With all the crazy things that have been reported in the last few months, here is somewhat of an easy read and has little to do with anything going on with Saabs finances or supplier concerns. My question is what is it that catches your eye when you walk into the Saab Showroom of your local SAAB dealer? More so, what is your initial feeling when you walk through the doors? Is it warm and welcoming or is it something of an after thought? Some dealers will just pick car’s based on colors that blend well and some go for the cheapest priced or volume cars. Typically a dealer will try to have the car’s that are nationally advertised in their showrooms to direct customers to the car that brought them in. A showroom should be set up so that you can have your entire line up inside and out of the weather. You should be able to walk into any dealers showroom and test the seats and push the buttons. I being someone who has had a love a cars for years, have always looked at a showroom as my play place or candy store. I can look at what is new, I can in the freezing cold of winter, open a sunroof and play with switches and not have to worry about how cold it is outside or worry about scraping ice off the windows.
In our dealership, we are set up in a way that you can enter the showroom from three different angles. We have the main door by our receptionist where we normally have whatever is newest to our lineup. Right now it’s a 9-5 and an Aero in arctic white with the parchment leather seats and is one of the nicest combinations for the 9-5. The next entrance is from our delivery pod which is an entrance with two sliding doors that allows us to put vehicles in the showroom and is the perfect place to deliver a new car. The delivery pod is surrounded by glass on all sides and allows for a beautiful delivery experience. People like to take delivery of their new Saab’s in the showroom where the lights hit every angle of their new car and truly showcase that car of their dreams. It is a big deal when you drive that new car out of the showroom, so much so that most people don’t. They opt for us to drive it out for them and not risk scratching a door on the way out. The third and final showroom entrance is from our Sales Lot. When you walk in that door you are met by a 9-3 or 9-3 Sport Combi that is again parked on an agle giving you a nice side profile when walking in the door. We set our vehicles up in a way that customers can open every door wide open and test every possible feature. Setting vehicles up this way also gives the sales staff the ability to do a walk around with the potential customer to show them what makes a Saab a Saab.
Showroom’s are meant to show the product and give that first impression. If you were going on a date, you would get dressed up and put your best foot forward and a showroom is kind of like that. The showroom is a chance to say here I am, check me out. As customers and part of the global SAAB Family, what do you look or what do you want to see when you walk through those doors into the SAAB showroom?
I think every Saab-store to look pretty much like Saab’s show-booths. The design language and concept has to be the same, no matter in which city or country you are. Sure, the cars are individualistic and for individuals, but the presentation has to be the same everywhere.
Yea – *think* Apple store.
I totally agree with you guys. I think a uniformed look would be a great thing and something that is easily achieved.
Certainly would help reinforce the brand language and design if all dealers were a bit more uniform. Not surprisingly given events of recent years, but most Saab showrooms in the UK and Ireland are now looking very bland and not distinctive. Some of the ‘motor show’ design language would work well on smaller scale – shimmering light curtains, glass floors, ice blocks etc, but no idea what this would cost already cash-strapped dealers who are probably just about surviving?
I read something here on SU about a dealer in…Chicago maybe? or was it Reinertsen? can’t remember… who had, like, 7 or 8 delivered. Can’t say if all have been sold by now but if not then you could maybe try having one trucked over. Or maybe you could strike a deal with your co-moderator Pierre in Boston. Of course I have no idea about how much dinero the truck ride would involve but cars get swapped by dealers on a daily basis all over NA so how pricey (or dicey) could it be?
Another 2 cts. 🙂
Ivo
Pay the gas and I will drive one for you and fly back. Likewise Maine or New Hampshire is a stones throw from Montreal. I am in Milwaukee, WI.
Funnily enough I have never driven out of a showroom but seen it done for me twice. Once after SAAB presented me the 9-5 Combi. After the party the sales manager squeezed it through the tight doors into the blustery February snow. Then likewise when I borrowed the white Convertible out of the New Showroom at Concours Motors for the sunny parade in May.
Royal Oaks, MI is super close.
Peter, for those that don’t know your story, I think it’s worth re-telling. Here’s a pretty good story on it.
That was me, here at Morrie’s SAAB in Minneapolis, MN. The first 9 of the 12 factory Demos arrived yesterday. Come on down for Saabtoberfest and meet them!
My brother visited Morrie’s Saab in Minneapolis earlier this week while he was having his Cadillac repaired. Not sure if he was perusing the showroom or the lot. But I think he liked what he saw.
Thanks! We’ve been in Saab for 40+ years. Love it!
You guys are very fortunate, I’d love it if we had even one of them. Good luck for next weekends Oktober Fest.
