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We may yet see a 9-3 hatch (hopefully not tarted up into a 9-3X variant), but for now Saab simply doesn't have the resources to develop two models within the same line at once. It's more expensive per car to build multiple variants of that car -- imagine if you had 3 trim levels of 9-3 sedan and 9-3 hatch.
Its weird -- Saab offered sedans and hatches side by side in C900 and 9000 days, yet the hatches always outsold the sedans by like 3 to 1 (or so I have heard) in the case of the 900 and far more in the 9000.
I liked the comment from someone who said that Saab is trading the 20% who want a luxury hatch for the 80% that don't appear to. But hatchback utility is one of the very essences of Saab, one of the things that makes a certain segment of people want a Saab over other cars (I know because I think the one thing that made me buy a Viggen was the hatchback versaility). By offering both, you keep the loyalists happy while also bring more people into the fold.
Times have probably changed -- witness the drastic uptick in sales for the 9-5 over the 9000. But then again, the 9000 was an old, old platform whose limitations in the price market it was competing in were apparent -- people just didn't want to pay up to $42K in 1997 dollars for a 9000 Aero with brutal torque steer and a hatch. The uptick in sales may have been a result of good press for the 9-5 and the drastic improvement over the 9000 that it represented.
I think Saab *had* to make the sedan the focus of the new 9-3, given the prevailing market conditions. Yet Saab is taking a risk of brand dilution and loss of those loyalists who kept it alive (even if in the ICU) by discarding the hatch and going to a wagon (later), which they have creatively called a "5 door variant" in their marketing materials to keep the issue vague. I can't deny that a hatch-only lineup would have doomed Saab; but you can't deny that a sedan-only lineup eliminates the biggesy physical manifestation of Saabness -- utility.
Saab cites all of this market research for the proposition that only 20% wants a hatchback. BUT Saab has cornered that niche market. Mercedes, Lexus -- none of them sell anything near the number of hatches that Saab does. Why abandon those sure-fire 50K cars a year? Why not sell 80% sedans, and out of the remaining 20% sell to those loyalists who want a hatch? Keep the loyalists in the fold while introducing them to new, more mainstream product offerings. In one fell swoop Saab eliminates what has, to date, been one of its *value propositions* -- hatchback versaility, without the stigma associated with a wagon. Anyway, I cited the cost reaosn above as a good reason why they abandoned it -- they need to raise the capital and raise the consumer's interest in Saab before going off on tangents, but GM has deep pockets. Maybe a missed opportunity?
I like the new 9-3 and think it will be a decent (but not HUGE) success. But I think Saab is risking a lot here.
posted by 208.200.185...
, Tue, 23 Jul 2002 20:20:44
, Thu, 25 Jul 2002 05:02:27, Wed, 24 Jul 2002 11:50:39, Wed, 24 Jul 2002 01:15:44
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