22,000!!!! You could save $8,000 off the first Turbo-X we ever received.

      • Jeizus! Is this true? No wonder Saab reported a loss of $2.000/car sold for so long. GM execs really screwed Saab over (cheap premium cars for their spouses?). Which brings us back to the incentives programs. If we find out later that Europeans ended up subsidizing these US discounts (MY11.5 and onwards) something will hit the fan big time on this side of the pond.
        Sorry for the negativity, last year was just too much of a wake up call of the situation and practices carried out in NA under Detroit ”leadership”.

        PS. Malware warning popping up if you click on SAABLANCE

        • NYC is still selling in the suburban markets (NJ) . That’s why I am not worried.

          Detroit did have a lot of incentives, and it was popular, and it bought saab some new fans (mrs. henderson). clearly, some are still buying.

  5. I knew that I see a lot of Saabs every day but I didn’t expect 2 of the top 10 to be within an hour of me. That’s great but I want the rest of the world to be highly Saab populated too.

  6. #10 should be ‘Just Saab of Cincinnati’.

    We’re all part of the same family so not to take anything away from our Dayton location…

    AJ Murphy
    Just Saab

    • Just Saab has a wonderful website with plenty of Saab photos both new Saabs and used Saabs.

      Just a thought.

      • And a “destination” sales & service floor facility where the “staff” will not let you ignore them nor leave without a test drive.

  7. Having bought a 9-3 from JMK last week, I can say that Andy and the rest of the crew are great to work with.

  9. General Sales in West Chester Pa.! That would be John Carter, a regular on SU. Congrats John. Considering you guys have not been aorund that long with Saab, 10-12 years? That is a great job, and a lesson for others, You have to build your customer base everyday, not rest on it. You guys did it the hard way!
    Chris

      • I’m not sure who you are, or whom you work for, but considering what you have just said in front of the whole Saab world, you sir, should identity yourself so that others can judge from hence your opinions come.
        I stand by my statement about John. I do not work for these people, in fact I live 2500 miles from their location, and I have no financial interest in them. John has been very kind to both myself, and my family, in past Saab dealings. John is a true enthusiuast, having purchased an old style 95 wagon for his wife during the past year. Take care in your postings, and do not rely on hearsay, this could bring you to grief in the long run.
        Chris Hansel Sr.

        • There ,now you have my name,if you would like I can provide you with the name of the Sales-Person who had this experience. I did not pass an opinion, I reported an incident that took place. My experience in Saab sales in the Philadelphia Market encompassed 15 plus years.Make of that what you wish. It was’nt sour grapes as I have since left Saab.The years from 2008-2009 were impossible to make a living at a stand alone SAAB store.We still tried to sell cars the right way even when we might only speak to two people a week…..sell value,sell the Dealership,sell your experience and product knowledge…..not try and buy business by just whipping out an invoice and pointing to dealer cost .You state you live 2,500 miles away from General Sales, I worked 17 miles from General Sales.I think I have more experiential knowledge to draw from. I have a long history of posting on SAABS UNITED ….it’s current and previous iterations.I’ve owned three Saabs. I consistently posted nothing but praise and pride in the brand. My posts took a different tenor when the ineptitude of GM and subsequently the first North American regime under Spyker became abundantly obvious.

  11. Kudo’s to all making The List!

    In no position to Play Favourites (never mind living 500 miles away, and across the border to boot!) but I must say I was extremely impressed by the North Olmsted Group at the North American Saab Owners Convention this past July in Aurora Ohio and that they sponsored a Technical Assistance Tent. A very patient Master Mechanic by the name of Mike Lee took time to peek under the hood of the Turbo X and suggested some measures in respect of ‘Negative Fuel Trim’ and offered to explore further next time I was in The Area. The weather (and my schedule) conspire against Going South with Her right now but I might take him up come Spring.

    • Yes, if I remember correctly all three of those Ohio dealers had some presence at the Saab Owners Convention. Glad to see they benefited from it!

      (And NTP, they were also nice to us as we took the 9-5 Aero out for that test drive around Aurora….even if we could not put it through all its paces on city roads. 🙂 )

  12. Congrats to all…

    Great to see Pierre here. I’ve loved all of his posts on the CRS Blog, and his ones about the 9-5’s interior and its wood trim should be required reading at Saab HQs. Relatives of my wife’s who live in Boston always have a Saab in their driveway. They’ve been tempted to buy other brands, but the experience at CRS always keeps them coming back.

  13. Welcome to our ‘sandbox’ Pierre. I really enjoy reading the CRS Blog and look forward to ypur sharing your opinions and advice here.

  15. While not mentioned but perhaps implied, this list is based on sales for 2010 and no other attributes.

  16. International Motors (I believe now named International Saab) in Falls Church serves metro Washington, DC. There’s also VOB in Rockville and a dealer in Baltimore. DC is a decent Saab market. I stopped by recently to see the 9-5 and they had quite an abundance of various models.

  17. “…but none from New York?”

    Doesn’t surprise me. At least not for the Long Island Market. Two of the three dealers in this market are horrible. I’d sooner send someone to a BMW dealer, than have people deal with these dirt bags. And this is a market with over 4 million people.

    Sad…but true. And not good for SAAB.

      • Yeah, Saab Dude, I’d like to know that too.
        On the other hand, we’re not supposed to bash Saab dealers here. People always take better not of the negative than the positive, unfortunately.
        There was one Saab dealer here on Long Island that I would call truly horrible, but they are not selling Saabs anymore. There were 2 other dealers that simple didn’t seem to have any interest in the brand. They are still Saab dealers (I think) but didn’t have any stock. I wouldn’t call them dirt bags, though. The one on the South fork that stopped selling Saabs, I have a couple of other nice names for, but why bother.

  19. I bought my used 2005 93 vert from JMK over the internet, e-bay. I must say, I was really nervous about buying a car site unseen, but I got a cracking good price and the car was really a pristine, lady owned vehicle, way better than I expected. Thanks JMK, I love that car! On another note, it was interesting for me to see that my closest dealer (orlando) is no longer listed as a dealer on the new SAAB USA site when I do a dealer search. Well, I must say that while they did do a great job with trying to do there best, I got the feeling that they where kinda clueless to the whole SAAB psyche ( Cadillac mechanics working on a SAAB, eek). Well, they did try hard, but I don’t think there hearts where in it. And that’s the point, I think a SAAB dealer has got to really get where SAAB is and was coming from ( doing things differently, because it works better that way, not because its easy or simple). So, I understand the culling. When I have to explain to the mechanic how the “Easy entry” feature (converts only have this) is supposed to work, that’s probably not a good thing.

  20. SAAB of North Olmsted is excellent. I live in Columbus and would never do business with Midwestern Auto Group (MAG). Their selection of SAAB cars is very sparse.

  21. Congrats to Saab of Tampa!
    As a resident of Tampa Bay I’m not too surprised that they are on this list. There are more northerners here than Floridians, particularly New Yorkers. I’m originally from Brooklyn so I’m included..
    I’m concerned about New York not being on this list. That is the largest U.S. city and the media capital. Having a larger presence there would critical to Saab’s growth. Just the amount of people alone is reason enough. Well in my opinion anyway.

  27. Swade, you chose to redact my post. Please feel free to contact me if you feel you have an issue with me,though that may be an obvious conclusion.

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