There might be some uncertainty as to what that will mean for Saab today. In short, whilst the MoU does indeed expire, all parties to that deal have agreed to continue talks.
General Motors, who must approve any sale of Saab under certain conditions, indicated that they would not accept a sale of Saab Automobile as per the terms of the MoU. Therefore the parties involved are negotiating to determine conditions that GM will accept.
As has been previously reported in the media, information has been sent to GM outlining Saab’s proposed business plan and intentions for the future, as background information for any further change-of-ownership proposals put before them.
The team from Saab France have sent through a gallery of images from the first days of their tour. It’s wonderful to see people getting the chance to experience the new Saab 9-4x and 9-5. And it’s not just prospective customers, either.
One definite thing that is common to all stops around France so far …. The smiles on the faces whether it is from the customers or the dealers and their staff.
The cars are consistently praised as being the best Saabs ever from all aspects, technical or design.
The show must go on …
These dealer tours have been very important in terms of giving people a chance to see our news cars. Just as important, though, is the injection of insight and hope it gives for the staff in our distribution channels. For national organisations like Saab France, it’s a chance to deal with their contacts with new products, a welcome opportunity. And for dealers and service staff, it’s a chance to engage their customers with these new products and get some happy faces into the dealership.
It’s a welcome change for everyone. Here’s to making it a permanent one, and soon.
These images from three of the initial stops along the tour – Melun, Saint Quentin and Lille. Click this link for all of the dates and locations for the Saab Dealer Tour – France.
The NEC Classic Car Show is the biggest of its kind in the UK and last weekend, 1,400 cars and many, many more people packed into the National Exhibition Center in Birmingham to take in the automotive sights.
The Saab Owners Club GB were there with a wonderful display of classic Saab vehicles. I’m reliably told that a lot of the leg work was done by Ellie W, who is like a force of nature when it comes to organising and promoting these types of activities (my first time meeting Ellie was when he sold me a Saab Owners Club T-shirt!).
There’s always a team involved, though, and a number of members presented their vehicles at the show and manned the stand over the course of the weekend.
Congratulations to all involved (and I still loooove that Sonett!)
It’s the beginning of what will surely be another big week in the history of Saab Automobile. I think I can speak for colleagues here at Saab and say that we’ve seen some wonderful things in the last few weeks – the support and happiness of people attending the dealer tours, as well as the recent and spontaneous gestures of support on several other fronts as well. We truly appreciate it.
I just wanted to quickly refer back to something that I wrote last week in a post called Waiting.
There’s no reason why Saab Automobile has to succumb to the circumstances that have plagued it this year. As I mentioned a few days ago, Ford managed to get a similar deal done to give Volvo a future. I think it can be done here, too. We still have a lot of very good reasons to be here in this industry. If there is goodwill in the room, there will be a way to work this out with an agreement that will work for all concerned.
I’d now like to invite you to read the Editor-in-Chief of one of the most important newspapers in the automotive industry, Keith Crain from Automotive News:
….GM should look at how Ford handled the situation when it sold its Swedish company, Volvo. That seemed like a very civilized transfer, and Ford acted gentlemanly the whole time. That might be something GM should study.
I’m not playing favorites. But if Saab is to die, it should happen in the marketplace, not in some corporate boardroom without even a fair hearing.
We have no plans that include dying. We just want to bring our new vehicles to market and knock a few people’s socks off.
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This week, Saab will have to try to extend its MoU with Chinese partners Youngman and Pang Da, as well as continuing negotiations with General Motors about what will constitute an acceptable deal in their eyes.
There is an important deadline looming with regard to our reconstruction procedure (on the 22nd), so time is precious.
As written above, I hope there is plenty of goodwill in the room. There has to be a way to work this out.
Following successful dealer tours of Germany and Austria, the Saab dealer tour in France got underway on the weekend.
And just how much are people anticipating these dealer visits?
