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An update from Saab’s Tour de France

The Saab Dealer Tour in France continues this week and we’ve got a lot more photos, from Metz, Strasbourg and Mulhouse.

I just received this image, from a guy many of you might know as Golfhunter. He runs the French Saab website, Saablog-in as well Saabs United’s new French translation. he caught up with the tour party in Chambéry today. That’s his classic 900 on the right, and the car he’d like to have next is on the left 🙂

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In addition to dealers and customers getting a look at the new Saab 9-4x and 9-5 SportCombi, a few members of the French motoring press have taken the opportunity to come along and check things out, too.

Carissime.com attended one of the sessions and had a chance to take a quick drive in the Saab 9-4x Aero. They posted a short review online and their feedback was very positive indeed.

Googletrans:

[It is] impressive on its 20″ wheels, the Saab 9-4X is designed to affirm a strong identity and we can say that it succeeds. The front is particularly well thought out with a real research work in the interpretation of Saab style suited to a big SUV….
…. Our mini trial was very short but our first impressions are really positive , more (relatively speaking) the price is reasonable in relation to the services offered.

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I mentioned in an earlier article how important these tours are, not only for prospective customers, but also for lifting the spirits of the dealerships and service staff.

I think the following picture really does tell a thousand words in respect of this – dealer staff enjoying a chance to check out one of the new cars….

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Below is a gallery of images from the stops in Strasbourg, Metz and Mulhouse. Thanks to the Saab team in France for sending them along.

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Saab Dealer Tour – France

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.

Click the images to enlarge.

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Saab Dealer Tour of France is underway

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.

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Conclusion – Saab Dealer Tour of Austria

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.

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November 10

Autohaus Steinhauser, Bregenz/Kennelbach, Vorarlberg

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!

Photo competition for Saab Dealer Tour of France

A couple of our enthusiast websites are running a photo competition for the Saab Dealer Tour of France that is commencing on the weekend.

If you’d like to go along but you haven’t seen the dates or venues yet, you can see them at the following link: Saab Dealer Tour – France.

Saab Actu and Saablog-in will co-host the competition with support from competition sponsors: performance partners Hirsch Performance and Saab scale model sellers, Dimini.ch

Saablog-in & Saab Actu – along with with Saab Automobile France, Hirsch Performance and Dimini.ch – invite every French Saab fan attending the Saab Tour de France to send in their best pictures of the event.

The 10 best photographers will receive some great awards!

Aspiring photosnappers should make sure they attend one of the Saab Dealer Tour – France events and then send their photos in to Remi from SaabActu, via email to remi.saabactu-at-yahoo.fr (replace the -at- with @, of course).

Update from the Saab dealer tour of Austria

Things have been moving along with the Saab dealer tour in Austria and it looks like they’re having a great time, showing off the Saab 9-5 SportCombi and Saab 9-4x to both dealer staff and potential customers.

Despite the current uncertainty, it feels great to see stuff like this happening, and the positive response it’s been receiving.

The crew in Austria sent through the following updates:

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November 7

In Carinthia, in the south of Austria, a lot of interested people and Saab fans came to see the cars.
The Eisner group in Carinthia put in a lot of effort to offer a good insight in the new range for everybody. Although the questions about Saab are many, the spirit of the event is the same everywhere. Each stop offers individual conversations and contacts.

A highlight for us was the first visitor who didn’t come from Austria or Germany. A guy from Holland who has a second residence in Austria came with his 900 convertible (with the top open!) and had a look at the new models. We had very positive conversations again.

Even a bit of rain could not change the atmosphere the next day and the tour could go on.

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At the Winter dealer showroom in Graz, Styria, we were expected and welcomed. After a little snack for us we were able to present the 9-4X and the 9-5.

The highlight at this dealership was that one customer spontaneously signed a contract for the purchase of a new 9-5 SportCombi!

Mr. Heinz Kuss from the dealership Winter and Mr. Stefan Mladek complimented the customer on the first purchase.

Just before the day ended a Saab fan from Slovenia arrived. He drove a long distance to see the new range. Although he didn’t get to spend a long time with the new Saabs, he agreed that the drive was worthwhile.

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November 8

After the news from yesterday evening, the interest from the visitors on the Austria dealer Tour was bigger than ever. In the morning at the dealer Auto Stahl we received some concrete requests from customers.

The event was topped after midday at the biggest Saab dealer in Austria, Saab Wien Oberlaa. Its the only dealer in Austria that sells only Saab vehicles.

Nearly 150 people came to see both cars. A lot of price lists and product information was distributed and visitors took them home with pleasure. Some people decided to take a Saab and will follow the coming decisions between Sweden and China very closely.

