BeoWorld People & Lifestyle

Re: Saab on the brink

Bentleyman — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 19:05:01 GMT

Saab's are very good quality motor cars.

If the choice was a Peugeot, Vauxhall, Ford, Citroen, Jap crap, malaysian rubbish, or american junk, even most BMW and Merc models OR a Saab model - I choose the SAAB every time, without any doubt - even if the Saab was a 5 or even 10 year old model.

Sad loss for the increasingly bland and boring global car industry with the far-eastern makes dominating the low to mid range cars and the predictable german dullards dominating the mid to upper-mid range of offerings.

Re: Saab on the brink

bayerische — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 17:20:13 GMT

beocool:

vikinger:

but it's more likely that the name will live on after a new start.......... that will take 2 years +

Not so sure about that. GM won't let the Chinese use any of their inventions and equipment that are still with SAAB. They don't want to support a competitor since China is the next big market for GM. Also the brand name SAAB isn't owned by the car factory, but by the aeroplane factory... A new start will be very difficult if not impossible.

Yes, I'm pretty sure of this.

If someone restarts it, it just might be GM. But that's highly unlikely.

GM's standpoint regarding the SAAB technology is pretty clear.

But I'm sure the world will go on.

Re: Saab on the brink

beocool — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 12:13:32 GMT

vikinger:

but it's more likely that the name will live on after a new start.......... that will take 2 years +

Not so sure about that. GM won't let the Chinese use any of their inventions and equipment that are still with SAAB. They don't want to support a competitor since China is the next big market for GM. Also the brand name SAAB isn't owned by the car factory, but by the aeroplane factory... A new start will be very difficult if not impossible.

Re: Saab on the brink

vikinger — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 03:51:21 GMT

The fat lady is singing.

Great company caught between being a low volume niche market producer and being a GM subsidiary.

Museum

Happy Christmas!

Here's hoping someone buys them out of bankruptcy........... but it's more likely that the name will live on after a new start.......... that will take 2 years +

Re: Saab on the brink

Søren Mexico — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 23:04:47 GMT

Sorry to hear this, the SAAB 96 was the best winter car I ever drove.

Re: Saab on the brink

Chris — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 19:24:41 GMT

Rest in Peace Saab - the very best of luck to all employees concerned and for the fans of Saab.

Re: Saab on the brink

bayerische — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 09:23:01 GMT

And today it happened.

Re: Saab on the brink

bayerische — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 15:26:30 GMT

Looks seriously bad for SAAB right now...

Re: Saab on the brink

Lagom — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 16:20:16 GMT

What I liked about SAAB was the clever engineering. The rear hatch on my 1994 900SE had a handle where you pulled it towards you to close. The door was perfectly weighted and closed without touching the outside, which was often dirty. On my model, the rear defrost came on automatically too. The outside mirrors allowed the driver to see in the blindspots through an extended region on the mirrors. (Not aware of any other car sold in the US that had this feature.) Though I never used this next function for its intended purpose, but I had a lot of fun using it on other drivers: the security locks in the doors. Twisting the key in the outside door lock engaged a secondary lock that could only be turned off from the door that activated the system. This was most fun when done from the passenger door because all door plugs are raised and the doors are still locked. It took a long time for someone to figure out what was happening.

Re: Saab on the brink

Stan — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 16:08:21 GMT

elephant:

All great brands deserve to have fans that are as passionate and as eloquent as you !

Being picky ..... but ...

Stan:
Their safety record speaks for itself. Yes, there are other cars that do well on the crash tests, but Saabs do better in real life (look at insurance industry records)

... might not be the cars, it might be the drivers that are attracted to the cars ...

Good point. Quite possible we are self selecting safe drivers.

I was also just reading that Volvo is looking for a new direction for their brand because "safety is now a given". "Everybody does it", and when every car has 10 airbags, does adding 10 more really excite anyone. Maybe it's a good thing Saab never grabbed on to the safety branding... Although, I think some of this goes back to my comments about the weight of paper evaluations - the article hinted that one can compare safety by counting the number of airbags...

Makes me wonder - this winter, 2 local teens were killed when their car (a Korean make) hit some ice, slid sideways into a tree and split in 1/2 (no drinking involved and both were wearing seat belts). I'm willing to bet, regardless of number of airbags, those kids would have faired better in a Saab. My son is almost driving age... I'd like to have him drive a Saab, but I'd have to buy a 1999 model to find one that isn't a turbo... regardless of the safety of the car, I'm doubtful that a 16 yr old + turbo is a safe mix...

Re: Saab on the brink

vikinger — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 09:27:21 GMT

bayerische:

To be honest, what's so "different" about SAAB today compared to others?

Enlighten me.

Hi Andreas,

Not a great deal to add to Stan's response.

