Saab Focused on Leasing to Fuel Initial Revival
By Michelle Krebs March 31, 2010Hoping to reconnect with consumers after a lengthy "dark" period in which no new cars were 
delivered to showrooms, Saab Cars North America Inc. plans to reach out with aggressive lease deals focusing largely on existing customers, president and COO Mike Colleran told AutoObserver at the New York auto show Wednesday.
The switches were turned on again in Saab's Trollhattan, Sweden, assembly plant last week after no new cars were built for months as Saab transitioned from General Motors Co.'s 20 years of ownership to new owner Spyker Cars NV.
Colleran said the first new cars in the showrooms of Saab's 202 dealers will not be the all-new 9-5 flagship; instead, the 9-3X, a 9-3 SportCombi station wagon with all-wheel drive and crossover styling cues, will be first to reach dealers sometime by the middle of April.
The new 9-5, based on the GM front-wheel-drive global midsize-car platform currently used by vehicles such as the Buick LaCrosse and Opel Insignia, will be in North American showrooms in June or July, Colleran said.
After its protracted downtime with no new vehicles and doubt about whether the brand would survive, Saab needs to restoke awareness - and sales - as it moves forward, and Colleran said the company's first initiative will lean on leasing and target current or former Saab owners.
For Saab, "leasing went away," in late 2008, Colleran said, as the entire U.S. auto market cratered. But Saab has a new relationship with GMAC Financial Services for leasing and purchase contracts and is "going to return to leasing very quickly."
Saying Saab's "dialogue has started" with returning lessees, Colleran said there will be good lease offers to convince them to try a new Saab.
"We're going to make it attractive for them," to buy a new Saab, Colleran said, adding that because Saab owners are unusually loyal, the company believes the strategy will help to rekindle sales and interest in the brand.
Another competitiveness-enhancer: Colleran said earlier this month the 2010 versions of the 9-3 will be priced 4 to 12 percent less than 2009 models.
After the 9-3X and the 9-5, Saab will introduce the 9-4X crossover (also based on GM architecture and built under contract with GM at its Ramos Arizpe, Mexico, plant) in what is projected to be the late first quarter next year.
Then in 2012, Saab will introduce an all-new generation of the 9-3.
Colleran said Saab's global breakeven point is pegged at about 100,000 units, and the North American unit can break even at somewhere around its traditional point of 27 to 30 percent of global sales. He said structural costs in North America have been cut to 35 percent of the former level. - Bill Visnic, Senior Editor
Photo by Saab
1 - Saab displayed its 9-3X at the New York auto show. It will be the first Saab to go on sale in the U.S. after a long dormant period while Saab was sold by GM to Spyker.
2 - The new Saab 9-5 goes on sale in summer.
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