Date for SportCombi in North America?

[speedbird71]

Does anyone know of a date for the SportCombi in North America, specifically Canada? Something better than "late 2005"? I stopped into my local Saab dealer (Toronto) to ask but the sales guy didn't know what a SportCombi was...

Don

[SaabKen]

OMG !! Ask him if he knows what a pink slip looks like. Sheeesh, these Saab dealer salespeople's ignorance is truly without excuse.

Are salespeople of other brands this bad (don't even know their own products) ?

Originally Posted by speedbird71

I stopped into my local Saab dealer (Toronto) to ask but the sales guy didn't know what a SportCombi was...

Don

[Swade]

The US press release said they'd be rolling into showrooms from September. Nothing on the Canadian GM Media site though. The US release is here.

http://media.gm.com/servlet/GatewayS...02&docid=17082

Re salesidiots: The local Saab franchise here was owned for a short time by a bunch of totally uninterested cretins that just bought it for the real estate. I went in there once and a particular goombah tried to impress me with tales about 'legendary Swiss engineering'

[squishmann]

i would say about 80% of salespeople could care less about upcoming product and what the history of a brand is all about.


sales are about today. having info about an upcoming sport combi/ 9-4x does them no good.

you have to remember that we are all Saab Geeks. we only make up small percentage of the actual people who purchase new cars. the Geeks will always know more than a salesperson.

Also sales people are not employed by the manufacturer. The actual production car will roll onto the lot before they get any info from saab.

[Rob in Atlanta]

By and large you are right that we SAABisti know more than the salepeople at the dealerships. However, the guy I am dealing with for my IDS purchase seems to have a pretty good handle. I was just in the other day and he was telling me about a chance he had to drive the new SportCombi. He was very excited. Like any field, there are people who are knowledgeable and excited about the product they sell and there are those who are only "going through the motions." I don't expect my salesman to know everything - but I do expect him to have some basic product knowledge, some understanding of the vehicle heritage, and some inkling of what the general course of product development will be. If they don't have this basic understanding, I look elsewhere. To me, lack of this type of understanding is probably indicative of some lack of commitment on the part of the dealership as a whole.

[SaabKen]

Maybe WE should all be switching careers to become Saab salesmen ! Our collective knowledge and experience here is probably second to none ! Imagine selling and being around Saabs every single day (and hopefully making excellent money doing it) !

Well for now at least I have a great view of the city out of my windowed office right now .....

[andante]

I've read in the papers here in Sweden today, that due to very high demand here in Europe, other parts of the world would get it in May 2006 at the earliest.

[andante]

Nah, just kidding...

[speedbird71]

Originally Posted by Swade

The US press release said they'd be rolling into showrooms from September. Nothing on the Canadian GM Media site though. The US release is here.

http://media.gm.com/servlet/GatewayS...02&docid=17082

Re salesidiots: The local Saab franchise here was owned for a short time by a bunch of totally uninterested cretins that just bought it for the real estate. I went in there once and a particular goombah tried to impress me with tales about 'legendary Swiss engineering'

Found a link to the GM Canada Press release: http://media.gmcanada.com/ca/gm/en/p...Saab93_PIG.htm.
and pricing: http://media.gmcanada.com/ca/gm/en/v...cing.html#saab. Best date info is still 4th Quarter.

IMHO, combining Saab and Saturn in the same dealership doesn't help matters here in Canada. Having dedicated dealers would do much for the perceived value of the brand.

Don

[SaabKen]

And Saab/Saturn used to be joined with Isuzu At least they're no longer in these parts, dunno about other parts of the country

Originally Posted by speedbird71

IMHO, combining Saab and Saturn in the same dealership doesn't help matters here in Canada. Having dedicated dealers would do much for the perceived value of the brand.

[LinearSLT]

Yup, it's just Saturn Saab everywhere in Canada now.GM stopped importing Isuzu last year. The trucks were expensive and didn't sell well.

As for the Saab-Saturn thing, there's pro's and cons. Frankly the labour rate is cheaper than most of the other imports, including Honda/Toyoya/Nissan, let alone BMW etc. Plus the dealership is a bit more responsive than some of the Saab only places we hear about on these boards.

But you are right. When it used to be MCL Jaguar, Saab, Porsche, Lotus in Vancouver, with that amazing showroom by the Burrard bridge, there was definitely cachet there. Now I drive all the way to the other end of town here in London, ON to the fairly nondescript Saturn - Saab dealership. Just down from the BMW and Mercedes and Volvo dealers. Seems a bit low brow.