It has been confirmed again to Saab History, even after we all learned this with Mr. Muller earlier, that all 218 Saab dealerships in the United States will remain.

This is much better scenario than the previous plan with Koenigsegg.

Here’ the news below:

We have received word that under the Saab sale by GM to Spyker Cars the entire US dealership network will be retained. That is a far better outcome than had Saab been sold to Swedish’s Koenigsegg Automotive which sought to reduce the dealer network to less than half of current.

The Saab sale is due to consummate on February 15 so something could still fall through, as it has so often in the past. Yet as it currently stands, Saab dealers who seek to retain their franchise under Saab’s new Spyker Cars ownership should to be able to do so. Seems to be better news for ALL Saab dealer than some wind-down dealers with go-forward GM brands – Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac.

Today is a brighter day for Saab dealers, their employees and their unique brand and customer base!

Photo Credit: JMK Saab

Longtime Saab History site supporter and advertiser, JMK Saab in New Jersey are sending a number of staff members to the “SAVE SAAB” convoy in New York City this weekend.

Here’s their message about their commitment to Saab and this unprecedented global campaign. We’re looking forward to their coverage of the Saabs rolling down Times Square, that will be incredible!

Go JMK Saab!

The reason why we are doing this is because we just want to see our beloved brand saved. We want a chance to continue what we do best and that is to sell and service Saabs. We as a group have all been in this together and it has been a very challenging time. We have had support from our employees and our customers . We want to show what ever support we can. We are fighting for Saab as long as it takes.

Some comments from employees –

- I am here to show my support and allegiance to a car company that I have been affiliated with throughout my career.

- I am here to show people love their SAAB.

- I am a loyal employee and owner of a Saab and would like to see a bright future for this terrific brand.

- I have given 12 years of service to JMK Saab and also an owner of a Saab we deserve our chance.

JMK Saab
345 Route 22 East
Springfield, NJ 07081

Phone: 888-500-9021

http://www.jmksaab.com/

Longtime Saab History advertiser, New Salem Saab announces Albany Speed Shop.

GM may have discontinued Saab but New Salem Saab will not discontinue our Customers!!

Dear Saab Friends,

December 18, 2009 is a sad day for sure. GM has decided to discontinue Saab as a brand and will commence an orderly wind-down just like Oldsmobile, Pontiac, Saturn and Hummer.

Rest assured the Carl family is deeply saddened as this will close an era in our lives which is 48 years old. However, this is not the end. We have been planning for this just in case it came to realization. Very soon my wife Melissa and I will be opening Albany Speed Shop really close by to our current location. Inclusive within this new entity we will continue to provide independent Saab service for your families Saabs. Although we will only be able to provide warranty service for a short period of time, as GM will appoint a GM dealer to handle your warranty needs locally, Albany Speed will be up and running to provide a continuance of Saab service using both OEM and aftermarket parts. We still carry the tools, technology and years of experience, something GM cannot take away.

We have been a leader in customer satisfaction and fully intend to continue the trusted service for your families Saab into the future. Now, without the strings of a franchise, we will be able to transform back into ideologies which helped us build this great dealership with its employees and loyal customers. Our plan is to retain our employees, great customer service under a better pricing structure than ever before.

Melissa and I appreciate your loyalty and understand your concerns. We have the same emotions to handle. We both remain positive and look forward to greeting you in our new first class arrangement in the very near future. Until then, we will continue operations in our current location which will include warranty repairs but not include a Saab sales department.

If you have questions that you think I can answer, please phone the dealership and pass through to extension 122. I will return your call as quickly as I can and offer what information I know is fact.

Thank you for being our friends and customers. We truly are disappointed in the decision GM has made regarding Saab. However, the Carl family has no plans to leave you standing alone. If fact we plan to support you well into the future. Of course we are more then capable in repairing any vehicle on the road today and would be grateful if you considered us for your routine maintenance on any make vehicle you have.

