Bring us Saab back!

A mandate for NEVS. Clearly, without room for interpretation. A result that was not acceptable at the Congress of the Chinese Communist Party but considered respectable by the Bavarian CSU. (For readers beyond Bavarian borders: The CSU is a regional peculiarity in the German party system). So now it's clear 85% of our readers want to reboot in Trollhättan under the Saab flag.

Saab flag in the wind
Saab flag in the wind

At times the approval was 91%, crumbled over the course of the week, and finally reached the impressive 85%. I have to admit that I cannot win a majority on this result. I voted to restart under a different name. After 5 years of Saab blog therapy, I have graduated in the last few weeks with the end of Saab as a manufacturing manufacturer in December 2011.

The process took a long time and was painful. For me, Saab is what is in the carport and hangar - which, conversely, does not mean that I would not welcome a restart with NEVS in the future. In the present, however, I become a stranger. A company car is due this year - a new car that will not be a Saab. Why?

Because I want to spare the 9-5 NG in the future, no longer want to expose him to any weather and the recklessness of some contemporaries. Saab beamed for private pleasure in the cosmos of leisure, family and sunny days. What will soon be on my service parking lot is then just a car. A temporary commodity, not emotional, and it will have nothing to do with blog and my automotive passion.

It's time for new cars. Urgent.

Terrified by my openness? That should not be the readers. Mark and I have committed ourselves to 2016 readers and will honor that. So do not worry, the morning reading can be considered secure. But one thing is clear: people, it's time for new cars. Urgent ! And also like electric, even if we continue to dream of hot turbos. But pure burners are no longer the environmental environment.

Like me, there are many fans who have Saab in their hearts, but only as a hobby and no longer in everyday life. Because the latest vehicles are at least 5 years old, which can not reasonably persuade a fleet manager anymore. Because at some point you are through with depreciation and at the same time struggling with rising maintenance costs.

But maybe also because you get annoyed about every scratch and dent in the sheet metal, even if you would never admit it. A Saab is, for all the coolness that you flaunt, a collector's item that you care for and like more than ever. But beyond my professional situation and the question of what I will order as a future mobility solution, we have a vote.

Their result is an order for NEVS.

A mandate from readers of Saabblog.net to bring us back to Saab on a reboot.

Saab is more than just 4 letters. Saab is a challenge. The brand stands for safe and unconventional cars. Vehicles with high demands on design and functionality. Those who were always a step ahead of their time and who still have to remain affordable. That alone, the expectation of a real Saab, is an enormous piece of work.

Survey on the blog: Bring us Saab back!
Survey on the blog: Bring us Saab back!

In addition, we expect more from NEVS. Not a Tesla clone, that would be too simple. In the future, the infrastructure around the car will count twice. The prehistoric times when it was already considered progressive to deliver updates via USB stick or DVD are over.

In the future, the customer will require integration into the digital infrastructure. Starting with additional functions on demand, personal services, to ideas that are (hopefully) being thought up in Trollhättan. In the future, mobility must fit perfectly into life. The right vehicle on a temporary basis, for hours, days, months or years. There is no doubt that the digital offerings have to be “crazy”. Smarter and simpler than what other manufacturers offer. No more and no less than a completely new, digital Saab cosmos for our time, with the compatible hardware.

Does that sound in your ears like the impossible squaring of the circle? For readers who are not that familiar with the Saab brand, perhaps. Anyone else who has been allowed to own an 900 Turbo or 9000 Aero or any of the other intelligent Trollhättan vehicles in their automotive past or present will agree. Saab occasionally solved the squaring of the circle, the vehicles could be a contradiction in terms and yet consistent. A Saab has always been an intelligent car. Versatile, safe, fast, spacious. A sports car, comfortable, economical, solid, eccentric, reasonable, beautiful, sustainable.

The challenge is defined. Our order for NEVS as well.