From Saab France:
Eight o’clock sharp, two customers arrive at Saab Rive gauche, the Parisian dealer. They didn’t want to wait till Saturday when the Tour will stop by their own dealer, so they went to a southern Paris located dealer (roughly 30 km south) to see the 9-4x.
A test drive, happy customers. Now the next step … an order.
It’s fantastic to see people enjoying these tours. I can understand that this would be a great opportunity for both dealers and customers. It’s been way too long for all of us, so seeing such a great start to the French tour is a wonderful thing.
Saablog-in also has some preliminary photos of the cars arriving from the French tour. Saablog-in is running a photo competition they’re running in conjunction with Saab Actu, so if you’re attending the tour, don’t forget to send your photos in.
Fridays are never as good as Mondays for people seeing stuff, and this is one that I figured people might find particularly interesting, hence the re-post.
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Who knew that yesterday – 11/11/11 – was going to be dubbed “Nigel Tufnel Day”? Outstanding. Thanks Jim.
We celebrated the alignment of the ones on the calendar by taking a look at the car that could have become the Saab 9-1 if was built, which it wasn’t. That car was the Saab 9-X BioHybrid, a concept car from the 2008 Geneva Motor Show.
That story aroused the interest of an old friend of mine, someone simply known as Djup Strupe, which is Swedish for “Deep Throat”. Dust was blown off the Djup Strupe filing cabinet and the image below was sent via carrier pigeon with a simple note saying how Saab saw their new cars in 2001.
Click to enlarge.
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Back in 2001, of course, the 9-3 Sport Sedan range was still in the final stages of its development. The 9-5 was only a few years old and isn’t referenced in this image, which seems to reflect only cars that were in development at that time.
It features four 9-3 models that we did get to see (eventually) and one that we didn’t.
This submission is a response to me sharing my story as to how I acquired my first Saab. It comes from Pierre B, who is not only a guy I consider to be a good friend, but is also the second hardest-working guy I know in the extended Saab family (after VM himself). Pierre is the Service Manager at Charles River Saab in Boston. If you know him, then you’ll know that what I say about his work ethic is true.
Many of you submitted your own stories in comments. If you’d like to share it here on the front page, please email me (insidesaabofficial-at-gmail.com) and send me your story, along with a few photos.
My thanks to Pierre for sending in the following….
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My wife, Sue, and I had worked at a Saab dealer since 1984, but didn’t purchase our first Saab until 1990. We had been content driving our Chevy’s and Hondas. At the time our first son was born in 1988 we had two Hondas, my wife’s CRX and my Civic Wagon. We swapped cars, and the wagon became the baby hauler. We had both worked with Saabs and liked them a lot, but they were always out of reach for us, and we were happy with our simple, fun and cheap Hondas.
By the time our second son was born a year later, safety became more or a priority than motoring on the cheap and easy, and much as I adored those Hondas they were cracker-boxes. A trade-in finally came our way which seemed a good Saab that we could afford. It was a 1984 900T 4-door 5-speed in Slate Blue, a tan cloth interior and 100,000 miles. It had a very dented door, which we had repaired, and required a bit of work to get it up to snuff (brakes, belts, ball joints, tires…) and other wise was really clean, solid and (in its day) fast.
Though today a six-year 100,000 mile Saab seems barely broken in to me, I was so concerned about damaging the car, especially the pinion bearing in the transmission, that I drove that car very gingerly in the early years. It was Sue’s car, though, so I only drove it on occasion. I do recall being in the car, as a passenger as we drove through Connecticut on I84, a road notorious for its speed traps, and noting that Sue was driving briskly, perhaps too much so. I glanced over and saw the speedometer at 80 mph. I commented that perhaps she was driving with excessive alacrity. “Saabs just don’t like to go 60 mph,” she replied.
Once we had that car, we were hooked. Our next Saab came in 1993, a 9000T, and I inherited the 900. Having realized that the 900 did not have to be treated like a China doll, it put in great service for me through ten years and 125,000 miles of ownership, at which point I sold it to another cellist who drove it another 20,000 miles or so. That was the only 4-door 900 I ever had, and the only 8-valve. It really did change the way we looked at cars. What started as a quest for safety became a passion, not only for me but also for Sue, and ultimately our kids.
