Tag: Swadeology

This might seem like a strange topic to write about, given that I now earn my living writing about a car company on the internet, but sometimes you’ve just got to roll with these things when they come to you.

Last week, here in Australia, we had our biggest horse race of the year: The Melbourne Cup. It’s referred to as ‘The Race That Stops The Nation’ and it’s no mere boast. All around the country, workplaces grind to a halt at 3pm to watch the 24 nags run the 2-mile course. For the bookies, it’s the biggest betting day of the year. At Flemington racecourse itself, well over 100,000 people cram themselves in, dressed to the nines and gulping down chicken and champagne for breakfast, then just champagne for the rest of the day’s meals.

The event is almost as much about fashion these days as it is about horseflesh. If your idea of entertainment is seeing a flock of loaded, but very well dressed women sitting in a gutter, shoes-off and dishevelled, head down to Flemington around 6pm during the Spring Racing Carnival. It’s surprisingly entertaining, but back to the race……

I joined in and watched The Cup on television. I didn’t have any money invested, but you want to be able to talk intelligently about the race when one of your friends calls or emails you to tell you about his/her winnings.

Something that I saw on the TV coverage really made me sit up and take notice. After the race, the winning horse was brought to the presentation area along a path going right through the crowd. As I watched this, it struck me how many people were holding up their smartphones. The crowd wasn’t a huge wall of cheering suits and frocks as you might imagine. It was a wall of raised arms and gadgets, with everyone watching the magnificent animal that was little more than six feet in front of them through a tiny 3-inch screen. This photo doesn’t quite do it justice, but you’ll get the impression.

Photo: The Age

I saw this video earlier today, and it reminded me of the Melbourne Cup scene and the way instant communications and social media have changed the way we live. It’s a US comedian named Louis CK talking about his Twitter account (less than 2 minutes, but funny and quite true):

The point, and the question(s):

Has our recent obsession with ‘connection’ and gadgetry reduced our aspiration for actual experience? And has the market for providing that instant connection taken precedence over the experience/product it’s covering?

Continue reading Is the internet slowly strangling the car industry?

It was good to have a weekend to get away from things, to recharge a little and come back ready to tackle all the things waiting to be done. Monday morning is upon us and it’s a new week, and another big week for Saab Automobile.

Our Memorandum of Understanding with new prospective owners Youngman and PangDa was signed just last Friday and today that MoU will see its first test – a creditors meeting at the Vanersborg district court. This hearing is a standard part of our reorganisation process and it will see our business plan presented by our Administrator, Guy Lofalk.

We need the approval of 75% of our creditors to see the plan proceed and if that it achieved, our reorganisation will continue.

That will be a good first step. There are a number of other steps to be taken and approvals to be gained before our future is set in stone. There are several Swedish authorities that need to approve this deal, as well as the European Investment Bank, our former owner, General Motors, and of course there is still Chinese approval required from the NDRC.

All of these bodies will be dealt with methodically and in due course. Each represents a hurdle of a different size, however we’re confident that we can present a workable case to all of them.

——

I started working at Saab at the beginning of April this year and the story of this company has had so many twists and turns since that time. ‘Twin Peaks’ creator David Lynch couldn’t have come up with a more twisted storyline if he tried. It would be a little bit naïve to think that absolutely everything was tied up neatly right now, but hopefully the remaining curves on this road are gentle ones.

Already, there have been some good stories coming into my inbox. Signs of a ‘Saab Spring’, if you don’t mind the metaphor.

A dealership in the US happily reporting their first Saab 9-4x sale over the weekend, calling it ‘the first of many’.

Saab of North Olmsted embarking on the biggest dealership promotion I’ve ever encountered with the Snap Up a Saab campaign that will run throughout November.

A guy I’m familiar with from my old website, Saabs United, writing to me for wheel and tyre advice for the 9-4x he’s importing from the USA into his home country.

And the continuation of the Saab Dealer Tour through Germany, which I’m desperately disappointed that I can’t participate in personally, and which I’ll share some more photos from shortly.