Saab were very different once: my Saab 96 was very distinctive in appearance, had a sporting performance, and that great freewheel device that caught everyone out who had just moved from a conventional car to Saab. (Clutchless gearchanging, but don't expect anything when you mistakenly think you've just changed down for downhill braking!)

My current 9-5 Sportwagon Anniversary estate has the capacity of a furniture van and, as Stan says, very very comfortable seats. It also has fabulous front wheel drive (which got me off an icy car park a couple of years ago when a friend had to abandon his rear wheel Jaguar XF.) BMW have spent years of advertising trying to make-out that rear wheel drive was superior and so many have fallen for that line..... but it just isn't true for wet or icy conditions.

The cars currently share a floor pan with Opel/ Vauxhall models and that has led many to think that the Saab models are just a bit of badge engineering. Nothing could be further from the truth. For 20+years Saab has shared floor pans with other makes like Lancia and Fiat and it didn't result in unwarranted disparaging reviews. They've also always picked the best of engines from other makers (even under General Motors ownership).

And..... on the safety front, since the Saab 96 of 1970 (which actually had a column change) they've always locked the gearstick for security rather than the steering wheel (allegedly after some unexpected steering-in-motion-lock-ups with other non-Saab cars.)

If Saab don't survive there's undoubtedly plenty to choose from. Bit like B&O.

Graham

Re: Saab on the brink

elephant — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 08:18:37 GMT

All great brands deserve to have fans that are as passionate and as eloquent as you !

Being picky ..... but ...

Stan:
Their safety record speaks for itself. Yes, there are other cars that do well on the crash tests, but Saabs do better in real life (look at insurance industry records)

... might not be the cars, it might be the drivers that are attracted to the cars ...

Re: Saab on the brink

Stan — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 13:36:55 GMT

For me, at least, their most important difference is that I actually fit comfortably within. I'm 6'4'', but have relatively short legs (hence, long torso), and I do not fit in any Lexus (and many other Japanese makes), or the smaller German imports (A4, BM3-series - didn't bother with the MB, even the 5 series and A6 are tight). I have enough headroom in a 9-3 and 9-5 (old and new generation).

Saab's are a great combination of praticality, performance and safety. They have some of the most comfortable seats (my current Aero seats are most comfortable I've sat in). They usually have more useable luggage and cabin space than other similarly sized cars (at least any I've compared). Their rear seats fold flat so you get a nice flat cargo space - I was able to carry my son's upright bass (and me and my son) in my old 9-5 - it did not fit in a much larger Camry (on loan from the dealer because the door fell off my Toyota mini-van). They get good mileage for their peppy performance. The turbos are not the fastest from 0-60 (who cares, I don't race from stoplights), but from 40-80 they scream (exactly where you need the power to pass on two lane highways, or merge onto a crowded highway). Their safety record speaks for itself. Yes, there are other cars that do well on the crash tests, but Saabs do better in real life (look at insurance industry records).

They are great in the snow. Front wheel drive is better in the snow than rear-wheel without the added cost, weight and complexity of 4 wheel drive. Audi sells FWD, but they are impossible to find at dealers in the US as "everybody" wants 4wd.

The new 9-5 has a turning radius almost 1 ft less than the Buick LaCross which is built on the same platform. This allows the big car to feel much smaller, and makes it easier to manuver in tight spaces. Why didn't GM do this?

They elevated the cup holder to a functional piece of sculpture (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMxsf7PA95E)

Unfortunately for Saab, most of these "features" are not noticed in a short test drive. With the internet, people do a lot of "paper research" and compare specs (0-60, interior room, mpg), but don't understand that these specs are not all equal (I'm sure the Camry that couldn't hold the bass had more spec'd cargo space than my 9-5)... and car buyers seem prefer one-dimensional thinking (I want the best performance OR the best economy OR the best safety - I think stats show Saab is best in safety, at least some years, but Volvo has done a much better job with the marketing on this front) rather than multi-dimensional analysis (I want the best combination of performance, economy and safety - and this is a hard story to market).

Oh yeah, I do think the new 9-5 is a gorgeous car that is not easy to mistake for any other car out there today - and there are not many cars that you can say this about anymore.

Finally, they're the underdog, and they have a history of innovation (heated seats, turbos, air conditioned seats, active head restraints) so maybe they'll innovate something clever in the future.

Does the world really need this brand? No. Is the automotive world more interesting because of them? I think so.

Stan

Re: Saab on the brink

bayerische — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 18:49:58 GMT

To be honest, what's so "different" about SAAB today compared to others?

Enlighten me.

Re: Saab on the brink

Nickyg63 — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 05:25:57 GMT

Personally, i think that once gm got there hands into saab that was the beginning of the end for me!! Saabs were quirky, different and the buyers were very faithful. In the gm era they were just rebodied opel models!