Thursday Snippets

It’s with a tinge of sadness and no small amount of fanfare that I have to acknowledge the conclusion to Etienne’s work over at Saablog-in.

Etienne started his blog around the same time that I started Trollhattan Saab, maybe even a little earlier. Either way, we’ve been at this caper around the same amount of time. All that time, he’s been keeping an exhausting schedule of attending Saab events all over Europe from his base in Huy, Belgium.

Saab fans all over the continent would be familiar with the flamboyant and always-smiling Belgian, who’s now chosen to take some time off and leave Golfhunter in charge of the Saablog-in website.

Etienne will still be attending events, which is great to hear.

Congratulations, mate, on a wonderful blogging enterprise full of encouragement and great fun for Saab enthusiasts in Europe. And good luck to Golfhunter as he carries the torch forward.

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Pierre Belperron, service manager at Charles River Saab, shares some reflections on his 10 years in the job at the CRS blog.

It’s great reading and gives a great perspective on the challenges of being in the dealership business right now. It’s a tough business, especially when cars are more reliable than ever. Dealers used to rely on service and parts for their cashflow and profits, but that revenue stream has thinned over the last few years and dealers really need to be on top of their game to have a healthy business.

As Matthias Siedl pointed out a few days ago, Saab needs a healthy and profitable dealer network, which to my mind means that all dealers who want to stay part of it will have to offer the best service and facilities they possibly can.

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For Saab historians, the former Saab-Valmet plant at Uusikaupunki that made Saabs for many years (including my old Viggen) produced the Fisker Karma shown at the Geneva Motor Show. Fisker has a contract with Valmet for another 6 years.

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Word has just filtered through via email from SUHRT’s Jorgen Trued that Vladimir Antonov has purchase Bowler Offroad.

If you’re not familiar with Bowler Offroad, they currently make the Nemisis. A rather extreme offroader….this should be a decent intro:

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3Ismn3IWck

I haven’t seen any official news on this, but it’s interesting to say the least.

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Here’s a great Geneva graphic, found at Autoblog. Head there for a link to a giant full-res version.

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And on a totally unSaaby note – Chuck Norris has just turned 71 (inside out with fear)

He’s currently assembling 71 nuclear reactors on a cake, which he will proceed to blow out like candles with nothing but the wind generated from his lightning fists.

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