What Makes SAABs Great
 

Apparently, nothing.

SAAB goes the way of the Edsel today. Good riddance.

The elves of trollhattan are unemployed...Have to admit, I liked the 1st version of the Sonnett...

And the prime cookie making season is just ending so they can't be transitioned.

I never likes Saabs much but it was a great brand with a loyal following, until GM ruined it. Shame. Our tax dollars at work.

So... the SAAB story is over?

groan

If Saabs were so great and had such a following, why couldn't they survive at all without GM's money? They only went as long as they did by being a parasite on GM.

GM did make them worse. --MUCH worse.

I thought that Saab was doing well when GM bought them. (?) ...sales certainly were good, considering the price.

An interesting article....

GM's Saab brand to wind down - Dec. 18, 2009

I'm curious as to what "undisclosed issues" prevented the sale of Saab to Koenigsegg. Probably some stuff on that balance sheet that didn't look good at all.

Here are five lessons GM can take away from the experience, if they have the sense:

Five lessons that GM can learn from the Saab debacle - Drive On: A conversation about the cars and trucks we drive - USATODAY.com

SAAB was a good company and could be profitable in the 60s and 70s, but they could never have survived on their own to today.

SAAB was already a money-losing company at the time GM took them over in the late 80s.

Ultimately, after many years, GM was able to make it profitable for a while, but ultimately not. Yes, GM made a ton of mistakes, but whether the outcome would have eventually been the same is not really known.

The car market, marketing, and sales is a lot different in the 21st century than it was in the 20th. There were going to be casualties, no matter what.

My two pre-GM Saabs were both great cars. Remember, a good many legendary car companies have failed to make money, all the way up to companies like Ferrari and Rolls-Royce. Great cars and profit don't always go hand in hand.

so can you buy a SAAB jet to go with your sukhoi 27?

first car ever for me to crack the 125mph was this girls saab 9-3 (?). not bad, but ugly. the keyhole in between the seats had cool factor.

Small
And
Always
Broken


:D

Well SAAB is now in the Valhalla of automobile companies.

Come on now, guys, SAAB made some decent machines in their day. The 9000 turbo was a great alternative to BMWs and their clones, and the 900 SPG was quite sweet...all had a ton of character. In the 80s SAAB was a small company about the size of Porsche...I miss the days when small automakers could survive on thier own. GM ruined SAAB with the Opel 900/9-3, SAABaru, and SAABlazer. If those are what you are saying "good riddance" to, then, well, yes.

It's a sad day when any niche car company bites the dust. I haven't been interested in them in years, (and neither have many others, apparently) but they made some pretty interesting cars.

Maybe BMW will resurrect the Sonnet in 10 years with a modern 2 seater.

I can't speak for anyone else's car, but my rust-free '86 900T would cruise at 130 mph while carrying a sofa in the back and getting 28 mpg. It had 300k miles on it and still running strong, burning no oil when I donated it to charity.

My Carrera should last so long.

-e.

What's wrong with SAAB's?

My GM 97 SAAB 900SE Turbo is a pretty solid car.