The company's next step remains unclear but NEVS President Mattias Bergman has previously said the composition agreement was necessary so the company can sign "commercially viable agreements with our OEM and financial partners." The move also paves the way for the company to ink a deal with an Asian automaker that wants to incorporate Saab into their existing vehicle lineup.
My previous boss drove a nice Saab 9-3. He went with a BMW 1 series with many add-ons as his next vehicle. He stated when the 2008 Chevrolet Malibu came out that GM gave Chevy Saab's styling and did not want another one before they went under. Interesting perspective from someone that owned several Saabs before.
I would have rather MB had bought SAAB and used it for the level of vehicle that C class and perhaps E class cover. That would have left MB as the larger sedans, SUV and sports cars.
Saab made sense when Buick was rebadged Oldsmobiles and Chevys.
That was hurting Chevy and holding back Cadillac to lower price points. Buick is now being pushed upwards and gaining some unique product (even if it's Opel product, it's unique to the USA portfolio for GM which is key).
There isn't room between Buick and Cadillac to try to add Saab.
I'm no hater. I loved Saab. I think the final iteration of the 9-3 Convertible was probably the best looking 4 seat convertible of all time, and the final 9-5 was interesting. But Saab needed to go.
Question: are the 9-5 and 9-4x Saab designs, or do they belong to GM? Assuming the former, I can't believe a Chinese company didn't scoop them up and start pumping them out, they'd be popular in China as an alternative to Audi products.
Assuming the latter, why didn't GM repurpose these vehicles, which had been fully engineered and launched into production? The 9-5 could have worked as a top-drawer Opel, or even a Regal. And the 9-4x could have been finessed into a Buick CUV between the Encore and Enclave.
Just seems like two lost opportunities. So much talk about waste and overlap in the auto industry, and here are two lovely vehicles that barely saw the light.
If the 9-5 was still around and Saab was at GM, I'd have loved to have seen the Aero moved up to 60K base (with some better interior materials) and gain the LF3 from the XTS Vsport. :dro:
Of course Opel couldn't support such a product at that time or even now and the market for an executive sedan with a mass market badge in Europe is not large enough anymore.
^ dunno. BMW own Triumph, not sure on Riley - I thought Tata had it.
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