I don’t have any digital images of the complete car at hand, but I did find this photo of the rear quarter, taken in 1990 with son Pascal playing in the trunk.
The Saab Dealer Tour of France commenced this weekend (make sure you participer à l’événement and take some photos!), hot on the heels of a fantastic tour through Austria.
The team from Saab Austria has sent in the following final update from their very successful and enjoyable trip.
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November 9
Saab Oellinger in Enns / Upper Austria
Wednesday morning our tour went on to visit Enns. After the successful tour in Vienna our spirits were high and we were welcomed by a enthusiastic Mr Oellinger, the owner of the dealership. Despite the cold weather approx 50 persons joined to have a closer look at the cars. We did have some good conversations again and some offers were requested from customers.
A visitor and Saab fan showed us his self-created background image for his mobile phone.
We could use this as a motto for our Saab 9-4X and 9-5 SportCombi dealer tour….. (perhaps as a motto for the whole company at this time – SW)
On the way to Tyrol this photo was taken to show our country which is completed with this beautiful car.
Autohaus Meisinger, Innsbruck
After a long drive we arrived in the capital of Tyrol, Innsbruck, in the dusk. The first visitor came out from the showroom as soon as we arrived and couldn’t wait to see the cars.
Shortly before the end of our time there, a visitor from Augsburg, Germany, arrived with his Saab 9-5 SportCombi, which was tuned by Hirsch. He welcomed us and said that the journey of 2.5 hrs was quite worthwhile.
The last day of our successful dealer tour started in Vorarlberg. After a cup of hot tea the first visitor arrived with his Saab 9-5 SportCombi followed by a second 9-5 SportCombi and a 9-5 Sedan at the dealership.
A Saab 9-5 gathering in the western part of Austria.
Autohaus Gerster, Dornbirn, Vorarlberg
The last visit of our more than 3.000 km long trip through Austria: the dealership Gerster in Dornbirn, Vorarlberg.
Mr Gerster, the owner of the dealership, positioned his 9-5 Aero Sedan beside the new 9-5 SportCombi. Now a lot of customers could compare both body versions. Some visitors took the opportunity to testdrive the 9-5 Aero Sedan.
We also welcomed some guests from our neighbour country Switzerland
With a little snack the guests were talking about the future, the past and current situation.
We were very happy about the positive outcome of the Austrian dealer tour. After this final visit, we hit the road, heading for Saab Zentrum in Frankfurt, Germany, where we had to handover the cars to our colleagues from France. Their tour will start very soon.
We would like to say thank you to all our visitors and dealers for the tremendous help and the interest shown during this special week!
One of the members at the STCS forum noted a wonderful coincidence back on Friday, which of course, happened to be 11/11/11. I don’t know if he saw his odometer creeping up to this number in the lead-up to Friday and managed his mileage to get this to happen, or if he just had wonderful presence of mind as the magic moment took place, but this is a very good image capture with great timing.
My thanks to Michael for letting me post that serendipitous coincidence here on Inside Saab and also to Mioh for the tip 🙂
Bay Horse Saab, in north-west England, are having an Autumn Sale during November, where they’re offering Approved Used Saabs at great prices, along with the following:
Two years’ free servicing
A free 16GB iPad (WiFi)
Saab GB’s Approved Used Saab program is available at dealerships all over Great Britain. The program is tailored to make sure you get the best used car experience possible. All vehicles are checked and guaranteed prior to being included in the Approved Used program.
Saab multi-point check including vehicle mileage and history
12-month dealer guarantee, not just a warranty
12-month brake, battery and clutch cover on vehicles under 24 months
My personal favourite is the 2008 Aero 2.0T for just £10,000 – bargain! That car, the Saab Approved assurance, plus 2 years free service AND the 16GB iPad sounds like a pretty good package.