Sincerely,
Darryl & Melissa Carl
New Salem Saab
ALBANY SPEED SHOP

Film Credit: Saab History

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to visit Pioneer Saab in South Deerfield, Massachusetts which was the first Saab dealership that I had the opportunity to experience many years ago.

Having grown up Western, Massachusetts and owning my first Saab while experiencing this dealership, I began to realize why many others like me, continued their ownership and loyalty to products that come from Saab Automobile in Sweden. While the products have been great, it was the dealership like Pioneer Saab as I continue to learn, that significantly contributed to keeping me and many others in the region with Saab, over the years.

Pioneer Saab has served this greater Western, Massachusetts region for over 45 years and is effectively the only remaining semi-exclusive Saab dealership in its area. The dealership’s access to customers within the academic industry to wealthy year-round vacationers anywhere from New Jersey via Interstate 91 all the way to Canada is ideal. The customers that they serve outside of their immediate region continue to indicate that it’s not just your location, it’s how good you are as a Saab dealership, that dictates the loyalty. This premium positioning geographically, is just a small percentage of their success story.

Demographics:

The demographics of Pioneer Saab’s highly educated and wealthy customer base stems from students and faculty from colleges such as Amherst, Smith, Mt. Holyoke, Hampshire & the University of Massachusetts. Their unique demographics serving a semi-urban academic clientele, continue to serve as a symbol that many other Saab dealerships even in the New England region strive to achieve, but cannot.

Minimalist Approach:

Size matters, and with Pioneer Saab’s sales, service and parts business, it is a continuation of Saab Automobile’s historical roots as a small car player in the global automotive industry. The company’s low-overhead approach to best serving an entire region in Western, Massachusetts better than just about every other nearby dealership in the state, keeps their customers coming back.

Personalized Service:

Due to their relationship based approach to customers, Pioneer Saab continues long standing relationships with the community and outside of their community. In the 15 years that I have known them, the referrals and overall quality of feedback I have experienced and heard about from other customers with regards to Pioneer Saab, have encouraged me to go out of my way to do business with them or refer others to them.

The Saab Experience:

If you are new to the brand or someone who is very familiar with it, Pioneer Saab epitomizes many other dealership experiences in every way. While their owner has been running the dealership for over 4 decades, their service and parts departments have nearly the same length of experience serving all Saab model years. My most surprising aspect of my visit consisted of re-acquainting myself with not only the owners, but their parts staff who first served my needs 15 years ago with my 1987 Saab 900! The RED designed facility to the personnel, all communicate the brand in the best way possible to the customer. This is the Saab experience!

Ideal Future Positioning:

As a result of everything mentioned here with my visit, I see Pioneer Saab’s future positioning as a premium player for the next era of Saab ideal, and it is their hope and mine that Saab Automobile continues so they can continue their Saab spirit!

A thank you to the folks at Pioneer Saab for having Saab History as their guest.

Pioneer Valley Sales & Service, Inc.
dba Pioneer Saab Volvo
253 Greenfield Road
South Deerfield, MA 01373
telephone: 413.665.2140
http://www.pioneersaabvolvo.com/

There has been a lot of discussions with everyone over this recent news about the Koenigsegg Group termination recently.

One of the most recent actions taken by the group was the selection of the 137 out of 218 Saab dealerships in the United States a few weeks ago.

The understanding by all Saab dealerships this week that received termination letters, now understand that they are not terminated because the Koenigsegg agreement is no longer in effect. This means they now have another month to stay alive under GM ownership (ie. until December 31st, 2009).

If you are a Saab dealership in the United States, please confirm what you understand to be now in play at this time.

Film Credit: Saab History

Saab History has been listening and learning about the significant impact that was made to Saab dealerships here in the United States over the past week. That impact involves 37% of 218 Saab dealerships in the United States or 81 individual retailers that are expected to terminate their agreements by the time the sale is completed, targeted for November 30th, 2009.