We have so much to do, and so much to share. We’ve got so many good things on the horizon. I can’t wait to have this deal put to bed so that we can get back to building some absolutely fantastic vehicles once again.

It’s a new week. The ride isn’t over yet. It’s just beginning.

Please excuse me whilst I air out some thoughts here (again)……

If you’ve been following my writings for even a little while, you’ll know I have certain…… issues….. with some elements in the automotive press. There are some newspapers, especially in Sweden, who I like to question about their approach to Saab, for example. This concern of mine isn’t confined to the print media, however.

What I’d like to take issue with today is the class of automotive media out there who have taken it upon themselves to actually wish Saab dead.

My questions to them are as follows:

Almost all of the people I’ve met in the professional automotive media sector are car people who happen to be in the fortunate position of working in the field that they love. They have their favourites, but by and large, they appreciate cars from all different makes. They have an incredible, detailed knowledge of automotive history – who made this, who designed that, and when – and yes, they also read the news. Almost without exception amongst the people I’ve met in this field – the automotive professionals – they’re rooting for Saab to survive, even if it’s only quietly.

Why aren’t you?

Is the fact that you are a self-ordained automotive analyst more important to you than the health and diversity of the industry you cover? Is your need to be on the right side of happenstance so crucial that you are compelled to be visible, stating loudly every prediction that the bookies would favour?

I’ve said it numerous times before, even just a few weeks ago, that the automotive world would be no worse off if it didn’t have another 100,000 Brand X motor vehicles. But it’s a much better place if we can carry on and make 100,000 Saabs a year.

The automotive world, like so many other sectors of the world we live in, is being legislated into a sameness that is slowly chasing away the passion for cars that was previously held close by so many people. This industry needs diversity. It needs creative thinking from different companies in different parts of the world.

I have no personal interest in the vehicles made companies like Nissan, Audi, Peugeot or Kia (amongst many others). But I would never begrudge them their place in the industry or actually wish them gone from it. Their presence in the industry and the competition they provide, the innovation that that competition drives, and their different takes on styling and packaging are what makes this industry interesting. It’s what makes companies improve.

If you’re really a car person, you get that. You understand. You love your brand, but you appreciate what’s there in others, too.

There is a market for Saab in the automotive world. We can trade on design and a blend of packaging, safety, technology, performance and utility that is unique to us. Saab being present in the automotive world doesn’t hurt anyone. It makes a contribution.

Wishing Saab away from the automotive world does nothing more than make an already too homogenous image look even more dull.

So why would anyone do it? Simply to be seen as being right?

What a victory that would be. And what a cost paid by others to achieve it.

——

Apologies again if this seems a little downcast and gloomy.

I remain, as always, convinced of Saab’s future as a car company, simply because we have too many good things happening, too much good product and too many good people, to simply have things fall by the wayside.

I just get annoyed by some of the things I read and the thought that others out there would be reading them, too.

Some will assume that this post is aimed at certain websites or individuals. It’s not. There’s a whole class of sites out there playing the same broken record – looking at analysis rather than looking at the product, or the product plan. It’s aimed at the class, not the individual.

Hopefully this has cleared my head, and we can get back to car stuff in the next day or so 🙂

I’ve got admit, this situation is wearing me down.

I’m sure that the vast majority of you are aware of my history with Saabs United as its former owner, editor, gopher and whatever. SU remains the most active Saab enthusiast weblog on the net.

Through the sale of Saab by GM back in 2009/10, I was able to use Saabs United as a channel to convey very accurate and timely news as to what was happening with the sale situation. It was a trusted receptacle of information about Saab because the various sources confiding in me knew that my heart was 200% behind the company.

My motivation was to make sure that the world knew that Saab was a viable company – which I still wholeheartedly believe it is today. Back then, if GM were going to make a decision about shutting Saab, I was determined that they weren’t going to be allowed to do it quietly, without full disclosure about the situation (or as full a disclosure as I could provide).

