
A Saab Story (2017) - indigodaddy
https://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2017/03/a-saab-story/
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xattt
Is the key here to signalling to the enthusiast that they’re understood
through consistency of a product over time?

Consider the Chevy brand. Their trucks/large SUVs have stayed the same, and
have a cult following because of it.

Same with the VAG lineup (or any other manufacturer). Porsches, Audi, and VW
each have a group of enthusiasts (obviously representing different slices of
society) because there has been consistency in each brand through the decades.

This extends to the non-car world as well. Apple is doing a good job of losing
that enthusiast crowd by churning out crappy products and coasting on brand
loyalty alone (though the tide may be turning).

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KineticLensman
My wife and I owned several Saabs over the years. We primarily stopped buying
them because they became GM vehicles under the bonnet. Also, the only local
dealership had a sexist salesman who was incredibly rude to my wife.

But when they were good they were good! I walked away unscathed from a Saab
that was totalled in a high-speed crash with an HGV. Its replacement clocked
208,000 miles.

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sliken
My family had numberous 99s, 900s, and 9000s over the years. Saab lost it's
quirkyness. Saab ditched the high profile tires (which were great in the
snow), the front biased weight distribution (which were great in the snow),
the ignition on the floor (much harder to steal then an ignition on the
steering column), and generally started looking more like BMWs.

They went from practical and safe cars to chasing BMW for the luxury sedan
market. They tried with lower ground clearance, lower profile tires, wider
tires, ignition on the steering column, power windows, power locks, better
materials in the cockpit etc. The result was a dramatic increase in cost and
complexity, but never got particularly close to BMW for driving refinement,
handling, and of course they never matched BMWs RWD. There wasn't much
competition from BMW for a practical car. I moved apartments several times in
a Saab, with the hatch back back, giant trunk, and seats that folded down I
could easily get desks, beds, tables, and even couches between apartments.

So the result is SAAB lost their old customers and never managed to steal
luxury customers from other brands.

Amusingly I see see SAABs occasionally in snow rallies... RIP.

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dav123123
I loved my SAAB 900, my first vehicle... but as the article pointed out, GM
killed the soul of SAAB and should be viewed as a warning when buying a
company. Culture matters!

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bonestamp2
I had a GM era SAAB (9-3) and I loved it. I was looking for something fun,
relatively inexpensive and different. It satisfied all of those.

I can see how GM's changes were a turn off for traditional SAAB buyers but I
can also understand that GM was trying to make it profitable and that means
some things had to change. It's too bad they couldn't make it work.

Side note: many of the SAAB engineers ended up at Volvo and I love how Volvo
now puts the ignition between the seats. Now they need "night panel" mode. :)

~~~
linksnapzz
Sadly, GM was never very good at integrating acquired companies, and finding
economies of scale between Saab, GM Europe, and GM North America was a bridge
too far.

Not only that-Sweden is an expensive place to build anything. Volvo has been
making cars for years in places like Benelux, Nova Scotia and now South
Carolina, whereas Saabs only came from Trollhattan and maybe Uusikaupunkki in
Finland for 900/9-3 convertibles.