Here in the state of Maine, all but a few of these dealerships have received termination letters and as a result, there has been a huge impact to the local economy with customers and local businesses alike.

An example of this is Cold Brook Saab located in Skowhegan, Maine. Cold Brook Saab has been an exclusive Saab dealer for over 46 years and enjoys a strong customer following and has thrived despite tough times in the auto industry. Cold Brook Saab owner Joey Joseph credits innovative marketing through cross marketing opportunities that have evolved over the last 15 years. “We started establishing our cross marketing campaign with a sponsorship at Sugarloaf Ski Resort and have since forged alliances with Sunday River Ski and Golf Resort and Shipyard Brewery in Portland.”

An example of how this action by GM/SAAB to close the Maine Saab dealer network down can be seen by the dissolution of the long term partnerships. I had the pleasure of meeting the folks over at Shipyard Brewery and discussed what the demise of Cold Brooks Saab franchise might mean to their corporate fleet car of choice.

The current fleet that the company uses includes Saab 9-3 SportCombi’s, 9-5 SportCombi’s as well as 9-7xs. These vehicles initially began as transportation vehicles for upper management serving as premium transportation for executives that promote a premium product as a corporate benefit, much like what has been done at nearby Sunday River ski and golf resort who has many top executives driving Saabs from Cold Brook Saab also.

Today, the Saab vehicles have been handed down within the company to all levels and now support marketing and other critical functions to the company. For over a decade Cold Brook Saab has provided over 20 Saab vehicles to Shipyard Brewery and as a result, they have enjoyed every minute
of it.

If this particular dealership ends up being terminated at the end of the month or when the sale of Saab is completed, the direct result will inevitably be that Shipyard Brewery will no longer be using Saabs as their fleet vehicles in the future.

The message here is that the dealerships and and their customers are inextricably linked through relationships. If a Saab dealer cannot offer Saabs any longer, their customers have no real incentive to go out of their way to find another Saab dealer to continue their ownership because that relationship began with the dealer, not the Saab product.

A special thanks to those at both Shipyard Brewery as well as Cold Brook Saab for the opportunity to realize the local impact in Maine to the immediate situation with Saab dealerships in the United States.

Shipyard Brewery
86 Newbury Street
Portland, ME 04101
www.shipyard.com

Cold Brook Saab
337 Madison Ave
Skowhegan, ME 04976
www.coldbrooksaab.com

According to the Chicago Tribune, Mike Colleran, COO and President of the new Saab Cars North America speaks about the 37% of the Saab dealership closures in the United States that is taking place at this time.

“It’s not like we’re really eliminating them,” said Mike Colleran, chief operating officer of Saab Cars North America. “We’re just selecting ones that make sense for the new business plan for Saab.”

Colleran said that while the decision was difficult, dealership longevity and stand-alone allegiance to the brand did not enter into the equation. In addition to sales, parts and service performance, the smaller network reflects a marketing strategy aimed at recapturing Saab’s unconventional cachet, something that dissipated during the GM years.

“It is our intent to focus more on premium positioning in the luxury segment, and to focus less on discounts and volume,” Colleran said.

“

New Salem Saab, a longtime site sponsor of Saab History has recently produced a press release about their excitement in moving forward with the new Saab Cars North America.

Press Release:

***

New Salem Saab of Albany NY executes “moving forward” agreement with Saab Cars North America.

Thank you all for the positive opinions regarding our Dealership on the public forums as well as all the calls we have received in congratulating us. New Salem Saab has struggled over the last few years due to the automotive environment. We once had two huge state of the art buildings, but as the Saab market and auto industry changed so did we. From an outside glance it would appear as though things were not going so well, however the opposite was in effect. My goal was to be able to jump ahead of the ball which in turn meant serious alterations to our business model including locations. We are ever so excited and grateful that we have been chosen to continue on with the new Saab.

