speaking of what GM should do, can they hurry up and sell saab and holden, if they're not doing anything with them?
Saab is owned by a Chinese company (SAIC, I think), and Holden is on the only level it is economically viable on.
the reason why they can;t call them saabs is because GM still holds on to the rights to the name, despite not having any of the company's assets. they should just sell the name for an exorbitant price. and on the topic of holden being not "economically viable" what you forget, is that australia/NZ wasn't the only market for GMH. they were selling a significant number of cars to saudi arabia and south africa, as well as the couple of G8s/PPVs/SSs they sold in the US. the market wasn't as small as you'd think, the aus auto indusstry was quite profitable back then. the main nail in the coffin was cheap labour prices in thailand. funny thing is, back in 2012 the australian labour government was planning a $1 billion investment in the aus manufacturers to introduce more electric and hydrogen cars and infrastructure (which was money they actually had at the time), but the liberals decided to cut all support funding instead, killing the entire industry.
In the car world a billion is ultimately nothing. For example, VW that kind of money every four weeks or so. I'm also pretty sure the Thai deserve that money more,given their relative poverty. And the market was still small in relative terms, and can be served by a factory located anywhere.
GM should just sell the rights to the Saab name to VW. Also, VW also owns Scania, so finally Saab and Scania could end up in a re-merger if Saab is sold to VW.
What about markets outside of SUVs? I'd imagine that a new Pontiac Firebird and Banshee would be something sportier and more luxurious than the Camaro and Corvette. And that internal competition didn't stop GM in the past now did it? At least with the Firebird and Camaro, as they were rebadges of each other since their beginnings in the late 60's. I'm pretty sure the Banshee could've also been a rival for the Corvette, and the reason the Banshee was never produced was because GM was too scared of what John DeLorean created.
Well-equipped Chevies. The Corvette is a far more desirable nameplate, and the luxury pony car market died at about the same point as psychedelic pop. In the 60s the market for that sort of thing was much bigger. I think it had more to do with the Corvette already being an established name.
The Problem is that Saab wouldnt fit into the VW range the spot for upmarket cars is already occupied by audi. I would hope they buy it but i dont think that they would right now seeing the problems they currently have
If they push it in the midrange direction, it will be fighting Volkswagen, if they push it in the luxury direction, it will be fighting Audi, and if they try to make it a niche brand, it might become a Cupra competitor. Same reason for why VW has not bought Alfa Romeo.
They also have that problem with Skoda and Seat currently the Superb is fighting the Passat too much the Leon is to close to the Golf and the Octavia can bring some of the A4 drivers away from Audi because its the same size as the A4 and only costs half of the Money
Shortly after the 2nd gen Superb arrived, one of the magazines compared the wagon to the E-Class and 5-Series, and found that the Skoda offered better value, ultimately having it win the comparison. A few years later, another magazine did an E-Class/5-Series/A6/3rd gen Superb comparison, and had the Superb beat the other cars in value for money.
The 3rd gen still an easily hang with the 5 series Merc and A6 but mostly they still have the problem with it beeing a skoda most people think they are badly made. A Friend of mine said that hed rather want a seat than a Skoda because the Skoda is made in the czech repuplic and therefore it is worse than the seat wich i think is the stupidest thing i ever heard. Also the car he wanted was a Ateca its even manufactured in the same factory as the skoda
They're the modern European equivalent of the Olds 98/Buick Electra/Mercury Marquis/Chrysler New Yorker - a car for the "milionaire next door" who wants a big car without spending big car money, and does not care about the lack of prestige.
@Youngtimer I managed to find A LOT of photos from the Belgrade, Serbia auto impound in 2010. If you don't want to see the Photobucket watermark, open the picture in a separate tab. If you want more angles and interior shots, here's where I found these: https://imcdb.opencommunity.be/forum_topic-3611-37156-Junk_yards_and_abandoned_cars.html
Im currently amazed how cheap leasing is just found a deal on a Volvo XC90 T8 R-Design with every bit of kit id want for only 260 euros. Kinda wanna have that but why would i need it?
