Bring on the incentives!

[Lodro]

Detroit Free Press is reporting that GM and Ford have huge inventory backlogs, especially for light trucks.

http://www.freep.com/money/autonews/...4_20040714.htm

And the 9-7x's sister vehicle is esp. overbuilt:

"One vehicle that GM has way too many of: the Buick Ranier, a luxury SUV. The automaker has an unusually large 229 days' supply of the Ranier, or enough to last dealers into baseball's spring training next March."

GM is offering a 5k incentive on the Ranier, which with dealer discounting means that you can get one (if you were so inclined) loaded for ~31k.

So, how is Saab not going to launch the 9-7x with huge incentives (at least after the first month or two sucke..I mean customers pony up). I think there are very few people who would be unaware of the Saab's origins and that the dealer down the street is sellign their version for 7k off.

Thoughts?

[Buddhabman]

It's not good. Another brick in the canoe of the 9-7x. But they have no marketing for the Rainier, and really none for Buick for that matter. You get a few Rendevous ads whenever they sponsor a golf tourney but thats it. When is the last time you saw any kinda advertising for a Buick Rainier. It's too bad as that is the best of all on this platform. They had better start selling these for fleet sales.

Maybe they should just wait and get the Subaru platform. :P

[Lodro]

One thing I was thinking was that I might actually consider the beast if I could get it in the low 30s -- that would be a pretty decent deal.

That is, if they fixed the safety and handling issues, among other things. The edmunds review said they could only get the Ranier to 54 mph in the slalom, whcih is like worse then anything, inlcuding the Range Rover. Said it had scary oversteer that did not bode well for emergency lane-change maneuvers. Don't kow how Saab can fix that behavior as the basic suspension design is going to stay the same.

But then again, that would mean they would have to be selling the 9-7x at less then what a 9-2x Aero lists for. Then again again, Saab has always been a bit, um, optimistic when it comes to setting MSRP.

[Buddhabman]

I think they add Stabili-Trak, plus the car is lowered an inch or two. Again the production line is the key. But if they have incentives and I can line one up for 33-35K max fully loaded :-??

I am waiting to see what the new Subie Halifax and Nissan Pathfinder are like. Plus the SRX is in the sights also.

[fabric]

Originally Posted by Buddhabman

It's not good. Another brick in the canoe of the 9-7x. But they have no marketing for the Rainier, and really none for Buick for that matter. You get a few Rendevous ads whenever they sponsor a golf tourney but thats it. When is the last time you saw any kinda advertising for a Buick Rainier. It's too bad as that is the best of all on this platform. They had better start selling these for fleet sales.

Maybe they should just wait and get the Subaru platform. :P

Nah, they just need to dump Tiger and get Lance to do their ads. Like Subaru.

[me3head]

Actually it could be very good for all the GMT360s. The reason they have such big incentives is because GM pays workers whether they are working or not. This means that rather than slowing production, it makes more sense to build the cars with incentives.

With more models in that plant, it means that GM has to sell less of each one and therefore should have less reason for incentives.

[Lodro]

Originally Posted by me3head

With more models in that plant, it means that GM has to sell less of each one and therefore should have less reason for incentives.

Yea, I agree that that is the idea. Probably explains why GM foisted the platform on Saab in the first place -- wanted to use excess production capacity.

But ultimitly, I don't see that it will really help at all, Saab volume has got to be tiny compared to Chevy.

[squishmann]

if saab is going to use the subaru crossover platform. then what is the point of the 9-7X?

does GM have a replacement for the 360 so that saab can make more of a SUV off road type of truck and use the subaru as the family people hauler

[Lodro]

The Subaru is actually larger, or at least more space-effecient. IIRC its a 7-passenger vehicle.

And the 9-7x is just a stop gap, so I doubt they would keep it around.

I do wonder what they are going to do about all of these proliferating models--they don't have much to work with with the current naming scheme.

[valbowski1980]

How else can GM's junk be sold? Notice how Honda, Toyota, BMW and other top companies don't have to bribe customers.

[Buddhabman]

It is interesting that they announced the new Saab Subaru 7-Passenger platform colaboration. What happens to the 9-7 when the Saab/Subaru comes out. The Subaru Tribeca is due out in 2005/6. GM really booted this. They should have let Saab have the Cadillac SRX platform.

[Lodro]

Originally Posted by Buddhabman

It is interesting that they announced the new Saab Subaru 7-Passenger platform colaboration. What happens to the 9-7 when the Saab/Subaru comes out. The Subaru Tribeca is due out in 2005/6. GM really booted this. They should have let Saab have the Cadillac SRX platform.

And what the hell are they going to call it? 9-6x? Surely not 9-8x. 9-7.5x!