Saab Beginning an Exodus from Oz?

[mikmak]

Saab starts exodus from Downunder

New Zealand Herald

4:00AM Wednesday Nov 04, 2009

Saab is winding up the 9-5 sedan and wagon ahead of next year's revised model.


Struggling Swedish marque Saab is cutting its model range for Australia and New Zealand by half, a shake-out that reduces its variants from 62 to 34.

Sales across the ditch are down 33 per cent this year to around 650 units. Sales in New Zealand for the past few years have been almost negligible, less than one car a week.

Saab will wind up the 12-year-old 9-5 sedan and wagon ahead of the new model next year and cut 27 variants from the remaining 9-3 range, many of which are base-model petrol-only models.

The revised range will include more E85 ethanol-capable BioPower powertrains and comes as Saab parent General Motors gets set to sell the Swedish brand to Scandinavian super-sportscar maker Koenigsegg Automotive AB, a move that will force a new distribution arrangement for Australia and New Zealand.

Saab is handled in New Zealand and Australia by Holden-based GM Premium Brands, established a few years ago to distribute GM-owned niche brands that also included Hummer and Cadillac.

But the global financial crisis changed things. GM sold Hummer to Chinese company Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Co, and Holden axed plans to import Cadillac.

The early demise of the current 9-5 range means Saab dealers will have to make do with the Saab 9-3 in sedan, Sportcombi wagon and Convertible forms until the arrival next year of the new 9-5.

Distribution of Saab in New Zealand and Australia also needs to be resolved once GM completes the Saab sale in Sweden.

In trimming the 9-3 list, Saab has focused on deleting modest-performing, petrol-only model specifications, such as most of the base-engine 129kW Linear and Vector petrol variants, which have been selling in parallel with their 147kW 2.0-litre BioPower-engined counterparts.

The combination of front-drive and high-power 206kW 2.8-litre turbo V6 also has been put to the sword in the sedan and wagon, with Saab Australia's product managers retaining only the all-wheel-drive XWD variants powered by the Holden-made engine.

The V6 Aero Convertible, however, keeps the front-drive/V6 configuration, along with the distinction of being the most expensive Saab in the revised range.

Most of the ethanol E85-capable BioPower and 1.9-litre diesel variants have escaped the axe. The BioPower engines can run on straight petrol if no ethanol is available.

No date has yet been announced for the arrival of the new 9-5, although most observers expect it to appear in 2010 to resume its flagship status.

More at the LINK

Thanks to mattyman1010 for the tip!!

[chevyman1973]

Sucks

[mbukukanyau]

sounds like they are doing the right thing. Focusing only on models with mass appeal, cutting down useless options that make sense at corporate where people need to justify their existance and matching it to customers want.

[Bravada]

This is a sensationalist headline. The article simply says that Saab stops selling the 9-5 before introducing the new 9-5 later in 2010. Given Saab's sales in Oz and NZ it doesn't probably make much of a difference anyway.

[mattyman1010]

This is a sensationalist headline. The article simply says that Saab stops selling the 9-5 before introducing the new 9-5 later in 2010. Given Saab's sales in Oz and NZ it doesn't probably make much of a difference anyway.

Its the beginning of the end for Saab here. Its unlikely that the will continue they all sell from GM Holden dealerships and I doubt anyone would bother take them up with the pitiful sales. I wont be mourning the day Saab no longer sell here.

[patrickbec]

Off topic: Any news on the 85 or 88 RHD Cadillac CTS' that were to be sold in NZ? Were they sold?

[Bravada]

Its the beginning of the end for Saab here. Its unlikely that the will continue they all sell from GM Holden dealerships and I doubt anyone would bother take them up with the pitiful sales. I wont be mourning the day Saab no longer sell here.

Your indifference towards Saab aside, there are people pushing Fiats and Alfas, as well as a Great Wall and Mahindra distributor. I'd have a hard time believing nobody would want to make a few bucks out of Saab in a country with such a burgeoing automotive distribution sector.

I haven't heard about Saab pulling out of GM dealerships in Europe (though I might have simply missed it focusing on Opel), so I see no reason why GM Holden's wouldn't want to make some extra $$$ on the side, especially that w/o the Insignia and Astra they don't have an even remotely competitive product.

[t-rex]

It's little surprise. If a cursory view of Auckland Motorways on my visits there is any indication, the flood of cheap used Japanese imports all but killed off smaller marques in Kiwiland.

[mattyman1010]

Originally Posted by patrickbec

Off topic: Any news on the 85 or 88 RHD Cadillac CTS' that were to be sold in NZ? Were they sold?

Yep all sold and they didn't last long at all!!

It's little surprise. If a cursory view of Auckland Motorways on my visits there is any indication, the flood of cheap used Japanese imports all but killed off smaller marques in Kiwiland.

The NZ government has now placed import restrictions, I believe you cant import a car older than 5 years (of course classics etc are allowed).

[isszy]

Saab always had a problem in Australia with too many models making too few sales. A look through car price lists showed around 30 individual variants of basically 2 cars.

[t-rex]

Didn't Saab do well in Oz in the 1980s? I know Volvo sold well there in the 70s and 80s.

I don't remember seeing any Saabs in NZ, probably because when I'm there, all my attention is drawn to all those fascinating JDM products one doesn't see. In my sister-in-law's street, there's both a RHD Saturn SC and "Toyota" Cavalier, and her husband sports an awesome twin-turbo Nissan Stagea. Other than older Fiats, and the typical German prestige trio, I hardly see anything European on NZ roads. I once saw an ancient Skoda wheezing its way across the harbour bridge and wondered how the hell in ended up in NZ! Surely the cost of transporting it from the UK was more than the car was worth!

Or did Skoda sell cars in Oz in the early 70s?

[Bravada]

They did! I think even Fiat 126ps were exported from Poland into Oz/NZ far into the 1990s.

[patrickbec]

[quote=mattyman1010;1889381]Yep all sold and they didn't last long at all!!



Ok thanks buddy. Nice to know.

[JBsZ06]

In the early 70's..the turbo 99 was a cool icon..

Had room, fwd and good acceleration for the time..

Now saabs are just boring..

Hopefully with the sale....the saab lineup will go back to being fast rides for the weird people of this earth..

Prices are going up...but maybe it'll be worth the money..

As of the past decade...they were just snooze mobiles..

Spotted a photo of a new mini competitor from saab that looked like it might be a winner..

Other than that...wake me up when they finally produce something worthwhile..

JMO

[nota]

Struggling Swedish marque Saab is cutting its model range .. from 62 to 34.

Sales in New Zealand for the past few years have been .. less than one car a week.

As one Saab executive here dryly observed; the dismal situation of Saab literally having "more models than customers"