"As a kid, I was obsessed with Saabs. There was something supremely left-field about them. Something that whispered of the alternative, the coldly exotic. And one of the main reasons for the obsession was that they were driven on the "
Saab: Fighter Planes to Crash Landings
Having been born and raised lusting after turbo Saabs and digging the legendary Viggen fighter planes that featured often in their ads, it’s amazing at how such a ridiculous bit of brand mismanagement can destroy a symbol of innovative Scandinavian engineering in so short a space of time.
With the recent announcement of the failure of Saab’s sale and that an ‘orderly wind-down of operations’ of the brand was thus in place, we were wondering if there was any precedent to this mad, sad tale.
Even the older generation of Saab Rally cars like the one pictured above (which were amazingly successful) have a quirky, understated sort of cool about them. We have often wondered if there is another example of a meteoric rise to power and glory followed by such an equal but opposite plummet back to Earth?
Could there be another example out there?
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Up through the years I have owned and driven most models from the two stroke 96 (except the Sonnet) up to the Saab 9000. Its a sad reflection of what can happen when the big companies get too big for their boots. Notice that they have kept the brand name they started with, and abandoned Saab which is a shame because people will associate that name with their failure. I for one am very sad at this reversal of fortune.
Difficult. Examples of catastrophic brand management are easy to find in what was once the British Car Industry, but perhaps largely without the accompanying greatness you mention. TVR, though, was the plucky independent that came good, producing a series of stunningly beautiful and awesomely quick cars, before being destroyed by that Russian dude who should have stuck to running Jazz clubs.