July Incentives: MINI = $24 per vehicle sold. Saab = $8,326, Cadillac = $7,933

[F14CRAZY]

dayum maybe I should have looked into a Sportcombi some more after all but would have to face the deplorable resale value ...until then I'll stick with Subaru, thanks.

[guitarlix]

Originally Posted by vcs2600

The only people I known who have bought Saabs are bargain hunters. Either they have access to a GM discount program, or they got an exceptionally good lease rate.

Of course it doesn't help that GM has completely mismanaged the brand with generic unnotable products. That seems to be improving a bit though, but they need a 900-style hatchback badly.

I'm exactly the kind of person who'd buy a SAAB - a bargain hunter.

Saab faces the exact same problem that Saturn faces - no one either knows the brand exists or they don't care. Do you care for Isuzu? Well that's pretty much how most people feel about these brands.

The Caddy number however shouldn't be that way though. I firmly believe in the brand and its future success. With the exception of the Escalade and CTS though, Caddy doesn't really have a class leading lineup and that's the problem - product.

As it stands:

Saturn/Saab problem = brand image
Cadillac problem = lack of product and worldclass dealer network.

[Rocket 88]

Originally Posted by guitarlix

I'm exactly the kind of person who'd buy a SAAB - a bargain hunter.

Saab faces the exact same problem that Saturn faces - no one either knows the brand exists or they don't care. Do you care for Isuzu? Well that's pretty much how most people feel about these brands.

As it stands:

Saturn/Saab problem = brand image

Lumping Saab and Saturn together seems inaccurate.

While brand image is problem for Saab and Saturn, this is a problem with many of GM's division. Buick is derided as an old people car and Pontiac is also a damaged brand.

Yet Saturn outsells Saab, Hummer and Buick despite having a tiny dealer network.

You could probably revive Oldsmobile or LaSalle and have them outsell Saab in a couple years.

Saab is to GM what Jaguar was to Ford... except Jag had a glorious past and value they could sell.

Saab is an albatross. Saturn has potential (and customers).

[AMcA]

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: MINI ought to be the model the rest of the industry is emulating.

Every MINI is ordered by someone who wants it. And it's ordered the way the buyer wants it, so the car feels custom to its owner. Which only compounds the sense of the car having been wanted in the first place.

And MINI prospers off of charging buyers through the nose for all sorts of tempting interior and exterior options. You can offer special interior colors and trims when they're ordered by individual buyers. You can't when you're stuck in the build as many as you can, shove 'em out to the dealers, and let them try to find what the customer wants from among existing cars.

And when every car is ordered, and has a home waiting for it, there are no left-overs lying around to drive down resale values.

The model is sheer genius, but no one else in the industry has had the nerve to adopt any of it.

[AMcA]

Originally Posted by vcs2600

The only people I known who have bought Saabs are bargain hunters. Either they have access to a GM discount program, or they got an exceptionally good lease rate.

Of course it doesn't help that GM has completely mismanaged the brand with generic unnotable products. That seems to be improving a bit though, but they need a 900-style hatchback badly.

Ah, the 900 hatchback. That was the soul of Saab. Incredibly useful car. I remember my sister and I once transported a sofa 150 miles, over a major mountain pass in winter in her old 900.

But GM knew better what Saab buyers wanted: a generic car that's just like every other car! We'll give it a trunk, and make it more ordinary! After all, studies show most Americans don't want hatchbacks (especially after some of the hatchback abominations GM tried in the early '80s)!

Morons. Just because most people don't want some feature doesn't mean there isn't still a market for it. If the 9-3 were still a real 900, I bet my sister would still be driving one, instead of a VW.

[njtex]

Originally Posted by HoosierRon

Saab 9-5 SportCombi (auto): 17/26. $39,730.

Saab 9-3 SportCombi (4 cyl. auto): 18/24 mpg*. $30,360.

Saturn Vue hybrid: 25/32 mpg. $26,270.

________________
*same mileage as a Chevy Colorado.

Does this say anything at all about the theory that a small turbo 4 in a somewhat larger car will give it great fuel economy?

The manual 9-3 sedan was good for 31 mpg highway when I was looking about 2 years ago, didn't realize that the auto trans cut fuel economy that much!