I think it has ben a long time since the last snippets post from Saabsunited, but the reasons, at least from my side have been many and different.
It is a long time since I’ve posted about the Saab Sales Data. First of all, Saabsunited will reopen the SSD section of the site, but it is not the top priority now, and we all know why. Despite this I keep collecting the data and finding more reliable sources for the registration numbers.
Today is the last day of the French dealer tour. The French, as well as the German tour, was divided into two groups, in order to visit the whole country in only two weeks. Today the cars made their last visits, one group in Bayonne and one in Toulouse. I don’t know who will stay in the south and who will go north, but the information we have received says that one group will be heading to Belgium and the other to spain.
According to SAABLOG-In the Saab 9-5 SC and the 9-4x will be at the first motor show of Waregem(Belgium), just between Gent(B) and Lille(F)
I will do my best to have a flow to this post as there is a lot going through my head. I will start with Hirsch and what this means to the dealer body and what some dealers have already started doing. Hirsch offers dealers something very attractive that not all major car manufacturers offer or at least not to this extent. With Hirsch, we have the opportunity to sell something other than just the car. We can sell dash kits, performance exhaust systems, body kits, wheels and performance upgrades that increase horsepower by 30 hp. This can all be done in house without having to send a customer elsewhere and provides the dealer with a great opportunity to make a little money but more importantly, satisfy that customer want or need for something different. When I posted about Hirsch finally being available for the Canadian market, people again voiced there concerns about price differences between USA and Canada and I do believe from the performance side of things that our pricing is the same or very close. When you take a new or pre-owned Saab and add even $2000 worth of Hirsch product, you really don’t affect a finance payment by much. It may be a total of $40 per month on a 60 month term. Watch out, here comes the salesman side of me. You can break that down and it’s a little more than $1 per day to have some style and horsepower.
Swade has already said at Inside Saab that the dealer tour in Germany was very successful, and therefore other countries were also planing to make something similar.
Well Austria was the first one, and the Austrian Tour is currently on-going. Tomorrow the cars will be in Vienna.
And France is the next one announcing a Dealer Tour with the 9-4x and the 9-5SC.
Today the Saab dealer tour in Austria started in Salzburg, the city where Mozart was born. It seem that although Saab was able to sell much in Austria this last month, at least the interest is big.
After the jump you will find the first report from Mr. Mladeck, the Saab Country Director in Austria.
Blackburn based Bay Horse Saab will start an Autumn Sale this Saturday on all Approved used Saabs. Plus with every purchase, an iPad 2 is included!
The German Dealer Tour is coming to an end, and it seems like it has been a very successful event. Maybe because of that or maybe because the cars are almost in Austria, from next Saturday and during the next Week the country director for Austria Mr. Stefam Mladek and his product manager Mr. Thomas Kraupp will visit all Austrian dealers driving a 9-4x and a 9-5 SC.
An article from automotive news spiked my interest this morning. As GM tries to consolidate its dealership network into a tighter more integrated group, some dealers face the threat of becoming used car dealerships or worse, shutting down. These same dealers are now applying to become Saab and Volvo dealers.
Which leads me more to this question for US readers– what’s going on with your dealer? Is their stock finally replenished to where it was a few years ago? If your Saab dealer was part of a larger automotive group (especially GM brands), has your dealer segregated its showroom space to a different building? You’ll remember GM set a deadline of 3 years to achieve this goal. From Swade’s interview with Mike Colleran last September:
Second, the requirement to have separate showroom space was one that GM and Saab/Spyker agreed upon when signing the deal to sell Saab. In short, there was a three-year time period set and all selling spaces should be separated by that time (Feb 2013). Connected to that is the fact that it’s quite normal for brand management, whether it be GM, BMW or Audi, to ask dealers for separate space on their lots.
If your dealer has multiple brands, how do you feel they’re doing pushing Saab vs. other makes? Have you been contacted by your dealer recently to come in to see their new inventory (aside from the standard SCNA mailers for national service promotions).
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