Date: Tue, 28 Jul 1998 02:02:25 -0400 From: "Jason Porter" <jporternopsam.net> Subject: Please, Saab is not a "GM car"
AAH, IT PAINS ME SAAB IS NOT A GM BRAND in the same sense that Chevrolet, Opel, Pontiac, and Cadillac are. Please, GM may have a large financial investment in Saab (50% of stock I believe), but I hate to hear Saab termed "a GM car." Saab is not a GM car in any sense other than the financial. Daimler-Benz now owns the Chrysler Corporation, but I would hesitate to call the Chrysler Concorde or Dodge Durango "Daimler-Benz cars." I would be as hesitant to call Ferarri a "Fiat car." GM has very limited influence on the engineering of Saab automobiles, and even less influence over the parts with which the new cars are made. True, the mid-90s era V6 engines were built on a GM block, but that trend has ended for the new ('99) cars. The sheet on the 9-5 shows its US parts percentage as less than 2% of the finished car. Saab has maintained the independence of its engineering and its image, regardless of the source of funding. In the US at least, GM cars are characterized by their general inferiority to other brands, especially when viewed from an engineering standpoint (i.e. Chevrolet, which is IMHO generally a piece of shit - remember the Corsica?). If Saab were truly a GM car, or a GM company, wouldn't GM be putting that Saab engineering prowess to work, and turn out a truly decent (world-class) Chevy or Pontiac for the first time in 25 years? One more thing - while I'm on the subject, why do we as Americans continue to purchase Chevrolets and their ilk at a furious rate, when GM actually makes a *quality* automobile in Europe - the Opel? Can someone explain to me why I can't go to my local GM dealer and buy an Opel Vectra? Is it that GM feels that Americans are too stupid to know the difference? Are their profit margins not high enough? Must we stand and watch GM reclothe an Opel Omega in cheap plastic, take out the good parts of the suspension, and resell it for 20 grand more as the Cadillac Catera? What do they take us for? Thank God Saab is free from that kind of GM management. -J.P. Mark Orr wrote in message <6pjiqu$on$3nopsamurst.ccs.yorku.ca>... >Yeah!! I'm using $2500 in GM points towards my Saab 3 year lease. Make a BIG >diff in a 3 year lease. I doubt I would buy ANY other GM car. > >Mark > >
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