I was proud of the fact that Saabs United maintained a very-near-to-100% accuracy record and became a reference point for Saab employees, enthusiasts and even the professional media. We even had one newspaper reporter in Sweden who used to troll through SU comments to dig up subjects for his ‘opinion’ pieces. What a laugh.

When I took this job at Saab, there were a number of people who warned me that my freedoms would be curtailed and that I would find it hard to cope with, given my previous independence and willingness to tell the story. I accepted this, exhausted as I was from the relentless workload that I had to balance with the blog, my full time job and family commitments.

Putting the news element to one side, I also accepted this because I wanted to take my own personal mission beyond the provision of news, which dominated my blogging life for nearly two years. From a product perspective, I was tired of arguing with armchair quarterbacks about what was involved in developing Saabs from the outside. I wanted a chance to show them first hand, from the inside, what went into the vehicle development, manufacturing and marketing processes from the Saab perspective.

Personally speaking, the problem for me now is that I’ve shed the full-time job and have plenty of time to do this blogging thing right, but it’s all about the business right now, and I’m tied by the company’s need to maintain radio silence unless there’s something concrete to talk about.

I’m a toothless tiger.

——

You can call this post an exercise in catharsis if you like.

It’s extremely frustrating to an old Saab warrior like me to not be able to rush full speed into the breech as I used to, especially seeing I’ve still got the energy and passion to do so.

It’s extremely frustrating to me that I no longer have the information that I used to, that I can’t better inform people as to what’s really going on here.

It’s extremely frustrating to me that I can’t develop the website that Saab employed me to build because I can’t fulfil the promise that my previous record offered. I still have all the tools to do so. What I don’t have is the material to work with on a regular enough basis.

It’s extremely frustrating to me that I can’t bring my friends, the many Saab enthusiasts I’ve met over the years, closer to this company, which is what this whole exercise was intended to do.

It’s extremely frustrating to me that I can’t fight back when I see various automotive columnists writing this company off in exercises that resemble the provision of entertainment rather than addressing the real questions of what this company can do, and whether the automotive sector is better off with or without this company.

It’s beyond frustrating to me that I can’t help you all sort through the bullshit.

——

Before any of you accuse me of getting big-headed here, I do not profess to be any sort of information saviour, nor do I think that the provision of information can solve this company’s current issues – people with resources are the only ones who can do that. I do think, however, that the provision of accurate information can help people to better understand and accept certain circumstances, and thereby remain loyal to and interested in the company.

I’m still here and I’ll remain here because I believe in the potential of Inside Saab. I believe in Saab Automobile, and the Saab Spirit that people outside this circle simply do not understand. This role is something I dreamed of doing years ago when I first started Trollhattan Saab (the predecessor to Saabs United). I truly believe that this type of exercise has positive benefits to offer a car company, and that a running and functional Saab would be incredibly well positioned to make maximum use of it.

I just wish I had the licence and the access to do a better job for the readers out there because you’ve supported this company in a superhuman way and you deserve it.

Have a good weekend. Here’s to getting all this stuff sorted so that we can one day run this place like a normal car company. There’s so much on offer here.

Hi all,

I’m currently back in my home country, Australia, which is why the second press release from last night was posted by Ludvig, my colleague at Saab.

That explains some of the quietness around here the last few days.

To answer a few of the questions that popped up…..

Who is Ludvig?

Ludvig and I work together in social media at Saab. He’s Swedish, very experienced at what he does, and I’m told he has rock-hard abs. Both of our roles have been somewhat restricted by Saab’s current circumstances, which is why we haven’t generated as much social content as we would like. But we continue to plan and await the opportunity to execute.

Am I still working for Saab?

Upon hearing that I’d returned home, one friend asked if I was still working for Saab.

The answer is Yes, absolutely. I just had to return home after three months in Sweden. The timing is pretty unfortunate, to say the least, but was necessary. I’m looking to get back to Sweden in November and will be working from Oz in the meantime.

What are you working on?

