Quote:
Originally Posted by GuidoK
We call it a bastard child nobody wants 
No one is waiting for GM parts in a saab, let alone a bad handling GM car with just a saab body (bumper that is, rest of the body is just an Oldsmobile Bravada).
The saab 9-7 is so much what saab wasnt about. Its a wet dream from some stupid american gm manager that obviously sold really badly.
Thats the difference between ford and gm.
GM bought saab and thought they knew whats best for saab. Saab went bankrupt for that.
Ford bought volvo and let them do their own thing. They could go through ford's parts bin if they wanted too but had the freedom to make their own parts. Volvo flourished (they've shown steady groth in all recession years), and ford even got to make the insane focus RS-400 with that crazy 5cyl volvo engine...
Saab never showed any growth since gm bought it in 2000.
In fact, 1999, the year before the buy out, saab probably had its top year both in europe and the US. Thats how bad GM was for saab.
And now that gm sold Opel (another fail story regarding the last 2 decades), they're gone out of europe. good riddance. GM are one of the biggest bunglers of the car industry if you regard their global policy. |
A little know reason why Saab failed ... they simply ran out of architects to buy their cars.
Actually, I had a '98 9-3 for a few years ... it was kinda fun, once you got past the horrific turbo lag. It did great in the snow and icy weather. I liked the car, but wasn't sad to see it go.
Not being an architect (ha ha) ... the main reason I got a Saab, besides being a bit of a fan of the 900's ... it was due to being in an accident in my buddy's dad's 9000. It was pretty bad, we were doing about 80 going around a long corner when my buddy lost the rear end and took out a long line of mailboxes, bounced off the guardrail on the other side of the road, back across the road we hit a cement abutment and the car car went airborne. ... rear end totally destroyed ... the rear axle broke loose and lodged under the bumper. When the police officer got the the scene, he stated that if we weren't in a Saab ... my friend in the back seat would likely had been dead, and perhaps the driver and I ... we all walked away without a scratch.
The good thing about the accident ... it was a lease car and his father was well over the milage ... so his father didn't have to worry about trading it or dealing with paying the extra milage. His dad didn't even punish him for it. Got another 9000 too.
It's too bad that GM screwed up Saab, same as they did to the beloved brand and muscle car powerhouse Pontiac. (I'm not counting Saturn ... never liked the company concept, figured it would fail eventually anyway. Kinda surprised it lasted as long as it did)