GM as usual bit off more than it could chew by adding yet another division it did not have time or resources to dedicate to. It was hard to say what Saab really was or who it competed against.

The only half ways competitive model it had was the 9-3. The 9-5 has long been outdated and the half *** products GM added such as the rebadged trail blazer 9-7x and rebadged subaru 9-2x did more to hurt the brand than anything in my opinion.

I don't think Volvo will fall into this category. Their products are actually good and well designed thanks to Ford dumping a ton of money into them. They are actually considered a somewhat higher end brand unlike Saab.

 

Two of my buddies with 9-5s had nothing but problems with them. Both had an experience when the car would just die in the middle of traffic and had to be towed.

My 9-3 actually drove OK. It was peppy and fun to drive because of the turbo. It was cheap to buy and maintain. I sold it because it did not feel like a quality car: the doors were misaligned, the exterior plastics were peeling off at 4 years old, big gaps between body panels, funky clutch/shifter. The weird thing about the fold down back seats was to fold them flat you had to move the front seats all the way forward. Almost like the engineers messed up the car dimensions.

Sad to see them go. They are a unique brand with loyal followers. With some investment and a few improvements SAAB could have been a good option in the entry level luxury segment. I actually preferred either 9-3 or 9-5 to a Volvo XC70 which to me handled like a boat.

 

They will not be able to sell Volt ... cuz for the price, its a shitty, unproven car.

I mean how many "great" promises has GM made for the past 15-20 years? sure everything sounds great. but nothing worked and they got fucked.

But they never learned and never will, why?

Cuz our "smart" government bailed their *** out.

GM stands for "General Mismanagement"

or

"Great Mismanagement"

There are way too many stubborn morons in America who still think this way :

"OMG Diesel ? Thats only for trucks ! ITS VERY DIRTY ! ARGH ! HYBRID FTW !"

*sigh*

Volt ... someday, we can laugh about it like we always do to da Crossfire

 

oh well it should make picking up a used 9-3 Vector a bit cheaper now. I think its one of the best looking 4 doors out there, better than a bmw 3 sedan. Now Id love to have a Charger RT or Pontiac G8 instead but the snow here says no as long as I have the 8 for weekend fun. Its either a 9-3 H.O. or a Legacy GT for commuting when my dodge dies, it just turned 170k miles but runs like new and its been paid off for 2 yrs now so its cheaper to keep her.

 

Spyker makes another bid for SAAB

http://money.cnn.com/2009/12/20/auto..._spyker_offer/

 

I like this comment

 

Saab may be coming back there was a little ticker tape on it today (Sunday 20th - Fox News).

The volt and the electric wheel chair were promises made back in the convention, which I covered in the Granny Blog, but most of it got edited out as too political - but I covered those because they said exactly what they planned to do to the automotive industry and so far the promises have been kept!

 

I always considered Saab a quasi-luxury car because overseas they were cheap decades ago but once GM got their hands on it they took it out of that market and tried to fool consumers in the US.

 

GM is gay.
The Corvette ZR1 only puts down 500whp out of the 631bhp it's supposed to have. So that's wat? a 20+ % drivetrain loss.fail.

Idk, I always liked Saabs. They are "dentists" car as Jeremy Clarkson calls it.

 

Despite extending deadline to Jan. 7th, Saab looks to be going the way of Saturn.

 

This has GM written all over it, and they still got our money.

 

Lets see how Volt will make it to the top of the "biggest flop in vehicle history" real soon.

 

Read on Autoblog that GM may turn the upcoming and done 9-5 into a Buick and Opel if Saab goes the way of the dodo.

 

Well Saab lives another day. Saab was sold to Spyker with financing help from Sweden & the EU. Hopefully they do something good with the brand. GM just trashed it.

I think there is definitely a niche for an entry-level Euro brand.

 

Somebody was saved.

The volt should 1/3rd the size and 30k Max with all the luxuries. That's 26k base model.

 

More Corporate Welfare!

 

I have no idea why they want Saab so badly.

sure its a brand that "everyone" knows about, but is it worth it?

Seriously, right now at this moment, I would rather Buy a Hyundai Genesis than anything with the name "SAAB" on it.

 

but its made by ppl who make Jets. Jets are just like faster cars
JUST LIKE.

P.S. The Genesis looks promising.

Can we just ask G.M. for our money back and tell them to go F themselves? This is seriously getting ridiculous.