Being here makes it a little slower in getting content together, for obvious reasons. Time zones can be a PITA.

Right now, I’m working on a few things that should be quite interesting for people to see:

• An interview with former Saab rally driver, Simo Lampinen
• Your Q&A responses, part 2
• What the Swedish police thought about the Saab 9-5
• And of course, the Facebook 100,000 fans celebrations, which are coming along remarkably well.

What’s happening at Saab?

Being in Australia, I was asleep when the second press release was published earlier today, announcing Guy Lofalk’s intentions to seek an end to administration and Saab’s intentions to appeal and have him replaced. I’ve just woke up to this news myself and being so far away from what’s going on, I’m also still trying to understand it.

Obviously, with this being a company website, I am very limited in what I can say about it due to market sensitivities. My understanding, however, is that the court would look at these actions quite quickly, so I think the matter should be decided soon. Which way the decision will go is a matter for the court and the parties making their submissions. It will be extremely interesting to see if the reasons behind the applications are made public.

If you have been following trusted news sources on this issue in the last weeks, there appears to be a theme emerging, one that seems to have culminated in the most recent events.

I want to thank you all for your patience at the moment.

I know there are a lot of questions out there, from a lot of concerned people. If you know me, then you’ll know that it’s been extremely frustrating that I haven’t been able to play the role that I’m accustomed to in this type of situation. I’m used to providing as accurate and detailed coverage as possible and pointing out the speculation and/or errors appearing in the mainstream press (of which there have been plenty, especially in the last few days). It’s a somewhat sad trade-off that I haven’t been able to do this, but one that I’m content to make. And it’s pleasing to know that other independents are taking up that fight.

The following was left on Inside Saab earlier this afternoon and I thought I’d take a moment to bring it to the front page and provide a response. The writer is Harley, in response to today’s brief press release:

Are we really all being sensible, continuing to hang on to our hopes for this once great company? I wonder.

Yes, there may be anomalies in media reporting. But we all know what SAAB [has] been through over the past 10 years, and even the folk that work there must be getting pretty fed up by now. Sadly, I can’t help thinking that the company’s disappearance is now inevitable, and I wonder how they can possibly make it through yet another year at this stage. Even if they do, any future incarnation of the company is likely to be a far cry from anything it’s ever been, or that we could ever hope it to be.

I know there are a lot of people hanging in there for Saab. I know that Harley’s not the only one feeling this way. But…… there are also a lot of people working on the company’s continued existence, too. There’s even a bunch working on future Saabs and the technology that will be in them – even now.

As Harley asks, is it worth it?

Continue reading On Saab and hope

I’ve been writing about Saab on the web for nearly seven years now and anyone who’s been following Saab’s journey over that period will know that there has been a lot to read and write about over that time.

I’m fortunate now in that I’m employed by Saab to write for them. I have never been able to claim a lack of bias in my writing, and that’s especially so today. I’m comfortable with that, as I’ve never pretended to be anything but an enthusiast.

Whilst I’m paid by the company, I still try to make sure that there’s some level of balance in what I write. I won’t air all of our dirty laundry, but I will report the bad news. I’ll also make sure that the good sides of this company that are overlooked in the mainstream media get some time in the sun, too.

I’ve been labelled by one editor-in-chief as a corporate PR shill, which I think is a bit rich. Whilst I do have to liaise with PR about market-sensitive stories, and whilst I do maintain a page that speaks to tens of thousands of people per month, I actually sit outside of the PR department at Saab. PR’s job is to speak to the press. My job is to speak on a more personal level to the people and in time, when this is all over, include people in some good Saab experiences and stories. That’s the broad difference, as I see it.

I’d like Saab enthusiasts to be able to read articles on the web and make some judgements about those articles. Too often I hear people panicking about something they see in the news. Yes, we’ve been in some serious situations, but it’s worth bearing in mind that things are generally not as sensational as they are written up to be.

Here’s a few thoughts on some of the various types of information going on out there.

Continue reading Internet journalism – the good, the bad and the ugly