Something for the mind - Saab marketing artefact for download

Already the 8th week of the Corona diary. Times are difficult, the news is not good. The auto industry in particular causes heartaches. Perhaps looking back helps in other difficult times as well. Something for the mind and the Saab driver heart to download.

For the mind. Merchandise Saab Independence Day.
For the mind. Merchandise Saab Independence Day.

The bad news of the past few days comes from every corner. VW starts production and back again. There is no demand and there are enough dumps already. Volvo also starts production, but reduces the number of employees. 1600 jobs, including 300 consultants, are mainly available in Sweden Disposal. Volvo Cars and AB Volvo will not pay a dividend this year. What seems self-evident when you benefit from state aid with short-time work benefits has given rise to discussion. Bad for the Chinese owner of Volvo Cars, who is also a major shareholder of AB Volvo. Dividends in the millions do not get into his account at a time when every euro is needed.

While Volvo is losing money, but is still doing comparatively well, there is already fire under the roof elsewhere. Fiat Chrysler is negotiating a € 6,3 billion loan, 80% of which the Italian government is to secure with a guarantee. Italy of all places, the country where Fiat Chrysler showed the middle finger. The Group's headquarters are in the Netherlands for tax optimization reasons. The financial center in London. In addition to a large history, Italian are just a few works that would have an unclear future if the proposed merger with PSA were to take place.

The decision of the Italian government can be eagerly awaited.

 

Creativity, new ideas!

Dramatic? Yes, and one cannot expect a quick end to the drama. The pandemic is in the palm of our hand and we will have to live with it longer. The auto industry needs new ideas. Those that arouse enthusiasm and turn consumers back into customers who are impatiently waiting for new, exciting products. The creativity can be a bit weird, like years ago in Trollhättan.

You can look back on Saab. The difficult times under Victor Muller. A fight that was not lost because there would have been too little enthusiasm. On the contrary. His stories, the continuation of the Saab saga, were awesome. Like the idea with the Independence models. 365 pieces a year, plus one for each additional year of independence. Each of them would have been a collector's item. With a story behind it that tells of a small, indomitable manufacturer fighting the rest of the world.

Something for the soul

To celebrate this, a portion of merchandising was planned. Independence parties around the world, something like that. Give-aways and party products were put together for this purpose. And even more. Sweden's design icon playsam wanted to deliver a Streamliner in the special color of the Independence Cabriolet. Something for the mind and to make every day a personal independence day.

None of this took place. Reality had caught up with Saab and Victor Muller earlier. But it is precisely these stories, the continuation of dramatic legends, that our so perfectly optimized and digitized world lacks. Then, and only then, would consumers become enthusiastic fans and buyers again.

The Independence Day Merchandise Brochure is an artifact from an equally difficult but also crazy time. It is in its full version here as Download available to readers. A little something for the mind and a collector's item from the world of a small, Swedish brand.

A bit of culture and a taste for personalities?

Read here in the new week! Red paint and red leather! Very suggestive? Maybe - Monday starts interesting. I also contribute to culture. With the Saab 9000 I visit Egon Eiermann and we watch how a convertible is built.

Have fun and stay healthy!

7 Comments
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ChrisMGF
ChrisMGF
3 years earlier

Yes great idea! I'm just content with a blue LandRover Expierience Africa 2019 Buff.
Such an independence would also look good for the Eletric Blue of the 20th Anniversary.

Aero-9-3
Aero-9-3
3 years earlier

@ Herbert Hürsch
Quote: On the other hand, it would be pretty cool if a government didn't let a tax-volatile company blackmail it.
Yep, I agree with that. Consistently showing attitude is not stubbornness ...
We'll watch it ... 😉

Herbert Hürsch
Herbert Hürsch
3 years earlier

Positive perspective

I see it as positively and skeptically as you,
AERO-9-3 ...

Many of the problems that you raised have received new attention in the wake of the pandemic are viewed from a broader perspective.

There was seldom so much to be heard about precarious working conditions in the EU as about the absence of harvest workers and contaminated quarters for industrial butchers ...

Many rethink on many points. Professionally and privately. Shop differently, less often and more consciously. Holidays are currently and probably also planned differently in the future, new cars every 2 or at the latest 3 years lose their appeal and status.

A lot is already happening in your favor. A lot of people are discovering the “Rhön” for the first time - each for themselves.

For some, the “Rhön” is the nearest farm shop. For others, the home office, the absence of a flight or whatever. Local production seems to be gaining in importance - not only where it is systemically relevant.

Many of the demands of nature conservationists and environmentalists are being fulfilled, at least to some extent, as if by magic. As Tom wrote several times, now is the time for creative (rethinking) thinking and every crisis has opportunities.

I'm very excited to see what that means for Fiat-Chrysler. I personally would find it very, very unfortunate for the remains of the Italian car world. On the other hand, it would be pretty cool if a government didn't let a tax-volatile company blackmail it.

Sprott
Sprott
3 years earlier

@ Aero-9-3

Great comment, I can fully subscribe!

However, I am afraid that even in the case of the corona catastrophe, people will quickly forget and want to return to the normality that you aptly described above.

With all the consequences that are complained of in connection with Covid-19, it should not be forgotten that these were not evoked by the virus itself, but by the prescribed measures, which have so far been unprecedented in recent history and possibly at the flu wave 2017 with its estimated 25.000 deaths would also have been appropriate. So the question remains: what's next?

What remains in any case are our Saab vehicles.

Aero-9-3
Aero-9-3
3 years earlier

Crazy - yes, exciting - well ...
I would like sustainable times instead of exciting times!
Why does a German citizen need 40 (!) Pieces of new textiles a year ??? (Socks not counted as a pair ;-))
Why are there leasing periods of 2 years when the vehicles can easily last over 10 years ...
Why are car drivers who are too fast spared (possibly) and endangeredly exposed to this frenzied (life) danger?
Why fly on vacation 3 times a year?
Why are (possibly) seasonal workers in agriculture still precariously paid?
When will food become FOOD again and have value for us humans again?
The one about Corvid-19, for the time after ...
I classify the BUFF with the convertible line as sustainable if it is produced in a “humane manner”.
A great idea, especially in these times. Washable, practical, various. Carrying options. Stop a BUFF.
As long as the Golf 19 continues after Corvid-8, and that the “redemption” is supposed to be a big hit, well.
Will be vacationing in the Rhön this year. I never was. Hiking, cycling, good regional food.
Good positive perspective ...

Herbert Hürsch
Herbert Hürsch
3 years earlier

Independence

The convertible in edition was beautiful and a brilliant idea.
Could have been extended to other models. 365 copies of deer 9-5 SC 2.0T BioPower in this style would probably have gone away, like dry yeast and toilet paper ...

Gone stupid. And at the moment things are even more stupid. For the automotive industry, DB and its competitors, for the entire aviation industry ...

It is breathtaking at what speed and with what intensity Covid has taken the discussion about mobility out of CO2.

Everywhere upside down world in the transport sector. Job cuts on the railroad, which should be expanded yesterday. Subsidies for aviation that you wanted to contain yesterday. And the automobile?

Every car sold now comes free with a Federal Cross of Merit for the buyer. Big boxes with the largest possible engines have a spare medal in the glove compartment and 22 ″ tires are decorated with oak leaves.

Crazy but also exciting times.

TomL
TomL
3 years earlier

Tom, as a suggestion for the sewing shop, the tube cloth would be a fantastic idea as an additional alternative for the targeted masks. Thus, the proposed Independence idea would still be brought to life.