New York Times Reports: After Sale, Saab To Refill Inventory To Saab Dealerships In United States

Posted on 18. Nov, 2009 by Ryan in 2000-2009

The New York Times is now reporting that Saab Automobile AB is promising to refill the inventory for the remaining Saab dealerships in the United States immediately following the sale to the Koenigsegg Group.

This is a truly positive response to the recent news about Saab dealerships in the United States running out of cars.

I wonder if any of these 2010 model year Saabs will include the 9-3x in addition to the existing 9-3 lineup, because apparently they won’t be any 2010 all new Saab 9-5s until early next year.

After Sale, Saab Promises to Refill Inventory
By STEPHEN WILLIAMS

Saab, the troubled stepchild of General Motors that is being sold to Sweden’s Koenigsegg Group, said on Tuesday that dealers will start receiving 2010 model-year cars shortly after the sale closes, which is expected to take place by the end of this month.

Mike Colleran, president of Saab Cars of North America, said in an interview that some 2010 9-3s — though not the 9-5 — will arrive in the United States by year’s end. He said that Saab’s plant in Trollhattan, Sweden, was building new cars and that dealers in the United States can order them “immediately after the sale.”

While Bloomberg had reported that existing 2009 inventory was dwindling, Mr. Colleran assured dealers that a four- to five-month supply remains.

“Dealers who run out of cars will be able to buy cars from other dealers,” he said. “We have supply for a good number of days.”

In Europe, Saab’s largest market, the supply situation does not seem to be as good. “One of the side effects with the transition from being a G.M. subsidiary to a Swedish group is that Saab has not been able to run the factory at a satisfactory level,” Stephen Pope, chief global market strategist at Cantor Fitzgerald in London, told Bloomberg. “They are disappointing buyers with extended waiting times or just failure to deliver.”

Saab had reported that it will terminate 81 of its present 218 dealerships in the United States as early as the end of this month.

“In anticipation of the sale, we selected certain dealers, 137 of them, to help us to achieve our goals,” Mr. Colleran said. The 81 other dealers received letters from G.M. specifying that they cease operating as Saab dealers under terms of the Dealer Termination Agreement that Saab dealers signed in June.

Tags: Automotive Component Group, Bloomberg, Cantor Fitzgerald, chief global market strategist, General Motors, Koenigsegg Group, London, Saab Automobile AB, Saab Cars of North America, the New York Times, Trollhättan