9-7x....might be Saab's savior

[wolverinewizard]

I know this will probably irk, some of you, but the 9-7x is just might be what saab needs right now.

http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/News/articleId=105505

[4th_Saab]

I think it's a darn shame, but if it helps Saab in the long run to develop more Saabs (I guess there will never be another 100% Saab while GM owns the company), that's a good thing.

My dealer assures me that the 9_7X drives like a Saab...I may test drive one out just to see. I've driven an Envoy and couldn't understand why anyone would want to drive something that felt like that...

As I'm typing this, I head a story on the late news about how GM sales are down because SUVs aren't selling. It will be interesting to see if 9_7Xs sell with the price of gas where it is (yes, I know that we have cheap fuel in the US).

[4th_Saab]

The last line of that article scared me...the part about Saab going out of business.

I've owned and driven Saabs nearly half of my life...it would be strange to have to buy something else because I had no other choice.

[Lodro]

Well, I hope that it wouldn't come to quite that -- that it would be a GM divestment as opposed to shutter. Though GM proved with the Fiat fiasco that they have a kind of take it or leave it attitude towards these things. It is clear that in the current market some kind of consolidation is in line -- though Porsche stands as a stark counter-example.

For all of the 9-2x bashing that I and others have engaged in I actually think a Saab/Subaru allinace makes sense long-term. Both truly independent companies for a lot of their histroy, both aircraft inspired, engineering driven companies. And subbie will eventually want/need an upmarket presence of some kind. If they can mesh their engineering efforts while staying true to heritage aI think it would be an interesting combo.