Mistakes that Saab made

[GeoffR]

I think a big mistake was the lack of an estate until the 9-5 1998. In Sweden Volvo introduced the 850 in 1991 and the estate sold better than the saloon. Byers wanting an estate couldn't buy a Saab. And buying a Volvo estate many just got stuck with that brand.

In 1991 Saab didn't need an estate; the 9000 was a 5 Door hatchback and the 900 was also available as 3 or 5 door. The real mistake was in making the 9-5 a saloon (sedan) and not a hatch. A 5 door hatchback 9-5 would have had wider appeal and would have been in a different sector from the BMWs, Mercs etc. that it was competing with. Given the option of 5 doors in a Saab or 4 in a BMW I suspect many would have chosen the Saab for the versatility.

[Saab 9-5]

In 1991 Saab didn't need an estate; the 9000 was a 5 Door hatchback and the 900 was also available as 3 or 5 door. The real mistake was in making the 9-5 a saloon (sedan) and not a hatch. A 5 door hatchback 9-5 would have had wider appeal and would have been in a different sector from the BMWs, Mercs etc. that it was competing with. Given the option of 5 doors in a Saab or 4 in a BMW I suspect many would have chosen the Saab for the versatility.

Saab needed an estate big time in my opinion. The Volvo 850 was introduced in 1991 as an estate and sold like crazy. You can hardly find a Volvo non estate on the roads in Sweden even if it's brand new. A hatchback in not an estate even if it can carry a lot and do not appeal to those how want an estate and nothing else. I don't think that BMW and Mercedes owners at that time would have bought a hatchback. A saloon was more exclusive and a hatchback/estate was not considered as an option for those buyers.

[GeoffR]

Saab needed an estate big time in my opinion. The Volvo 850 was introduced in 1991 as an estate and sold like crazy. You can hardly find a Volvo non estate on the roads in Sweden even if it's brand new. A hatchback in not an estate even if it can carry a lot and do not appeal to those how want an estate and nothing else. I don't think that BMW and Mercedes owners at that time would have bought a hatchback. A saloon was more exclusive and a hatchback/estate was not considered as an option for those buyers.

That may have been the case in Sweden but it certainly wasn't the case everywhere. The big hatch was a Saab Unique Selling Point and they just threw it away, at the time Renault also made a big hatch so they benefited. I agree that for someone who needs an estate car a hatch isn't good enough but for the preson who occasionally needs to move large items the hatch is a much better option.

I owned a 9-5 Estate until recently and, for me, it wasn't anything special, I had the seats down half a dozen times in two years but a big hatch would have ticked all the boxes. For an estate car to be really useful you need to be using its capabilities regularly. The fact is that a 9-5 estate with the seats up is less capacious than a saloon or hatch.

Saab wasn't seen as an option by many BMW or Merc buyers because it was seen as being of lower quality, Saab replied by pointing out that those two brands were mass produced and Saabs weren't. So Saab needed something that the others didn't have and equally something that Saab were good at so, instead of concentrating on their strengths they went head to head with the established players.