Any Saab employees here?

Seems like they should make themselves known....even if they include the standard disclaimer "the opinions expressed herein are not necessarily those of GM Corp. blah blah blah". Or better yet, id themselves with the tag [SAAB] after their name.

I find it hard to imagine that not a single employee at Saab/Sweden would not be subscribed to this group.

- tex

Reply to
Tex
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I can't imagine if it makes any difference to you and me regarding the SAAB's we own and drive whether an OP works for SAAB or not. Will you value his opinion more because he is an emplyee or are you going to bash him if you found a problem with your SAAB?

It would be interesting though, I think, if a SAAB dealer post his opinion on this board.

Reply to
yaofeng

Knowing the way companies like GM operate, a Saab employee posting here would probably be fired soon after, they'd find some excuse the moment management got wind of it.

Reply to
James Sweet

"James Sweet" skrev i en meddelelse news:2rq4e.3064$Q26.896@trnddc05...

Nope.

One of the top technical people is writing a bunch (helping Saab-owners) in the forums of the Swedish Saab Turbo Club.

Cheers!

Reply to
Henrik B.

Wow...you take a rather negative spin on my post. I love Saabs. I'm one to rarely "bash" anyone, unless they really, really deserve it. I'd be much more interested in giving productive/valuable feedback about where I think they could make actual vehicle improvements, through fairly simple/cheap changes.

Do I have gripes about my Saab, sure, but more importantly, I'd rather give input about what I think could be done to address those gripes and ultimately make Saab cars better.

- tex

Reply to
Tex

Of course...GM doesn't have anyone internally on staff to monitor Swedish-language sites, so it'd be tough to find him/her.

I personally would love to have direct interaction with Saab employees. It seems like such a natural to have employees of a company interact with the very customers that buy from them. This basic interaction of employees and customers occurs in just about every other business I know of, why would an auto company be exempt from it?

- tex

Reply to
Tex

I don't think there are any.

Why? Usenet isn't widely known, and is hardly a primary support mechanism.

Reply to
Dave Hinz

If my previous post conveyed a negative spin on your post, I apologize. It was no intended to be that way.

Reply to
yaofeng

Why isn't Usenet widely known when most browsers have a news option of some sort, there's dejanews, and, I think, Yahoo has some sort of primary news mechanism.

One of the IC manufacturers has someone who at least informally monitors one of the relevant newsgroups and regularly offers advice, product suggestions, etc.

Reply to
Everett M. Greene

If you were to survey 100 internet users, I'd be surprised if 10% of them used Usenet. Actually, I'd be surprised if 10% of them are even _aware of_ usenet.

Right, but people who design computers using ICs are a different demographic than people who drive a particular brand of cars.

I'm not saying it wouldn't be a nice thing to have, but (a) I can't see GM giving a crap enough to pay someone to do it, and (b) I'm not surprised that they haven't.

Reply to
Dave Hinz

Do we? I think most people in this group bought their Saabs pre-owned. I own several SAABs but none of them was bought new by me, I do all the maintenance myself too and (have to) buy parts from non OEM sources as most parts are NLA from Saab. I am hardly an interesting 'prospect' for Saab or GM since I will not buy a new car that looks like a Saab but actually is a Chevrolet that was formerly a Daewoo...

-- MH '72 97 '77 96 '78 95 '79 96 '91 900i 16

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Reply to
MH

I bought a new SAAB once. It was a 1990 900 stripper. Cloth seat, normally aspirated, no sunroof, nothing. That car was a pisser (FYI, that's good in US lingo). I wish I still owned it. It was the only car I have ever bought new, except for work cars. I got new cars from the company I work for for about 20 years and bought one new once and wrote it off. They were all US domestics and completely uninspiring, even the Turbo Dodge Lancer I bought. It was a mistake...

I now own 7 cars. 2 SAABs (a 93 9000CSET and a 98 NG900SET) 3 BMWs ('94

540iA, '95 325i and a '97 Z3) a Ford Exploder (boat hauler) and a 98 Jeep Wrangler Sport.

The key to being able to own older cars and actually save any money is exactly what you inferred: You have to be able to fix them yourself because (let's face it) they are bound to break somewhat more often than a new Honda. Financially that is key. That and ordering parts from online places like eEuroparts.com where I get almost all my SAAB parts. Their prices even on OEM SAAB parts is much lower than anywhere else. And they ship it to me for free by FedEx ground, which gets here overnight since I live in New England.

