RIP Saab

No more than between Audi and Seat (A3 / Leon, A4 / new saloon thing), Audi and VW (A3 / Golf, A4 / Passat), Audi and Skoda (A6 / Superb), Audi and Lamborghini (R8 V10 / Gallardo), Audi and Porsche (R8 / 911).

Not much downforce though...

Hmmmm. Trouble is that Audi and Saab occupy exactly the same place in the market and appeal to the same demographic groups.

Someone looking at Seats is unlikely to look at an Audi, same with a Skoda. They do have distinct brand identity.

Seat - cheap and sporty Skoda - cheap cars for beardy caravan owners VW - reassuringly expensive family cars and mainstream sports cars Audi - aspirational cars for management.

Saab sits in exactly the same place as Audi with the more sporty models, with a slight overlap into the Skoda market with the low pressure girlie versions.

I've got a pair of them - bright illuminous orange things. My physics teacher gave me them at school back in the day.

Come and work at the airport!

"Have bats, will travel."

estate.

Weren't they fiats in disguise... oh.. wait...

Right enough, the styling means that they actually generate quite a lot of lift at high speed.

All those brains... and yet they still can't quite get it.

Kay Eye Enn Eye Tee Eye See.

Not hard is it?

Doesn't matter, when did you last see a 159, and I remember when I had my

75[1] you'd see a 156 for every 75, now you'll see about 5 75s for 1 156. Says a lot for modern Alfas that all the 156s seem to have gone to the scrappers. [1] - rover... not alfa...

Autotrader suggests it's a ratio of around 2:1 in favour of the 75 when considering how many are around these days. (it's the most accurate measure I could think of).

But you have to consider that a lot of diesel 75s were bought by pipe and slipper retired caravanners, rather than driving enthusiasts, which will be reflected in the comparative survival rates. That's if the original sales rate was comparable to begin with.

You ever driven a Vectra and a 9-3 back to back?

Funny that VW, Toyota etc are also doing well. Seems that the issue is more about the US market than the global ones.

How many Fiats have been sold in the US in recent years?

No, but the 9-3 is hardly a great example.

I preferred the Dame Edna 9-5 to the pre-Edna 9-3.

They could also work for your job suggestion of a lollipop bloke! In fact they're possibly a more universally useful tool for a job than a 4m Sprinter van :-)

Must say - I can't say I've seen any about. Though that's not a sign of whether a car's any good or not, obviously.

I haven't. I reckon it'd handle really weirdly, and synchronising the steering would be a right bitch.

Doesn't matter. They're in a very good place at the moment, as I recall,

2nd only to VAG in the Euro market, and growing.

They're definitely looking at Opel, as well as the Chrysler deal and Tata sit on the main board.

I can see Fiat / Tata owning a significant chunk of the European car manufacturing business within the next couple of years - although they'd need to double their sales to challenge VAG for no. 1 spot.

Caddy, Q3, Altea.

Wonder if they'll turn the front subframe around and stick it in the next boxster - like the evolution from metro to mgf...