Thanks, Jason!
Saab of Memphis had at least a half dozen when I picked up ours on Sept 1. Most of them Moreland Bronze. Not sure about their existing inventory right now though. Great buying experience.
Personally when I enter a showroom, It’s not the amount of cars on display that gets my attention. Sometimes they are just “old” stock. What I really like to see there are “aero” versions with some of the newest features available that can easily seduce new buyers and old customers as well. Even if the customer can’t afford those at the moment, it will cause a greater impact, particularly for people who don’t know much about SAABs.
As for dealer uniformity, isn’t that already a necessary condition to sell SAABs anywhere ?
I wrote about this a couple of weeks ago but to see a red 9-5 with black 19 inch Turbine wheels is stunning. The stock wheels could be used for the compulsory snow tires!
SaabMan, what a great review. Obviously I’ve never been to Shaw Saab, being that I’m in Canada, but I do follow them on facebook as well as twitter and I have to say that what you describe is what I’ve seen on their respective pages. It is very comforting to know that what you see is what you get in this case and it’s not a story of painting a pretty picture and having a different reality. Thanks for sharing.
This is exactly how we’ve shopped for and purchased our last two SAABs. Great write-up, SaabMan.
Space and air. So one can watch the cars from a distance – or very close.
Better not to display all models and versions then to crowd the room with the “objects”.
No other brands between the Saabs to pollute the view.
Lots of daylight and very good artificial lighting.
Light colours and atmosphere.
Simple, balanced and minimal furnishing.
…and a quiet environment can help the other senses like sight, touch and smell.
Every time we entered the showroom of our Saab dealer we felt to be at home. It was the atmosphere of the room, a special smell of new cars and an almost personal relation to the dealer which in summary stood for the brand.
But in 2009 this realionship ended by the closing of business. Another Saab dealer near our home had to finish his activities too due to the small quantity of car sellings.
Our basis for maintenance had disappeard and therefore we decided to change the brand after a long period of 36 years living with Saab.
My personal take is that “Scandinavian austerity” is getting a bit old. Yes, simple, clean lines and uncluttered areas are welcome – but there seems (to me) to be an aversion to color schemes other than “all white”. There’s a lot more to Scandinavia than The Ice Hotel (disclaimer: nothing wrong with the Ice Hotel!). What’s wrong with a hot color spot and some dramatic lighting to accentuate a special new model, like when the 9-5 wagon arrives in the showrooms? I think it can be done tastefully without turning it into a theme park.
+1 – Sweden is a highlky colourful country – the natural colour may be white much of theyear, but the natives and their homes are very colourful – the white thing is done by everyone now, what about some use of timber and natural materials to offset the bleak?
Haven’t read through all comments but dealers got to have cars with different seats and/or a “seat stand” where people can actually sit and feel the difference between a base, sport (Aero) and Comfort seat before ordering.
This choice is very personal and probably the most important one buying a new Saab if you drive a lot.
I agree. The seats are very important.
The 9-4x stands out in the crowd of SUVs, or whatever they are called now, with a beautiful classic look that will age gracefully (as the 9-5 for that matter). I found the fit a finish very good with a very Saabish interior and great seats. Like I said, it drives beautifully with very little body roll. My biggest beaf of course is the thirsty power plants.
Problems in Canada include no good leasing deals. I heard even Budd Saab, who was instrumental in bringing Saab back in Canada is hanging it up (?).
Great for Budd’s!
I wish my ex-SAAB dealer who is now selling Kia could bring SAAB back to the south shore (of Québec City) but it’s not going to happen.
I’m in shock. You mean that there are Saabs in Canada that lack heated seats and mirrors?!
FGS this is Saab, the Swedish ‘winter car’. There shouldn’t ever be one sold without these features unless it’s going to Mexico or Australia. But wait a minute they’ve got some chilly nights over there too and heated mirrors are good when it’s foggy or very humid…
The block heater is gone and I THINK heated seats and mirrors are not standard on all models any more, but please don’t quote me on that.
I believe the heated seats and mirrors are standard on all 2011 models and newer.
Just about all non-urban buildings in Sweden are either ‘stugas’ built of timber and painted in a darkish hue of red or concrete edifices that look like a stuga and are painted in a darkish hue of red. I once accidentally entered the campus of a large hospital complex serving a pretty big district. It was a collection of, you’ll never guess, concrete stugas painted in a a darkish hue of red.
So let all Saab showrooms reflect that: once again, either wooden or timber-lookalike concrete stugas painted……you can guess by now, I guess.
🙂
Ivo