My grandfather started this company in 1947 and we were granted our franchise with Saab on March 23rd of 1961. I have been working in the dealership now since the age of 13 and have not strayed far from what my forefathers taught me. In doing so, I remain the Service Manager here in my store as well as the Dealer Principle. I continue to work in the shop aside our technicians and with our customers to this day. Although limited in time, my heart is truly in to maintaining the Saab on the road today as a technician. We currently have four technicians and now looking to add another as all of the surrounding dealers, North Country Imports, Brownell Motors, Pioneer Valley and Rutland Saab did not receive the same letter from SCNA that we did. I understand the distance some of the customers have to drive for warranty work and have already submitted a request for the opening of warranty service centers in the Utica, Kingston and Glens Falls areas. However, there will be some time before SCNA finalizes the K-Saab deal leaving a severe gap in warranty needs for customers. There is no real time line for when and if these shops can come online so it is up to our store in Albany NY to maintain your trust and convenience to the best our ability based on the circumstances. We cut a deal with Enterprise rent a car for a low daily rental fee and have already started to increase our parts department’s breadth and scope to help shorten repairs times. I am unique and intend to stay that way. We tell it like it is and sometimes it’s hard to hear the truth, but we will happily take you out in the shop with our technicians and show you exactly what we are seeing and why. We currently have three master Saab technicians, two of which are also GM master techs. The fourth is a UTI grad and all have ASE’s.

I feel bad for those that did not make the cut and our hearts go out to all of them on a personal level however, it is now up to New Salem Saab to do everything we can to make sure we cater to our old and newest customers the best we can during this transition. Lou Roberti formally from Roberti Saab in Kingston is still here with us and going strong. He is the sales guy and I’m the service guy. The two of us make up a pretty strong team regarding Saab. Our experience including the total dealership personnel is well over 100 years with Saab. We are 100% Saab. Completely focused and ready to reinforce our customers new and old why Saab is the brand they should stay with now and in the up and coming years. In fact this is a great time to look into Saab, its future and bring your family, your friends and your Saab back to the dealership for a reintroduction to our staff and Saab’s future!

If you’re in need of a New Saab, a Certified Pre Owned Saab, warranty service, regular service or genuine Saab parts please contact us at 518-862-2795 and ask for me, Darryl, Harold (my right hand man, with us for 14 years now) Lou Roberti in Sales, Eric in Parts or our #1 Saab advisor, Matt. We will be happy to help any way we can.

Darryl F. Carl
New Salem Saab
Saab since 1961
“The oldest originally owned exclusive Saab dealer in the US today!”
–

Cherry Hill Saab of New Jersey, a proud Saab History site sponsor is excited to emphasize that they have been selected as one of the Saab dealerships as part of the new Saab Cars North America organization.

As you may remember, Todd of Cherry Hill Saab worked with me this past spring interviewing the former President of Saab, Steve Shannon during the North American debut of the 2010 Saab 9-3x at the New York Auto Show.

A pleasure to see Cherry Hill Saab selected as one of the 137 Saab dealerships and wish them a bright future just around the corner.

Here is their piece below:

Todd Agostini announces that Cherry Hill Classic Cars and Cherry Hill’s Classic Saab will retain their Saab Franchise and look forward to a great future with the new 9-3x, an all-new 9-5 and the new Luxury Crossover the 9-4x. Special thanks to our customers for their patronage and we look forward to serving you with excellent service for years to come! For details, contact Cherry Hill Classic Cars at 856-424-5300 – ask for Todd Agostini!

Photo Credits: JMK Saab

JMK Saab of Springfield, New Jersey, site sponsor of Saab History has recently announced a new addition to their family.

Immediately following a favorable decision to become part of the new Saab Cars North America organization, a 1973 Saab Sonett III was acquired.

Apparently one of their customers came in and asked them if they were interested in acquiring this Sonett III. The rest as you can see, was Saab History!