Date: Mon, 22 Nov 1999 15:40:07 GMT From: supersambanopsameja.com Subject: Re: New Saab ?!?!? DEVELOPERS! where are you?
In article <38384F89.AD33DA0nopsam1.tuwien.ac.at>, RCS <e9225126nopsam1.tuwien.ac.at> wrote: > The 9-2 seems to be prototyped - but I think that“s the wrong direction > for SAAB! > Who of the actual Saab drivers will accept such a car, sorry to say but > the 9-3 is small enough! > And it looks like SAAB is aiming at the Mercedes C, E and BMW 3xx, 5xx > drivers. For my opinion the 9-5 was a great success! I agree about the 9-5, especially the wagon. For me a 9-5 aero wagon is a car which for the money (rumoured in press at £28K) makes one hell of a good deal. The 9-2 is needed for several reasons which are special to Europe and do not maybe apply so much in the US. By far the biggest market sector in euroland is the one occupied by the VW Golf, Opel Astra etc. Both BMW and Audi found that by producing cars that can just about fit into this sector it made a dramatic improvement to their overall sales( the 3 series compact and A3 respectively). Most new car buyers in Europe would never consider SAAB for 2 reasons 1) They have no experience of the brand. 2) they don't make a car which is within their reach. The 9-2 would go along way to rectifying this situation. I would imagine that they need to produce the 9-2 to atleast 20% sticker price less than the 9-3, about £14K or so. > SAAB should head forward and develop: > > - a new engine, cause the 4 cylinder is very very old, the trionic is > great! > - a 4WD concept or they“ll loose lot of market in the next future, I sort of agree on both points although I feel there is only a need for 4wd on the very powerfull models. They could do this by using the Haldex clutch system, and could even put this type of system into the differential for the front wheels on a front wheel drive car (I had read that Haldex are researching the possibility of a special diff for fwd). SAAB are supposedly researching a new variable compression turbo charged engine. The future may also see a cut in the capacity to maybe 1.5 litres with the power coming back through an increased rev range? (I put that one in myself) Neil. Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ Before you buy.