1994-2002 [Subscribe to Daily Digest] |
As I understand it, magazine sales are off and the internet's taking over. Although people may not actually effect a vehicle purchase online, a huge majority do their homework on a purchase online. The numbers here are astronomical.
Just take, for example, the number that come through Saabnet.com to ask us for our views, prices, reliability, etc. It's the old saying ...."ask someone that owns one" multiplied by the number of responses you get to your initial acquisition questions. If I enter "Saab" on the Google window, the first actual discussion area I get to (not just pictures and sales bafflegab) is Saabnet.com and it appears a handy 3rd on the searcher.
As well, with the heavy use of the internet by Saabers (who are always a little ahead anyway - we're called "early adapters") Saabs are way over-represented online. It's no wonder, then, that Saab won independent awards for web design and functionality. Smart move by GM.
In the old days, without going to the dealership, I could go for days without seeing a person I could actually talk to who was driving a Saab. Best bet here would be to go skiing/snowboarding. I suppose you could go and hang around the pet shop for a few hours on a Saturday. Our community's about 800K people and should be selling Saabs like hotcakes as we are close to the mountains and we all know how powerfully efficient Saabs are through the mountains.
Although I would say our numbers are way way up here (Canada's second largest commercial head-office city) they should be up more than they are as there are scads of Bimmers and a lot of Lexi, Maximae, Acurae, and such. This will take some time, but it will come; especially if the SUV fad fades and people start to move back into wagons. Is there a better wagon out there than the 9-5 (esp the Aero)? If so, I don't know about it.
I wonder what the sales numbers look like among the Silicon Valley and Seattle Microsoft bunch. The way I hear it, this bunch is (was) so wealthy, price meant nothing to them.
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