So no, I'm sure that SAAB (or BMW for that matter) doesn't really care what I think about their new cars. The last time they got any of my money was 15 years ago.

-Fred W

Reply to
Malt_Hound

I think "pisser" (usually pronounced "pissah") is just a New England thing.

By the way, if something is *really* good, then it's "wicked pisser."

Reply to
Shane Almeida

A company of roughly 6000 employees and not one has heard of usenet?

I would say that there are roughly 6 major non-specialty Saab communities on the internet today...A.A.S is one of them. The others: saabscene.co.uk, saabnet, saabcentral, saabforum.nu, saabclub.co.uk (yes, i'm sure you could argue that there are more) AAS is the only non-web based community. Given this short list, it becomes all the more surprising to think that not one Saab employee has lurked here.

- tex

Reply to
Tex

I'm sorry you're taking an attitude about this. That's the way it is. (shrug) Big deal.

Maybe they are lurking here, who knows. But, if the point is to get feedback to Saab, why not...you know...write to them?

There are a few software company folks who hang out in soc.genealogy.computing - one guy in particular used to catch nothing but a ration of shit, because there is one group of people unhappy about the fact that his company bought another software company. The guy got non-stop abuse from that handful of people. While he was the most patient person I've ever seen, getting that sort of treatment doesn't appeal to _me_, I dunno.

I guess it comes down to this - maybe nobody has asked them to participate. Why don't you do so, and let us know how that works out for you?

Reply to
Dave Hinz

Not to be negative, but do you really think GM is interesting in make Saab a unique car again? Look at the 9-2 and the 9-7. You also have to think if any current and maybe soon to be EX Saab employee cares about our comments. Even if they did, I really doubt they have any control over what goes into the car - the bean counters at GM are deciding everything. GM has made statements in the WSJ about how the European companies are going to have to use more common components to make GM more profitable. They said people will buy the car because it has a Saab name and no one will care what is in the car. The Saab engineers modified the common GM chassis into the 5 Star crash rated 9-3. Their reward was to have their group disbanded because they modified the common GM chassis. At the same time GM bragged about the 5 start crash test rating. GM could have used the modified chassis to give all of their cars using the common chassis a 5 start crash rating, but they chose to punish the engineers . . .

Reply to
ma_twain

When my regular driver was a Ford Contour SVT, SVT employees regularly participated on the Contour email list. Some dealers as well. Maybe Ford has f'd that up as it has been 4 years since I participated.

Reply to
dxyzc

Well, technically no consumers actually buy directly from Saab...they buy it through a privately held dealership.

I already pointed this out in my "dichotomy" sub-thread of a week or so ago.

Great. But you are certainly not the typical Saab owner. I highly doubt most owners of Saabs have or should even need training in automotive mechanics to own one. When I buy a copy of Microsoft Word (or download OpenOffice), I'm not expected to know anything about coding C++, I simply expect that I can type a letter with it.

All the more reason you should want to give feedback to Saab and GM. But I'm guessing you've got a ready list of excuses: 1) Saab is s**te now, they're owned by GM afterall 2) GM has killed Saab forever 3) No one at Saab cares anymore 4) etc etc.

I'm not aware of any Saab that has any connections to Daewoo (Chevrolet Europe is a completely different ball of wax vis-a-vis its American cousin of the same name). The 9-7x is surely a controversial Saab-badged vehicle, because of its Chevy Trailblazer origins. I don't think you will find many in the Saab community who will bother to argue that it's a true Saab (same for the 9-2x).

On the other hand, I've noticed that while all the naysayers poo poo GM for their tainting of the Saab model lineup with the two US-only models, the

9-2x and the 9-7x, they hastily overlook the two true Saab vehicles, the 9-3 and 9-5. These are two incredible cars which completely retain all that has embodied Saab for decades (safety, performance, sleek/tasteful looks, and of course quirky features). And last I checked these cars aren't getting axed by GM.

- tex

Reply to
Tex

Which brings to mind the question, do people care what's in the car? I certainly do, a great many of us posting here do, but does it really matter to the average consumer? Brand loyalty can carry a shitty product out for quite some time, people eventually realize what's going on but it takes a while. Of course at that point the brand is forever tarnished.

Reply to
James Sweet

The question then becomes, will the "average consumer" buy a Saab? Why not buy the less expensive G6 or Malibu? I also care about what is in the car, which is why I have not bought a new Saab.

Reply to
ma_twain

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