15th Aug 2021, 18:10
It’s not GM’s fault those cities are ghost towns now. Saab made bad, boring cars for their entire existence. They didn’t evolve with the times and ultimately became antiquated.
16th Aug 2021, 19:36
Not content in destroying Detroit, Luton and Trollhättan, GM proceeded to destroy Elizabeth in South Australia as well.
16th Aug 2021, 23:26
It was hard for Saab to evolve when GM would force them to build a car that had sales flop written all over it like the Cadillac BLS, and then force Saab to foot the bill for said failed experiment.
17th Aug 2021, 05:01
Saab was always a niche company with a loyal customer base. Their products were sturdy and long lasting, they had long production runs. GM was never a good fit for this company; in the end SAAB input was zero, it was just another mediocre GM product with a SAAB badge. GM were long time owners of Opel and did the same to that company. Opel now owned by PSA is in profit again now.
Ford nearly succeeded in doing the same to Volvo until sold to Chinese interests. They are now a success. The Chinese at least seem to comprehend the appeal of these brands unlike the US companies.
I do not think more needs to be said.
17th Aug 2021, 15:14
So Detroit is not finished because of cars like the Corvair, Vega, Citation, Cimarron, Aztek, HHR and SSR? Just to name a few?
17th Aug 2021, 18:23
Or you could name at least twice that many models just as easily which have been massive successes. Sometimes you strike out. The Aztek was not good. They tried it and failed. Same as the Lincoln Blackwood. Swing and a miss. Big deal. Better to at least attempt to make something new and interesting, which is the opposite of what Toyota does.
17th Aug 2021, 18:26
Oh yeah, the Chinese are known for making well-built, reliable cars. Geely and others certainly do that, right? Geely just got into a joint venture with Renault in an article I saw yesterday. How’d that work out for Nissan?
17th Aug 2021, 22:09
Why, yes - and what they couldn't make under their own roof, they'll buy another roof and burn it down for good measure.
18th Aug 2021, 15:09
Saab died because GM is the most incompetent company in the world. Plain and simple.
19th Aug 2021, 21:35
Just like it's Pontiac's fault when owners had problems with the Toyota built Vibe.
20th Aug 2021, 18:38
Wonder if that might because China has 1/6th of the world’s population compared to, say, the US which does not?
20th Aug 2021, 18:39
It is Pontiac’s fault. Good luck trying to get help bringing the car to a Toyota dealer & asking for them to cover it under warranty if the car is a PONTIAC.
21st Aug 2021, 14:38
Just like if you buy a new Supra and blow the motor. Good luck trying to get BMW (who manufactured the engine) to replace it. Though I don't see that happening, BMW engines don't have a reputation for engines that consume oil unlike Toyota.
21st Aug 2021, 21:09
Not referring to the dealership that covers the warranty, but who is at fault for a defective engine that is Toyota built. Not Pontiac's fault, they didn't design it! This is why the comments on the recent Vibe review went on for so long and then locked.
21st Aug 2021, 23:12
Yes, clearly the Vibe/Matrix readers have arrived to the party. Oh Steven... another thread lock here.
22nd Aug 2021, 14:05
Quite possibly, but I would prefer not to (perhaps a triumph of hope over experience). Please try to stay vaguely on topic, and to the person who initially injected the Vibe/Matrix discussion into this review, it wasn't helpful.
steven@carsurvey.org (site admin)
22nd Aug 2021, 15:35
Parts of cars are outsourced regularly. Maserati for instance used to (& maybe still does) use Chrysler turn signals, window controls, etc. McLaren does a similar thing using BMW parts. Even if a manufacturer doesn’t design a part themselves, it benefits them to not have to do the work to develop it. With that resource savings trade-off comes taking responsibility for having it in a car with their nameplate.
22nd Aug 2021, 16:03
Very true; but it seems both thread topics are different, but yet the same as certain commentors are pointing the finger at GM like everything is their fault.
23rd Aug 2021, 16:20
GM never really cared for its foreign subsidiaries. I remember the Americans at the GM Insidenews all urging GM to kill Saab. It was quite sickening to see so much hatred for dear old Saab.
25th Aug 2021, 12:55
Saab was already on the brink of death in 1989 when GM bought 'em out of spite for losing Jaguar to Ford in a bidding war. It looked like Saab had a secure future, but sadly it wasn't the case.
They gave Saab the lackluster GM 2900 platform of the 1988-2002 Opel Vectra, which wasn't sturdy enough and Saab engineering team had to re-work so much that the 1993-1998 900, 1998-2002 9-3 and 1997-2009 9-5 shared very little with the Vectra. Same thing happened with the 2003-2011 9-3 based on the Epsilon I platform; where the 2002-2008 Vectra only scored four stars, the 9-3 scored five in the EuroNCAP.
When the market demanded a hatchback and an SUV, GM slapped a Saab grille onto a Subaru Impreza Wagon and a Chevrolet Trailblazer reckoning that a simple badge engineering would do the trick. It didn't. The "Saabaru" 9-2x and the "Saabrolet" 9-7x were major sales flops.
The new 9-5 was supposed to have been launched in 2005, but sadly arrived five years too late... And outdated. The car was not competitive at all against the newly launched W212 E-class and F10 5-series.
GM did bail Saab out in 1989, but proceeded to do nothing with the brand. GM kept Saab afloat, but at the same time never seemed to care much for the brand. Truly a "Saad" story.
15th Aug 2021, 14:47
GM sold Saab to Spyker and then quite literally blocked a Chinese buyout after they had already sold Saab to Spyker. Every attempt from Spyker to save Saab was blocked by GM.
And the city of Trollhättan has never fully recovered from this blow. It now has two ghettos - Kronogården and Lextorp.
GM did to Trollhättan what they have done to Detroit.