RIP Saab

Not good.

Hopefully, Saab will be thrown in with a potential Fiat / Opel deal.

I'm no huge platform sharing fan - but it wouldn't be such a bad thing to let Fiat have a go at producing Fiat based Saabs - it worked in the past (the 9000) - and Fiat have been pretty good at ensuring Alfa and Lancia cars are sufficiently individual that they've not come in for much flack for sharing platforms.

"Bob Sherunckle" gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

Why let a few facts get in the way?

Pontiac & Saturn certainly are being phased out as badges, and Hummer probably is, but Saab certainly isn't dead - sales negotiations are well under way, with a good number of serious potential purchasers. Saab's future hasn't looked rosier for _years_, probably since GM started trying to subsume them.

The latest -

That'll be the Fiat/Opel deal that pretty much everybody in Germany seems to be opposed to, if the press there is to be believed?

I hope that it'll work out because I'm not sure that the alternative (flogging Opel to Magna) is going to work out.

Well, I can imagine the Krauts wouldn't be too happy at seeing one of their big car companies being sold off to the Wops ;-)

But it's probably the best hope for Opel's future - Fiat appear to be one of the big success stories at the moment.

The Saab 'Rural Nanny' Aero is only a few months away, then ;-)

Worked? Sort of. The 9000 may be considered the last of the proper Saabs, but only by those people who forget the older stuff.

I think what you mean is that "Fiat could do with a chassis and suspension developer able to make things ride and / or handle well."

Rubbish.

People just don't know how cars should ride and handle anymore.

It's all stodgy, rubbery, inert s**te these days. At least Fiat group stuff feels 'alive'.

Don't judge everybody else by your own standards.

Utter gibberish.

TBH I would be happier if Porsche bought them to add to the stable.

They already have Lamborghini (through AUDI), VW, Skoda, AUDI, and Scania. Putting Saab and Scania back together as a brand pairing would be a good thing and Saab techs do have some ideas.

Before I even saw this I have actually spent the evening looking at C900s on Youtube and Ebay fondly remembering both of my sheds, the cheap shed and the expensive shed. The cheap shed would actually have been cheaper to put right.

I want one again, soon.

Erm, do you really want your next Saab to effectively be a Golf? - because that's exactly what you'd get if Porsche buy them.

At least Fiat would give them more flexibility in terms of tuning the package / styling and even engines to Saab tastes.

I work with REAL Saabs.

Ours have compressors in their engine bays. The brakes are pretty spectacular, they have to be to stop from the speeds these Saabs get to. Some even have Head-Up Displays and... err... really clever cruise control.

(c:

Heh. Shite old 'planes :)

Elder gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

Do you not see a slight clash between Audi & Saab in that line-up?

I like the idea of a devastatingly awesome Saab.

It has been a long, hard struggle. An old (very old) friend of mine was one of the people responsible for the "hand made by Robots" adverts. His ad agency also got a long term contract to repair Fiat's image with associatd contracts to try and sort out WTF was actually wrong.

He told me that Agnelli himself summoned them into his office and told them that he had just heard that FIAT in the UK stood for "Fix It Again Tony" and that the build quality was s**te. He told them to fix the image and to set in place a programme to get the managers and workers to fix the cars.

It's only taken thirty years.

Like a missile full of Dynamite?

I've just been looking at some comparisons on prices, after the shock of the P11D value of the Focus.

a Focus 2.0TDCI Zetec S 5-door is available, with discounts, for around £17k. (List price is the wrong side of £20k)

a Bravo 2.0JTDm Sport can be had for £14.5k.

That's a big difference in price - and residuals are largely the same.

Then I looked at the new Seat Exeo - list price for a 2.0TDI-143 S is £17.7k.....

I know I'm hardly a Ford fan, but their current price list is insane - even with discounts they're looking expensive these days.

No wonder Fiat are on the up at the moment.

I used to work with real Jaguars. Except the ones I worked with felt slower than the current XF/XK range. There were signs up telling pilots not to use reheat just to unstick the brakes in the morning.