Saab of North Olmsted has just opened their new building – the first new Saab Unlimited building to open since the company was purchased by Spyker Cars.
In honour of a deal made with Dealer Principal Bernie Moreno at the Saab Owner’s Convention last year (“you build it and I’ll come to the opening”), Victor Muller flew in to Ohio from Europe to attend the opening function.
Our mate Ted Y was there and he’s uploaded the following video from the event:
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6_myIwn5d4
——
Here’s the exterior of the new building, from the dealership website:
——
Ted’s thoughts from the evening:
I just attended the grand opening of Saab of North Olmsted which you posted about mid-February.
Victor Muller is a classy guy. He had to be suffering from jet lag, having just arrived from Europe, but he was very gracious and approachable. I had printed out a Saabsunited page from January 6, 2010 which had my picture at the Detroit Save Saab rally, hoping for an autograph on it. He wrote “Dear Ted, Thank you for your support when it really mattered. Victor Muller Cleveland March 10, 2011”. He posed for photos with anybody that asked (including me) and gave a very great speech.
I also received an email from Greg F, a new Saab 9-5 owner who attended the opening.
I got to attend the Grand Opening of Saab’s new prototype storefront at Saab of North Olmsted tonight and it was awesome! They have an extremely impressive floor plan (very modern) and had all the Saabs on display, including the new 9-4x in white! They also had one area focused on a Spyker car, which I think is a great idea. I would think that these types of storefronts will really sell more Saabs and bring “new people” to the Saab line! I am extremely glad that Bernie Moreno had the vision and the money to invest in this new dealership.
I also was lucky enough to meet and talk with Victor Muller and he was really fun to talk with! I really enjoyed hearing him so enthusiastically talk about the future of Saab – makes me even more glad that I purchased a 2010 Saab 9-5 Aero!!
I think that Saab’s future is looking promising and they will come back in the USA!!!!
It’s great to hear that the opening night was a success and kudos again to Bernie Moreno and the staff at North Olmsted for having the courage and vision to build this new dealership.
I had the pleasure of attending, also. As Greg F said, it is an impressive design and if there are more like this to come, I could see them grabbing the attention of “new people”. It was a fun event with decent live music, great food, and of course Victor Muller was, as always (or at least the two times I’ve met him), quite approachable and is quite optimistic about things to come. Things are looking promising!
Great!! Would love to see even more photos of the interior now. 🙂
Wow, that seem to be a fantastic good looking showroom. Interior pics, please?
Cheers from Norway!
-Olav-
Always on the longest road home when out there with my SAAB. Always!
Agreed.
That is truly a fantastic looking dealership. When one invests this much in a dealership, I would only expect top notch service from them. This must be a focus point for Saab, and I’m glad they plan on reducing the dealerships around the US (the crappy ones).
Done RedJ 😉
Thanks RedJ!
That building looks absolutely fantastic – so clean, fresh, and modern looking – what a Saab building should look like.
I’m extremely impressed with VM to do what he did, again. Hand him a podium or a microphone seems to be like switching the ‘on’ button! He really gives a damn and it shows – he never has an ‘off’ day – I hope he takes it easy too in his spare time, as all these commitments and travel must take their toll. But well done VM, and well done Saab of North Olmsted.
Christ! That is one marvelous building! White, clean lines, large windows and a set of great looking cars inside. It’s actually quite unusual to see just Saab cars in a dealership, that is what makes this so special, one dealership with one brand being sold!
Oh wait, I can see a Spyker! A blue one in the right corner, verily awesome! Love those cars, I really do hope that Spyker Cars still can in some way be connected to Saab like this more widespread, even after the sale of the sports car section of Spyker N.V.
Good times! 😀
I was another lucky one who got to attend the opening. It was a real pleasure to talk to Vic and get a sense of his enthusiasm for the Saab brand. He was kind enough to sign my Saab magazine also! It was great to hear that the owner of Collection Auto Group had not originally intended for this building to be a Saab dealership. So kudos to him as well!
Some interior shots at Saab of North Olmsted:
http://www.flickr.com/x/t/0097009/photos/[email protected]/sets/72157626243662394/
Unfortunately, I didn’t take nearly enough, and this doesn’t show how well attended the opening was. Nor does it show the showroom very well, but it gives some idea. I omitted Victor posing with me. I am just not photo-worthy. They started the C8 Laviolette once, but I couldn’t get my camera switched to video mode fast enough to catch that. 🙁
Great pictures Ted!
Thanks for sharing, so how was the Spyker’s engine sound?
😀
Sound? Powerful and raw. I was on the wrong side of the showroom when they fired it up. For a second, I thought I was track-side, then dropped my papers and ran, but got there too late to see or record it.
Forgot to mention, when I logged on to Flickr, it gretted me with “Hej saabyurk!
Now you know how to greet people in Swedish!”
Is it psychic?
TED: I’m guessing it must have been you who let me borrow a pen for an autograph and swapped photo-taking favors. Thank you!
Yup, that was me. I was wondering how many other Saabsunited followers might be there, but with me clueless who they were. Nice to meet you.
I will become a new member of the Saab family tomorrow. I am purchasing my 9-3 Aero convertible at North Olmstead Saab. I visited there right after the car show, before they had any furniture in the building! I’m looking forward to the car, and to being part of the community.
If I had this dealer down the block from my house, life would be just about perfect!
The things one wishes for…