17 Comments
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hughweisman
7 years earlier

I was lucky enough to buy a new 2011 Saab 9-3X Combi in December 2012 after the bankruptcy. So it's now only a little over 3 years old for me, although it has nearly 100,000 kilometers. Fantastic car. It will keep going for a few more years, but then I have no idea what to do. Electric is no good for me unless with a range of 500 kilometers.

Daniel
Daniel
7 years earlier
Reply to  hughweisman

Quote: “So it's now only a little over 3 years old for me, although it has nearly 100,000 kilometers. Fantastic car. It will keep going for a few more years, but then I have no idea what to do. "

Where is the problem? Drive it longer than "a few years". Why everybody thinks it is a “must” to buy a new car after some years, even when the actual is in good conditon? For the neighbors? Our daily drivers, a Volvo with now 325000km, a 9-3I CV with 275000km and my 901 Turbo with 218000km are in excellent conditions and have to function every day, but I do not know why I should sell one of them ... only because they are between 14-29 years old?
But maybe I am wrong and the newer Saab do not offer this long lasting quality anymore ...

GP362
GP362
7 years earlier
Reply to  Daniel

+1

tom7364
tom7364
7 years earlier

@ Herbert Hürsch: yes, it hurts, but the virtual income due to the 1% rule I have to include in my opinion also in the even more expensive new cars in the calculation.
: I wrote “at least”. I would/will still drive a 9-5 NG. But like “the Saabler”, I can’t (yet) do anything with NEVS and what’s planned there. Even if it rolled off the assembly line in the Stallbacka and bore the SAAB logo. In this respect, like you, I would have advocated a restart under a different name. Because it is as you write: with the cessation of production in 2011, Saab came to an end as a manufacturing manufacturer. That's exactly why, in my opinion, we should remain true to our brand when it comes to “company cars”. For rational reasons, I would perhaps lease a BMW diesel for the office (preferably a 335d GT), but for me the “company cars” are still part of the family, as they used to say, and a car that is only “borrowed” for a short period of time suits me not in as a full member. And why should the vehicle in which I spend the most time and drive the most km NOT be a (feel-good) Saab?
Maybe you will think about it again? Our “blog boss” in the Audi company car doesn't really taste good to me ... 😉 Especially not for reasons of reason. A turbo was never really sensible

saab_owl
saab_owl
7 years earlier
Reply to  Tom

Tom, it doesn't matter, you don't need to justify yourself here. I can understand your thoughts on protection and protection very well. I also have a third-party make in the garage for bad weather and emotionless routine drives. This is of course not a substitute, just an addition. As long as you still have the flatterer (s) in the garage, that's perfectly ok ...

warkkrimi
warkkrimi
7 years earlier

My 9-3 Sportcombi was history for three weeks. Once carelessly backed out of the yard, collided with an SUV and then heard the word “economic total loss”. The fact that the car from Ingolstadt didn't look much better is no real consolation. Now I drive a large station wagon from the Far East - comfortably, yes; up to date, yes; economical, yes - but not a Saab. A car with which one can master everyday life. No more. So if Saab were to return in any form in any not-too-distant future - I WOULD BE THERE! Alone, I lack faith.

tom7364
tom7364
7 years earlier

Sorry, my comment refers to "the saabler"

tom7364
tom7364
7 years earlier

Exactly my opinion! I am also self-employed and can / must do business calculations. And leasing installments of € 500 or more do not necessarily pay off, not even with an economical diesel. Not to mention the mentioned ecological aspects. I find a new car every 3 years downright decadent. The limit of when a Saab is still a Saab, everyone draws differently anyway. Some only allow the 900I, others draw the line with the 9000, for me at least the 9-3I and the 9-5I are also included, at least the gasoline engines with 2.0 or 2.3 t or T. And as long as they are still there for Saab conditions are relatively low mileage in good condition, nothing else comes into my house or office ...

Herbert Hürsch
Herbert Hürsch
7 years earlier
Reply to  tom7364

There are also other aspects (I am self-employed too) ...

Logbook?

