Saab’s Australian future secured
With sales of Saab vehicles in Australia at an all time low, some positive news has come out of Trollhattan today with confirmation the Swedish brand will continue operations in Australia and New Zealand.
Saab, which was purchased from General Motors by Dutch supercar maker Spyker seven months ago, will setup a new entity called Saab Australia that will take care of all distribution, marketing and sales in Australia and New Zealand.
The company has confirmed that all customers will be taken care of whilst the process takes place. Saab Australia will take over all operations from GM Holden, such as maintaining the national Saab network of dealer.
"We are delighted to make this announcement, which represents the start of a new chapter for Saab as an independent car manufacturer in the Australian and New Zealand markets. After evaluating a number of different business models, we believe that having a Saab-owned subsidiary is the best way for Saab to optimize its great sales potential and to best cater for current and future customers in these markets. Australia and New Zealand are vital to Saab’s representation in the Asia-Pacific region. We look forward to relaunching the Saab brand in Australasia next year with exciting new products like the new 9-5 Sedan, 9-4X and 9-5 SportCombi. Our new organization will ensure we get the right infrastructure in place.” Adrian Hallmark, Saab Automobile’s Executive Director of Sales.
In September Saab sold just five vehicles in Australia, nonetheless a range of new products such as the Saab 9-4x as well as a technology deal with BMW means the Swedish company is gearing up for a big comeback.
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