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I've never heard of the F-150, so can't comment on that. Perhaps it's called something else here. Is it Ferrari's new race-bred hatchback? :)
Saab say that the competitors in their market sector (BMW, Audi, Volvo, Mercedes, Lexus) tend not to compete in that sector with large hatchbacks. Instead, they sell a lot of saloons (sedans) and the people who want load-carrying space tend to prefer estates (wagons) these days.
No idea whether that is correct, but it makes sense. The trouble is, most of us here did buy a hatchback from Saab, which makes us unrepresentative of the market as Saab sees it today. Whatever conclusion we come to here, we are obviously rather biased.
I say that anything that keeps Saab alive can't be all bad. The hatchback is just one of the things I like my 9K Aero for. The lovely turbocharged power plant is something I don't think could have come from any other manufacturer at the time. I look forward in the future to owning another Saab that is again streets ahead of its contemporaries in terms of engine technology. With the financial backing of GM, I hope they can extend that lead to the rest of the drivetrain...
Unfortunately, free-thinking individuals are too rare to form the size of market that a volume car manufacturer requires to survive these days. Saab's current strategy of making sheep feel like something special (at least that's been their marketing thrust here in the UK) is a good balancing act that adds the extra numbers they need to produce a viable volume market.
Of course, I count myself and other people on this board among the free-thinking individuals that used to form the majority of Saab's market. It's just that we need a lot of sheep to make up the numbers or we will lose our favourite manufacturer. This, unfortunately, leaves us outnumbered and the needs of the sheep outweigh our own requirements.
No, I don't think dropping the 9K hatchback has helped sales, but I do think Saab did the right thing to concentrate on a product line that would have wider appeal. That doesn't mean I like the new product better or that I'm glad to see the 9K go. Personally, I'd rather they'd kept it and updated it. I want the benefits of large-scale mass-production with the advantages of a tailor-made solution. I'm still looking...
Oh, and it is the nature of free-thinking individuals that they're all, well, individual. If you find a saloon or estate car is best for you, I'm not calling you a "sheep". That term is confined to those who buy these cars (or hatchbacks or SUVs) because they feel that's what their friends/family/colleagues/boss will expect them to drive / will be impressed by.
Finally: do Ford call it a "Focus" because it doesn't go fast enough to be a "Blur"?
posted by 62.253....
, Fri, 5 Jul 2002 13:04:05, Fri, 5 Jul 2002 13:18:27
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