Sales increased 17.5% over last year to 4,702 vehicles –
making it the best May in the company’s history.

Norcross, GA — Driven by strong sales of the Saab 9-3 Sport Sedan, Saab Cars USA set another sales record, reporting its best May ever with sales of 4,702 vehicles. That number marks a 17.5 percent increase over May 2002, and brings year-to-date sales to 20,554, up 24 percent over last year.

"The momentum continues to roll for us in 2003," said Ed Peper, VP of Sales for Saab Cars USA. "We’re seeing increases in all areas of our business – Certified Pre-Owned, Parts and Accessories, as well as retail sales."

Saab’s first foray into the compact sport sedan segment, the all-new 2003 9-3 Sport Sedan, is leading the sales push for the Swedish manufacturer. In May, Saab Cars USA sold 2,288 Sport Sedans, a 100 percent increase over 2002 9-3 hardtops last May. Year-to-date, the 9-3 Sport Sedan has outpaced its predecessor by 64 percent, with a volume of 11,255 vehicles versus 6,844. This five-month period includes only two sales months where the full range of Sport Sedans was available. The 210-hp variants went on sale in early April to complement the 175-hp Linear model.

Saab Certified Pre-Owned hit a high water mark in May as well. The program had its best sales month ever, with 913 vehicles – a 125 percent increase over 2002. The banner month brought year-to-date sales to 3,212, a 153 percent increase over last year’s 1,268.

Parts and Accessories sales were up 11 percent for the month and 10.5 percent year-to-date.

"The success that we are experiencing this year is a direct result of the collective efforts of the entire Saab team," said Debra Kelly-Ennis, President and COO of Saab Cars USA. "From the retail network to the support staff to the marketing team who created our new advertising campaign – everyone’s focus is on increasing sales."

Saab Cars USA, Inc. is the importer of Saab 9-5 and 9-3 automobiles for Saab Automobile AB and is headquartered in Norcross, Georgia, near Atlanta. For more information, see www.saabusa.com.

AWESOME NEWS!!!

Looks like Saab might survive after all...

Cheers! 8) :P

I think the Convertible is going to put them WELL into the black. ;D

I wonder if the convertible will have much of an impact this year. Not sure why they are waiting until November to release it. That time of year in my neck of the woods certainly is not "top down" weather...

That's just the normal time new cars come out, I guess.

In another thread I said something about "why would they leave the old 9-3 Vert stay 'in the ring' when they already changed the hard top 9-3?".

Figured it out. Following tradition! The 900 was changed in 1994, however the 1994 convertible was still the old style c900 kind. So, they kept that one around for an extra year and called it Commemorative. ;)

heh. I think the time-release of new models is a very smart business move. They released hard-top 9-3's in 2003, linears first. They started awing people with it, sales went up, people started noticing Saab... Then, later in the year, they built up enough suspense to release Arc and Vector so that when they did come out, they would sell like hot-cakes. Apparently, this works because the cars are pretty exciting to begin with.

Now, after a while the fuss about the hard-top 9-3's is going to die down and the sales will level out to some steady figure. That's when they bring in the Vert - to keep spicing things up, keeping the press mulling Saab's name as much as possible, to keep things dynamic.

This strategy actually makes a lot of sense to me. Commemorative or not, it's got $$$'s written all over it :)

"The success that we are experiencing this year is a direct result of the collective efforts of the entire Saab team," said Debra Kelly-Ennis, President and COO of Saab Cars USA. "From the retail network to the support staff to the marketing team who created our new advertising campaign – everyone’s focus is on increasing sales."

mind you, they forgot to praise the engineers for building such exciting and advanced cars to draw this attention in the first place!! Marketing is marketing, but it ain't worth a red cent if you don't have an exciting item to sell!