So What Is A “Premium” Brand?

Posted on 03. Jun, 2008 by Ryan in 2000-2009

As a follow-up to the series of “What is a Real Saab” to “What is a Genuine Saab Part“, I have asked yet another question: “What is a Premium Brand”

So What Is A “Premium” Brand? According to the dictionary, Premium is defined as having “superior quality or value”.

General Motors refers to the Saab Automobile brand as one of their three “premium” brands, the others being Cadillac & Hummer.

With the Hummer brand now on the table to be axed by General Motors, that leaves the Cadillac & Saab. Two brands that I am not as concerned with when it comes to their visibility together at the dealership level at this time, however I am concerned with the pushing of Cadillac in Europe where Saab should be the only premium focus.

In order to determine what a premium brand really is, I decided to discuss this with Saab Automobile USA communications department chief, Jan-Willem Vester over the phone last Thursday.

Our conversation coverered a number of aspects as to what the true definition of a premium brand is, with references to other brands such as Cadillac & Hummer. The dialog was interesting and yet there were no easy answers to my question of “what is a premium brand”.

Therefore, I have have come up with an acceptable answer as to what a premium brand is, which could easily be deduced with the following simple sentence for all intents and purposes:

A Premium brand is a brand that holds a unique value to a market through the design, engineering and quality that is provided.

Objectively speaking, I think that defining what a premium brand is, is a challenge because it depends on who you ask and what you are referring to. If we refer to the Saab Automobile brand, which was formerly known as Saab Automobile prior to GM taking full ownership in 2000, we can easily define it’s high levels of quality with the following words: Quality, craftsmanship, intelligent interior & exterior design, innovative technologies, practicality, functionality, performance, safety, efficiency. The last word that needs to be mentioned, a word that you either hate or love, is “quirkiness”. It is my belief that quirkiness, has been the overarching umbrella that has ultimately tied all of these words together and has set Saab Automobile’s products apart from other automobile manufacturers over the years.

Furthermore, I believe that the term quirky can be used alongside the association of a premium brand within the context of GM’s Saab Automobile brand. I say this because, it’s the umbrella of what quirkiness has done to the application, integration, design and overall execution of the Saab which has been a contributing factor to the successful products. If you look at the Saab 99, the 900, the NG900, 9-3 Hatchback, the 9-5 wagon, the 9-3 SportCombi, those vehicles really do exhibit quirkiness. If you look at the 9000 CD, or 9-7x, you really don’t. It’s clear that quirkiness is analagous to what Saab needs more of these days.

The opportunities to reduce costs with platform sharing, ubiquitous use of GM parts, powertrain sharing, etc. being a necessary factor even for premium brands, will quirkiness have a chance?

I ultimately see quirkiness being Saab’s answer and definition to a premium brand, and I hope that GM is realizing this so that the Saab automobile we know and appreciate, can continue to maintain it’s unique, competitive and “premium” products now and well into the future.

So What Is A “Premium” Brand?

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