This day was also a big day for the employees of Saab Oberlaa. They were able to talk about the new cars with customers in a comfortable and positive atmosphere.

We appreciated being able to meet a very special guest: Mr. Linz from China! He has driven Saabs for a long time and at he was in Vienna for private matters when we met him. He was very interested to see the new models and he had some special parting words to share: ”In China Saab has always been a special brand, we are proud to assume an alliance with this Swedish company!”

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Remaining dates and venues for the Austrian tour…… click to enlarge.

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Saab Dealer Tour – France

The Austrian Saab Dealer Tour continues this week, until Thursday.

This coming weekend, the tour will begin in France, where it will run from November 12th to 22nd.

This tour is a little different as it will be split into two tour groups to provide wider coverage in a short space of time. There’s some doubling up of times in the schedule because they can now be in two places at once.

NOTE: Both teams will have the 9-4x and the 9-5 SportCombi, so there is no need to be anxious that you might miss one of the new vehicles.

The dates, times and venues are as follows:

November 12

1000 – 1200 – MELUN MOTORS
620 Impasse Epinette Pole automobiles
77240 Vert St Denis
Tél : 01 64 09 21 73

November 14

0800 -1000 – AUTO VAL
8bis Rue des Campanules
77185 Lognes
Tél : 01 60 17 28 77

1000 -1230 – KRYSTAL SAS
21 rue Jules Guesde
59650 VILLENEUVE-D’ASCQ

Continue reading Saab Dealer Tour – France

Saabosphere – links we liked this week

Let’s start with a few internal links…….

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The Saab dealer tour of Austria continues. Here’s the 9-4x in Klagenfurt/Carintha yesterday…..

The tour continues today at Auto Eisner, Autohaus Winter and Auto Ebner and then moves on to other venues every day this week, until Thursday. Click the image below for dates and venues.

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I’m tracing details of proposed tours in other countries and will bring the dates to the front page as they come to hand.

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If you haven’t seen them yet, we put together three mosaic images to celebrate reaching 100,000 fans on Facebook. They’re available for download, either in very large format or in a smaller format suitable for your computer desktop wallpaper.

Get the mosaics here. And this video shows you how we put it together.

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One of the readers at the Saab World forum has posted a review of his Saab 9-4x XWD Premium. Mark V has had his 9-4x for around a month and he gives a very thorough review of the car, which is his fourth Saab.

I know people thought I was just being a company guy when I wrote about how good this vehicle is (part 1 and part 2). But I wasn’t, it really is an absolute cracker. And there’s no-one more qualified to tell you about than a guy who’s forked over his own hard-earned for one.

Saab dealer tour begins in Austria

I just received the first images and thoughts from the Saab dealer tour that commenced in Austria today. This follows hot on the heels of the successful dealer tour in Germany over the last few weeks.

The tour kicked off today in Salzburg, with the Saab 9-5 SportCombi and Saab 9-4x being shown to prospective customers and invited guests. I just received the following report from the event from Saab Austria:

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More than 50 Guests, visited the Saab Dealer in Salzburg, Sterneckstraße 28, the first station of the Austrian 9-4X and 9-5 SportCombi dealer tour.

Most of the guests were loyal, long time Saab drivers, who wanted to see the news models. But new costumers also came to the dealer to get a first glimpse on the new models from Saab. The mood was very positive and the visitors appreciated the idea of this dealer tour a lot.

Of course everyone wanted to see the all new 9-4X and the 9-5 SportCombi, but many people also had questions regarding the short and long term future of the Saab brand. The atmosphere was optimistic and positive due to the good news last week.

The Saab Brand Manager of Saab Salzburg, Mr. Tobias Loos and Country Director, Mr. Stefan Mladek were satisfied with the event very happy about the level of interest and the enthusiasm of the visitors.

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If you want to attend one of the future dealer stops in Austria, the dates for the rest of the dealer tour are listed below. Click to enlarge.

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Saab Dealer Tour spreads from Germany to Austria

I spoke with Henrik Claesson from Saab Germany a few days ago and the dealership tour they conducted through Germany over the last few weeks has been an outstanding success.

The dealerships involved in the tour were very appreciative of the opportunity, as were the guests who attended, the vast majority of whom saw the Saab 9-4x and the Saab 9-5 SportCombi for the first time.

The tour has been such a success that the same model is now being used for a tour of Austria, starting this weekend. Other markets are considering the model, too, and I’ll bring you details of those tours as they come to hand.

If you’re in Austria or close by, you might want to consider the dates and locations on the following brochure. Click to enlarge.

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