With all of the excitement surrounding NEVS winning the bid for the Saab bankruptcy estate, and the clamoring for information on enticing rumors of Mahindra & Mahindra getting back in the game for a full-on restart of the Saab brand: there is a piece of news that slipped under our radar.
Most of us probably remember, and frankly would rather forget, the tear-jerking sight of hundreds upon hundreds of beautiful new Saabs sitting idle at USA seaports (with the Newark port in New Jersey gaining the most attention). As reported by SaabWorld, A total of 900 Saabs at USA seaports are being put up for auction by Ally Financial.
So why is it that this bank is getting involved? As you may recall, in January of this year, SCNA defaulted on outstanding loans to Ally Financial. As a result they have filed suit against SCNA and have seized the complete inventory of 151 cars at Port of Hueneme, California starting in January. Now a date has been set and starting June 28th, the first batch of 45 cars will be auctioned off to the highest bidder. Initially, only US Saab dealers will be eligible to participate, but the next batch will be fair game for rental car companies and car exporters. Of course, company cars will be auctioned off as well.
What does this mean to those of us that live here in the United States? Chances are, higher-volume dealerships (which tend to be towards the eastern end of the country), are especially likely to have some of these cars up for sale. But what’s the chance that the next time one of us rents a car, that it will be a Spyker-era 9-3, 9-5 or 9-4X? That remains to be seen. Perhaps Hertz could use this opportunity to add some Saabs to their Prestige collection? If you ask me: renting a brand-new Saab would be dangerous, as I wonder if could bring myself to return it.
What we know for sure is these cars have suffered a fate that was never meant for them to endure. But, as Saab is about to start a new chapter in it’s life, we should take heart in the fact that many of these cars will find happy owners. And during their very first drive, it is my hope they will take a step back: and realize what they have been missing.
I envy you. The 9-5 Turbo4 with HK is *exactly* what I want … but, I’d have to buy one *and* keep my 2007 9-3, because I can’t give that one up either.
I understand what you’re saying. My ’09 9-3SC was not only fun to drive but it was practical! It’s unfair to try and compare the NG 9-5 and the 9-3. They are two totally different cars. I wish I could have kept the 9-3SC but I can only afford so many toys as it were. My daughter has an ’06 9-3SS. If I go into severe withdrawal, I can always borrow her ride for a quick fix!
As long as these cars get out on the open road, sooner than later, I am happy. These cars would be sought after among the Saab nuts out there. Especially now since we now know there will be no more of these coming…
On the 9-5 I can only agree after renting one in Sweden last summer – it is a brilliant car, handling and interior are fantastic. Also, a 9-3 vert is what I am looking for, post -08 model, as this is the most iconic model Saab has made, a good addition to my TurboX…
Get one if you can!
Hmmm, the 2012 Verano only comes with a Camry boring 2.4L 180 bhp naturally aspirated 4-cyl. Can’t see how that even comes close to your Saab…???
The new 2013 Verano turbo will come with the 2.0 turbo, F40 manual and an upgraded suspension. The Regal is also offered with the F40 and turbo in regular and GS versions.
Ok, so they will get a decent engine, but it’s still GM… Couldn’t bring myself to get one after all that has happened… But that is my personal decision…
It looks like an ok car, in the turbo version, but how is it to drive?
If Saab had remained with GM, the 9-3’s replacement would’ve been built on the same platform as the Vauxhall-Opel Astra/Chevrolet-Holdem Cruze/Buick Verano (Delta II) so it most likely would have had a lot in common to the Verano turbo. Probably a similar relationship that the LaCrosse and the NG9-5 has? Hopefully it would have looked more like the Astra hatch though.
Well don’t think that will be a problem for the one and only 9-3 Convertible on the list. Laser Red with 6 spd manual. I think MSRP about 43K. So minimum is $21,500. Think that one will get some higher bids.
But the base model no options 9-3 and 9-5 will probably not make the minimum bid. Ally has stated that this is all a trial, so they may be back with some more realistic terms in the future.
I recently bought my ’11 9-5 Turbo4 Premium for 40% off list.