This is bureaucracy in pure culture. Laborious peasants. Who wants that?

1% rule?

Monthly and taxable as a virtual income from the List NEW price. Who would like to be fiscally charged for an old car?
Who would like to pay income tax on 10% of the new list price in 120 years and only have the VAT deducted as input tax during this period? That hurts ...

Herbert Hürsch
Herbert Hürsch
7 years earlier

I allow myself to snip a very free quote from the text:

“Because the newest vehicles are at least 5 years old,” ...

... is ...

... "a Saab (...) a collector's item that you care for and like more than ever."

That's what a young SAAB is - a baby-timer. There is no such thing as Audi, not BMW and not Mercedes.

I hereby demand H-mark and corresponding conditions (eg insurance) for all SAAB, regardless of year and first registration. They deserve it.

Nico H. Fichtenthal
Nico H. Fichtenthal
7 years earlier

Hi Tom,
I know exactly what you're talking about. In addition to minor battle scars on my 9-5 NG, 2.8 XWD Hirsch Performance with almost 130.000 km, I just had to invest CHF 11.000 to change the timing chains and a new Haldex differential. The question of a new vehicle is becoming virulent, but what to do if SAAB standards are used in selection tests.
By the way, the two Hirsch 9-3s in our family (2008, 165.000 km and 2009 convertible, 130.000 km) run without any problems and are really fun. Nobody wants to replace them.
Nico

dersaabler
7 years earlier

maybe I am too conservative, stick to old, paid, little resource wasting, technically completely sufficient and yet still fun vehicles ... as long as possible. Yes, and I am also self-employed and it can also work economically. I refuse to buy a new car (possibly electric or hybrid) for which so many resources have been used for its production alone that our vehicles could continue to drive for several years. But that will not stop the new paths in mobility and that is not supposed to be. Real progress would be great, but I don't see it right now. Yes, and should NEVS not get a “real” Saab anymore, I would have voted wrong…. but, as is well known, hope dies last. Only this currently planned hodgepodge of electric vehicles for China with the SAAB emblem, that would be a shame!

9.3Wolfgang
9.3Wolfgang
7 years earlier

I'm very happy about this result! I can completely understand you about the company car fact. Save the 9.5. Two were there at the Saab meeting near Höboldls last Saturday. It's a great car.
Otherwise, I give you fully right. Let's take care of what we have.
I am happy every day about my yellow 9.3 convertible from 2000.

phibo
phibo
7 years earlier

Hello Tom, the wording naturally raises the question of whether there will be a car or a car in your company parking lot? 😉 It doesn't matter ... this is your private or business matter.

In the past few weeks I have tried out many rental cars, German, Swedish and Japanese brands. Yes - other mothers have beautiful daughters too. Other manufacturers also make good, solid cars. Even in an E-Class, you cover a long distance in a relaxed manner. But hardly any make - including the often cited Italian ones - has an emotionality like SAAB or evokes reactions like a SAAB.

So SAAB is allowed to stay as a hobby. For the enjoyment on the street.

841E000
841E000
7 years earlier
Reply to  phibo

How “good” and “solid” these cars were will only be known in a few years / decades (if they can still be admired ...).

BTW: For me there is definitely NO car from Stuttgart - despite the many “innovations” that have been developed there. Just with products like the “heavy class” (such a would-be alternative to the Scania “3 Series” and TurboStar) and the “Bremer Transporter” (would-be TurboDaily) I get really nauseous. At the time, that was at best an Eastern Bloc level!
Also, I absolutely don't like the way “Daimler” (the name alone is presumptuous and outrageous) deals with serious problems.
One doesn't just think of the A-Class disaster, the rust problem and non-functioning brake assistants (how did the detailed Specht video disappear from the well-known video platform???).
No, especially the topic of passive safety was always neglected in Stuttgart (see performance in all _practice_related_ crash tests, eg small overlap, especially in comparison with the "other Swedish brand", where exactly this topic is _carefully_ addressed).