Date: Tue, 09 Sep 2003 23:58:31 +0100 From: Martin Rich <M.G.Richnopsam.ac.uk> Subject: Re: Saab Competitors (WAS: Re: Saab Complaint)
On Mon, 08 Sep 2003 18:40:13 GMT, Paul Halliday <pjghnopsamyonder.co.uk> wrote: >in article MPG.19c5278751520ec3989dc2nopsam.sonic.net, milt brewster at >milt73nopsamc.net wrote on 08/09/2003 00:42: > ><snip> > >> Toyotas and Hondas are Saab's major compeditors in the US. >> Posters to those groups might very well have constructive new >> perspectives to add, regarding the problems I am having with my >> Saab. > >My apologies to all for picking on one minor point that Milt made when the >thread is largely over, but I'm interested. Is this true? I nearly spat my >muesli out when I read this. > >In the UK, the current Saab model range finds is competitors in Lexus (I >know, Toyota make these), BMW, Audi (A4, perhaps A6), Mercedes and to a >lesser extent, the bigger VWs (say, Passat), perhaps the Vauxhall Omega and >even (dare I say it) the new Volvo models. New Saab in the UK still holds a >kind of appeal as the marque for the wanna-be-different kind of rep :) > Fundamentally I agree with you but (from the UK perspective) there are two caveats. One is that there's an overlap between the market where Saab operates and the Mondeo etc market. Way back when I worked for a company which offered some staff cars as a perk, quite a lot of people were on a deal where they could have either a Sierra, Cavalier. or equivalent with lots of toys, or an absolute basic BMW, Audi, or Saab (I said it was way back). I remember one colleague having a BMW 3-series with no radio and no power steering. But these are different ways of spending the same money and the likes of Audi are the closest competitors. <snipped> > >The new Honda Civic (a far cry from the old AeroDeck hot-hatch) and Toyota >Corollas are much more the family car than the marque. They're kind of not >sporty enough to have appeal with younger drivers (like the older Honda >Civic, Accord, et al) and not quite big enough for older drivers. The other caveat is that the newest Honda Accord at least is being pitched at something a little further up the market than the average family car: if there's one close competitor it's the Passat which you've mentioned as one of the 'lesser extent' competitors. Americans should note that the Accords built and sold on this side of the Atlantic are completely different from the ones they get in the US. The Japanese manufacturers over here do have a good reputation for reliability. But they're not perfect: trawl around the Internet and you'll find tales of poor customer service about every car manufacturer - and for that matter about every bank and every airline and probably every manufacturer of washing machines. And (again in the UK) Japanese makes have a reputation for parts being expensive, even for British-made cars. One of the original poster's gripes about Saab was parts prices, and I really doubt whether a British counterpart would find parts for an Accord or a Toyota Avensis significantly cheaper than those for a Saab. Martin
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