The Buick LaCrosse is built on the same platform as the 9-5 so there is your answer. I, for the life of me, dont belive the previous 9-5 was ‘unsafe’.
You misread my post. The lower score the better. That the old 9-5 was very safe, was the point, and the LaCrosse is turning out not to be anywhere near as safe as the old 9-5. The new 9-5 should be safer than the old one which would be a significant engineering feat, beating something that was extraordinarily good.
I purchased my ’11 9-5 Turbo4 Premium from an indie Saab dealer for 40% off list w/ 40 miles on it. That was $20K off list.
I don’t think you will find any of the major car rental companies having much interest – unless it was for around 10 % of retail, rent them for a few thousand miles, and send it back to the auction before the effects of sitting in a port environment became apparent.
I bet most of these cars have sat with the shipping plastic stuck on for over a year now. That can’t be good for the paint color : you are supposed to remove it within 30 days.
The dealer I spoke with yesterday thought that the 600 cars designated for “export and rental fleets” would go fast. He sold much of his new car inventory to Taiwan this past winter/spring, apparently for a good enough price. He also thought that to a rental company, it’s a car they could purchase for the price of a Nissan Sentra and rent for the price of a BMW. As he said, “there’s nothing wrong with these cars except they stopped making them.”
Since you seem to be wired in…
I was told the minimum bid is 6 cars. True? Or is this list bid as a single lot?
apparently all these cars have a fault………all the steering wheels have been put on the wrong side !!!!!
Pictures of these cars show differently 🙂
it’s a joke !!!!
What would be the logic of limiting the lot of cars sold to dealers to 45?
How many cars are in New Jersey?
45 is number of cars in the first lot. There was an earlier post indicating that 300 were reserved for the dealers, with 600 going to rental/export. Go back a few days and there is a list of all the cars by VIN number.
hmmmm…50 percent off MSRP sounds just about right. That manual XWD 9-3 will get snapped up at that price…
Welcome to our very rare club!
http://www.fuelly.com/car/saab/9-5/2011
By the end of this year you will see after market glass.
Right now Safelite and St.Gobain does not have any windsheilds…I talked to both this week…however Saab parts will want to sell glass, and will find a after market company to make it.
I bet it won’t be St Gobain, because I think Saab/Spyker may have left them unpaid…that is my guess. But what do I know? Just find me a new windsheild so I can quit staring at the crack running across mine..
I’d actually consider a 9-5 now, I’ve been critical of the interior finishes but its a great looking car and it’s so rare. Not to mention, it drives like a much smaller car.
Drive one!
So what happens when the rental car gets into a minor fender bender? Does it get written off by the carrier? To those who bought a new 9-5 – have any of you experienced a problem in this regard? Agree a shame these cars won’t be produced again. I’ve driven them and they are great. But afraid right now that parts are easier to come by for my ’80 900 T. Hopefully Swe Gov straightens that out.
The saddest part of all is that Reinertsen, which was only Saab here in Morris County New Jersey, and probably responsible for the fact that more Saabs are on the road here in this area than I have personally seen elsewhere, has now gone Italian. Losing dealerships is going to be the hardest part in rebuilding Saab.
I bought my first car, a 1976 99 from. Reinertsen in 1980 and many more since then. They are among the best of dealers. Yes, changes are coming there, but they say they will continue to service Saab.
Occasion for Saab enthusiasts!
Saab drivers are considered to be more educated than drivers of other brands. Therefore, we turn us just to YOU that love to drive cars and have selected a SAAB. You know that SAAB has fantastic driving properties but you also know that SAABs true value shows itself if you would crash with it. You have now the possibility to buy one of the last SAABs of this generation. You get an entire new car to the same price that applied 2010.
If any dealers in the Northeast monitor this thread and are planning to bid on these cars, please post some contact info. I and others may be interested in buying and clearly can’t go bid solo. Probably a good thing for you dealers to have buyers lined up prior to you going to bit also.
I don’t think posting cars for auction on this site was a good idea. My concern is more bidders increase prices. Might be best to let dealers quietly buy them them?
