Reply #11: What "facts" are you referring to?

[Divernan]

I've owned Saabs for 20 years. When GM first bought in to Saab, the GM engineers/designers just HAD to make changes - a pure power trip - and they screwed up the models -till the Swedish engineers told them to keep their hands off. That lasted for a few years, but the body shop manager was explaining to me last fall how GM was incorporating Japanese parts into the Saab, now. I would loved to see GM back off and let the car be a totally Swedish product again.

I took a lot of ridicule when I got my first Saab ($13,000 - 1985), because the typical macho American guys didn't think the cars "looked" right. Now we see the aerodynamic design has been integrated into many models. GM has to sabotage the Saab because you can drive a Saab for 200,000 miles. Another problem with Saab owners, as far as American marketing efforts are concerned, is that we are content to have the body design remain unchanged indefinitely - what we love is that every year the Swedish engineers come up with improvements on the performance and comfort of the car. And we CARE about miles per gallon and the environmental impact of SUVs. I believe GM is planning on or has already put out a Saab SUV - which to me is an oxymoron.

GM is probably floating these threats to intimidate the Swedes into accepting yet more watering down of the brand.