What do Jason Castriota, the new 9-3, and a milkman have in common?
All three appear in my snippets.
I don’t know if milkmen in the Netherlands have always had good taste, or if Victor has negotiated a new contract with the Dutch milk industry, but this milkman has really good taste.
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7oe7r-p6Rw
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Jason Castriota has been chosen as one of the hundred top creative people in business by the Fast Company magazine.
He is number 69 in that list, but as I’m very ignorant and haven’t heard of any one in that list, is OK for me.
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Spyker has published a presentation for the Annual shareholders meeting tomorrow. It is funny as on every page it reads Confidential but is freely available on the net.
Nevertheless on page 9 it talks about the Product Strategy & Portfolio.
The first item on that list reads:
- All new 9-3 generation in 3 models (HB, Conv, X) replacing heavy face-lift of current 9-3
We knew that the 9-3 would come out in a hatch back and convertible body style from the start plus a third (till now unknown) body style.
Well, now we know that X will be the third body style. And I understand X as in 9-3X.
The guy who loaded this presentation on the interwebs might get a call right now…
What do they mean with “heavy face-lift of current 9-3”.
It hasn´t been face-lifted that much, has it? Will there be another face-lift before we see the NG9-3?
Didn´t think there were enough time for that?
While you may not consider the Griffin a heavy facelift, Saab does 😉
This is one LOUSY presentation… Saab sure builds great cars, but they do some of the world’s worst PPTs. I’ve read the infobox on my cereal for comparison, and it was much more informative, involving and inspiring.
For some reason, there is another presentation here:
http://www.spykercars.nl/download/investor/Spyker_Annual_Shareholders_meeting_2011.pdf
Yeah, that’s the one with, umm, ample potential for improvement. I have the impression all the numbers it contains are 9-3, 9-5 and dates.
And then it was gone…the file and link are still valid, but it’s been removed from the page.
I copy and pasted the wrong link, my bad. I didn’t press control-C the second time I guess. JH has the right one. 🙂 RedJ definitely let the cat out of the bag on this one, wowzers.
By and large, I’d say Fast Company’s list of the top 100 creative people in business is pretty good.
The milkman video? It’s a yawn, in my opinion!
I’ve only watched the first 17 seconds of that video 😉
???
Removal of high-margin Electrical & Hybrid vehicles in later years (2016 – 2017)
???
Zo Saab will only have hybrids & electric cars for a couple of years?
(line is from the presentation)
I would read that more as “High-cost” so Hybrid EV’s and EREVs will remain part of SAAB’s future product range only cheaper and more efficient.
Let´s hope you´r right about this. 🙂
You think? You might expect that a company like Saab/Spyker knows the difference between high-margin and high-cost…
They aren’t amateurs (I hope).
Perhaps more relevant to the current situation than is mentioned in that document or this post is Victor’s statement to Ola Kinnander of Bloomberg News:
We all know what Victor’s been doing publicly as he’s been running around trying to get short term funding secured, but what do you suppose Vladimir has been up to behind the scenes? Besides advising Victor on those deals, he’s certainly been working on the next step– disposing of the EIB loan and lining up a new commercial lending facility to replace it. Let’s hope that these past 6 weeks add up to a new solution quick.
So it seems tentatively the next-gen 9-3 will only be in hatchback (3-dr ?), convertible and an all-road wagon (9-3X).
Seems to parallel what Volvo has done (eliminated V70, keeping only XC70) and Subaru (eliminated Legacy wagon, keeping Outback wagon). At least in N. America.
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I wish I had a BFF dude like Antonov. And that amount of $ wouldn’t hurt neither 😉
Volvo still has the V70, and it´s selling in great numbers.
In an interview (video) with JC (the new designer) he said that the third version of the new 9-3 will be somthing totally new. 🙂
Exactly Audun, don’t assume that the 9-3X is going to be like an XC70 😉
We used to think that the government (and EIB) does nothing because they want Saab to fail. Here’s another take: maybe they just want Saab to go and get a loan somewhere else. The government because they don’t want to risk taxpayer’s money (as they obviously think the do right now) and the EIB because Saab is a customer that is moves fast and therefore causes much work.
Exactly what I suspect too. They want as little to do with Saab at this point as Saab wants to do with them. Thus the 90 day repayment rumor. Hopefully Saab can pay back what they’ve borrowed and move on ASAP.
Must have been a tough experience for Victor that even at normal pace he is running circles around fast working governmental institutions…
I hope they can assure alternative financing. Soon.
Isn’t it kind of weird though that his focus is to get another loan – not to attract financers, selling off IP, finding partners, etc. I get it that a commercial loan is way better than the EIB-loan, but for me it sounds weird to have “getting loans” as a main focus what so ever.
Peter every company has a commercial loan nowadays. You can use that money or not.
Hmmm. So the HB, is that 3 and 5 door?
I’m guessing it’ll be a 3-dr HB only, with the 5-dr to be offered strictly as the 9-3X. See my comments above. This mirrors what Subaru did with the Legacy wagon/Outback wagon and Volvo did with its V70/XC70.
A 3 door hatch is very important, but a 5 door would be the volume seller. I’m not sure if you could only buy a 5 door in a 9-3X equivalent that it would actually work sales wise? I rather hope the 9-3X replacement comes in both 3 and 5 door versions, then the “Crossover Coupe” concept might finally come to fruition. However personally I’ll be quite happy with a new 3 door Saab hatchback. It’s been about nine years since I last set eyes on a new one!
Markac,
I also loved my 3dr 9-3, but they need a 5 door non wagon for many markets.
BTW, the X version has to be something different than an SC with more riding height and some extra plastic cladding, otherwise they will start with 4 body styles, HB, Conv, SC and X.
It’d be a shame if there’s no ‘regular’ 5 door car. As a man with a family I drive a 9-3 wagon atm. If there’s no new wagon, I would at least need a five door HB. Over here in Holland the 9-3X will probably be way too expensive. A five door HB might indeed be a volume seller.
@Red j, I don’t think there was any mention of an SC? As I said above, the 5 door is essential as it would be the volume seller of the range, but a 3 door would likely add an extra third in sales so it shouldn’t be overlooked. A 3 door coupe is also important for Saab’s sporting image too (as I described above about the Viggen). I’m afraid 4 door sedans, 5 door hatches and station wagons don’t ever come close to a coupe in sportiness.
Some news fro TTELA today:
http://ttela.se/ekonomi/saab/1.1219979-kraver-besked-om-agarfragan
http://ttela.se/ekonomi/saab/1.1219983-flera-leverantorer-gor-sig-redo
http://ttela.se/ekonomi/naringsliv/1.1219950-lear-varslar-163-anstallda
I would find it very strange if they don’t make a 9-3 SC, and although the 9-3 did fine without in the early years, I think they would lose a lot of sales.
Saab once used to say with it’s hatchbacks, “who needs a station wagon?”.
I would also find it strange if they don’t make a new 9-3 SC. Most of the current 9-3 I see on the roads are SC, at least here in Barcelona.
X = ?
It makes no sense at all that the “X” = 9-3X
Why would you only build a (niche) “allroad” SC and not a regular SC. My guess is they still don’t know what the 3rd body will be.
I think the want to surprise us and the rest of the world with the 3rd body. I least I think so from what JC said in a video. 🙂
Remember when I was pleading for a smaller crossover than the 9-4X? Something to compete with the X1, Q3, etc.? Tada. Subtle hints.