Are you saying that you believe an inefficient market would benefit the owner/enthusiast community? Rather, I think that absent an identified customer dealers would simply refrain from bidding. The result would be Ally rethinking the allocation, with most or all of the remaining inventory sent to fleets or offshore.
I believe most, if not all of the 45 cars will go and dealers have numbers they’re willing to pay. Ally will then offer the remaining to all other (not just Saab) dealers and I’m 99% they will in some way be offered to current and future owner/entusiasts, though I’d rather see current Saab dealers get them.
Frankly the “publicity’ of the this small auction will increase the possibility that some of the cars get moved from the port to dealers who can sell them to the public. I’m sure that some dealers will now place bidsfor specific cars for specific customers.
Since the public cannot bid directly and the minimum price is 50% of MSRP even with posting the list will not enable all of the cars to get sold. Also remember that Ally has scheduled a total of 300 cars to be sold in this manner IF this format is successful.
[email protected], just to let you know for when you comment, whenever you have a link in your response the message gets filtered to spam, this can include email addresses too. I saw you had a couple of responses and they all were sitting there. If you have issues with comments not showing up just email the crew mail at [email protected] so that we can be quicker to get the comment and word out for you. Thanks for letting people know that you are one of the dealers to see for these cars.
Thanks, Jason- I thought I was crazy when my post was not showing up. I appreciate your help.
Are you guys planning to consider any of these auction units?
Actually, we never did get any info on the auction at all….. Not sure why as I thought it was open to the US and Canada. We would consider some of these if they are actually going to sell at the 50% of MSRP because US pricing was already lower then Canadian and then when you factor in duties and transport it could still work for us. My hope in some of these would be that it could offset some of the losses we are taking on remaining new we all have.
What’s your pricing philosophy, Jason/Julie? Julie, you mentioned having a $50k 9-5 for $32K. how are you going to sell that when folks now know auction cars are available at close to 50% MSRP?
I’m interested in one of the auction cars. Is it reasonable to ask for one and allow a dealer a 500.00-$100 profit?
Hi Julie,
If you don’t mind my asking, who is backing the service plan you’re offering? Is it Fidelity?
Thanks!
The warranty is with Warrantech which is the one chosen by SCNA when bankruptcy was filed. I do have pdf files available with more information on the coverage. Email me or call 888-328-7279, ext.1032 to request this information.
I was told that there is a six car minimum. I don’t know how that works – are the cars bid one at a time and if you win five, they have you over a barrel for the rest of the bidding? If you bid five and stop, do the five go back into the pool to be rebid or do they automatically go to the 2nd highest bidder? Do you enter a bid for six (or more) on an “all or none” basis? Seems like an incredibly complicated way of doing an auction.
Ahahahahaha…. Get it… 900 Saab’s to be auctioned? Oh man seriously? They must be joking.
I’m surprised to hear of a 9-3X, I couldn’t find any in the photos. Is it really a 9-3X or just a 9-3 Sportcombi with XWD?
A 9-3 combi with XWD IS a 9-3x, saabyurk.
Not on any Saab web site or official Saab literature that I’ve ever seen. I think that’s only a dealer nomenclature invention. The real 9-3X is raised 1.4″ and has underside armor added, plus wheel housing protection.
… as in these photos: www_dot_saabsunited_dot_com/saab-9-3x
I am in the US first of all and not sure where you are but car models are different between US and Europe… In the US you cannot get a combi with XWD that is not a 9-3x. The car that I bought for Tom is a 9-3x and has the lower body cladding, higher stance, etc.
Okay. I’m in Ohio, but what you describe sounds like a 9-3X which is what I wish I had grabbed when I had a chance. It’s just that I see so many dealers list 9-3X’s but picture what appears to be a standard Sportcombi. BTW, my response wasn’t meant to sound gruff, I feel bad for all Saab dealers.
No worries, saabyurk ; )
Hi Julie…… thanx for the update. If you are going to bid on future sales I’m in the market for a 9-3 sport combo with MANUAL 6-spd…. any color ‘cept black … with or without Aero or XWD. Keep posting here if you continue to bid for us……. anxious to hear a report on the condition of the car you did buy for Tom in WA.
