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. |
Having owned a pre-GM Saab, the only positive I can muster is that the cars were attractive and quirky. Don't get me wrong, they were neat cars and I loved the design of them but they were unreliable and expensive to fix.
I once asked the owner of the Saab indy shop I used to [frequently] fix my car when I was in college why he didn't drive a Saab. He told me "repairing Saabs is good business, driving them is not." I've never owned such a piece of junk in my life.