Tom: Ally lists a total of 60 9-3 SportCombi’s, eight of them are 9-3X’s. Out of the 60, there is only only that has a manual transmission. The VIN is YS3FA5MYXB1313518. I can’t tell you what the color or how it’s equipped but the VIN clearly shows it has a manual transmission. Perhaps Julie has access to that info.
I neglected to mention the 9-3 SC described above is FWD, not XWD.
923m – Thanks for checking the list for me….. I was unsure how to look for the trans code in the VIN.
When do you think the next installment of 45(?) cars will be announced? Please post when you get access to it. Thanks.
Thanks Julie! Please post updates concerning condition of the cars and future auctions. Cheers.
Julie …. can you tell me in which port the is located?
NJ, GA or CA?
NJ : )
A possible issue with those (of us) who would like to snare one of the remaining 255 (out of the remaining 855) cars cheaply: deep pocket competition.
http://www.autonews.com/article/20120702/RETAIL07/307029992#ixzz1zlZPbyW9
Stephen, the cars have to be bought by dealers so it wouldn’t be a snare as you will have to deal with them or Julie or someone at a Saab dealer to possibly snare one. I think it’s great that there is as much interest from dealers to get stock to sell to their customers and to keep a although smaller, dealer network together. The dealer will not be your competition, but your solution if you want one.
+1 my thoughts exactly, Jason
Yes she is an asset and I couldn’t tell you how many sold at the minimum if any. Not sure if Julie would know that either. I would hazard to say that not many would have sold for the 50% of MSRP as dealers still need cars to sell and anytime you have more than one dealer bidding, it won’t go for the start bid.
I think Ally made a mistake in letting it out that the bids start at 50% of MSRP because people assume that’s what they sell for.
Well, that got things stirred up ;-). Let me add my thanks to Julie and Kelly Saab. I had spoken to a local dealer and they are mainly interested in moving on – taking excellent care of their existing customers in the hope and expectation that when the time comes, the folks will stay customers of the dealership group – but no interest in any more new Saabs. Completely different attitude here.
I am also saddened by the possibility you will not be involved in further auctions. Hopefully SA will change their tune, but if not can you still post info on the future Saab sales, and possibly any hints on what dealers might still be bidding?
Thanks for the detailed account of the process on Tom’s WA car……..
I will be glad to let ya’ll know if another sale occurs and if we will be participating; however, I would have no way of knowing what other dealers are participating or if they are willing to buy on behalf of a client. Sorry, Tom.
In other words, “as is, where is”, which is kind of typical for auctions. Perhaps not so much for the usual “Smart Auction”, where GM dealers are bidding on what is intended to typically be a certified pre-owned and where the details of the vehicle: equipment, mileage, and condition reflect heavily on the vehicle’s value.
Not typical for any dealer auction though, I buy cars from all over the US and bring them to Canada and weather it’s Smart Auction, Adesa or Brashers, they all allow arbitration and if something is wrong you can send it back or the seller quite often will give money back as they are responsible for what is listed online and it costs them to unwind a deal.
Thanks Julie……… and would it be possible to also suggest a certain VIN to your contact at SA, saying you have a potential client for that specific car. Then if Mr Kelly says go for it ………..
If you are referring to the one you want, VIN# B1313518, I already have that one marked on my list for you. I don’t think the folks at SA have any control over which cars are included in the sale but I would be happy to see if I can do anything if Geoff wants to try this again : )
Have a good night all~
There was mention in an earlier post of a person who was instrumental in selecting the first 45 cars…… I can’t recall if he was from Ally Financial, or SA, or another organization…….. Do you know who I am referring to?
Maybe he could be contacted re that VIN?
I did get in contact with the person you referred to- Tom Backes- through Facebook but he was never involved in the process of selection so that must have been erroneously reported.
Really? I do not remember reading that at all but will try to find time to look back through my communicae to see if I can get the info.
Thanks for the heads up, Tom : )