There’s a great collection of images from this event at Saab Actu

As mentioned in today’s Saabosphere entry, Saab fans gathered in Paris to put on a show of support for the brand.

Around 100 fans in 60 vehicles braved the chilly 4 degree temperatures in order to share some Glögg* and some good natured Saab fellowship at Place des Invalides. Of course, most attendees were from France, but there were also some cars registered from the Netherlands and even from Poland at the event.

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As a Saab person, it’s heartening to see this kind of support shown for the company at such a critical time in its history.

My thanks to all who attended.

I’m sure more photos will appear at French/Belgian sites: Saab Actu, Saablog-in and Saabsunited.fr.

* Glögg – mulled wine, common in Sweden during the festive season.

Let me ask the question before you do – What’s that silver/grey convertible?????

I’ve made enquiries and will let you know what I hear. It looks like on of Leif Mellberg’s custom creations to me. If I hear anything, I’ll let you know.

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It’s emails like this that give me such a boost as a Saab person, knowing that grass-roots efforts like the Dealer Tour are reaching people in a very personal way. One-to-one opportunities to see our new vehicles up close are very important at a time when support for our company is so crucial.

I get the chance to attend the event in Paris : it was fantastic! I have made a little video of the event

The video has some images from the Paris event, as well as a quick 9-4x test drive at the hands of a Porsche Cayenne owner, who comes away very impressed with the 9-4x……

Saab Actu, along with Saablog-in, is running a photo competition from the Tour….

I have received great photos from enthusiasts for our Photos Contest – from customers as well as from dealers.

This Tour has given everybody a good smile. The 9-4X seduced most people, even the “900 lovers”. I also had the chance to take a ride and this car is much more than a SUV. It reaches a premium top level on every point, really. And with a Saab design.

The people at Saab France are worth meeting. This tour has been a good outcome from the Saab financial issues. It has made us closer and given us unexpected occasion to meet skilled people who generally work behind the curtains. The Saab Team is like a family of car lovers, of Saab history builders.

Thanks a lot for this Saab Tour and whatever happens (the better way I want to imagine) I hope there is going to be another Saab Tour de France in 2012

And I guess that’s the big payoff here. The sense of camaraderie, the relationships that get built in tough times.

Of course, we all want those tough times to end and some good times to begin. We want to start to create some good Saab Family memories based on positive circumstances. Personally speaking, I’d love to do an Inside Saab tour around the world, bringing the cars and some of the stories from inside the gates to dealerships, clubs and fans all over the globe. I’d love to expand the Saab Family across all borders.

We need a few things to go our way before that can happen, but it’s good to see the Dealer Tour concept that started with the guys at Saab Germany catching on and spreading so well.

Congratulations to Saab France and the participating dealers for conducting such a wonderful set of events. And thanks very much to Remi for the feedback.

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BONUS

Some images from recent stops on the Tour de France….. from Limoges and the very picturesque La Rochelle.

Click to enlarge.

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The final two days of the tour include visits to the following:

November 21

0930-1200 – SAAB SELECT AUTO
4 r Jean Deméocq
17000 La Rochelle
Tél : 05 46 45 48 22

0930-1200 – AUTO VIP
115 Chemine de la Fauceille
66100 Perpignan
Tél : 04 68 82 00 00

1530-1900 – ESPACE PERICAUD LIMOGES
123 r Feytiat
87000 Limoges
Tél : 05 55 31 34 37

1530-1900 – GARATGE SPORT
10 Verge del tilar
099 Andorra la Vella
Tél : 00 376 809 144

November 22

0930-1200 – ESPACE DECOUVERTE AUTO
Avenue d’Aquitaine
47550 Boé
Tél :05 53 96 04 42

0930-1200 – SOCIETE NOUVELLE CENTRALE GARAGE SIGNATURE
zone artisanale Bourgade
31670 Labège
Tél : 05 62 71 68 68

1530-1900 – VS AUTOMOBILES SARL
ZA Saint-Frédéric 2 – RN 117
Rond Point du Grand Basque
64100 BAYONNE
Tél : 05 59 55 16 26

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A report from the Saab guys in France:

Since our last update, the tour has visited a huge number of dealerships around France and has been met with overwhelming support and interest.

On Saturday, the Saab marathon stopped by the downtown Paris Saab Dealership “Saab Rive Gauche”, which is ideally located nearby the Eiffel Tower.

The 9-4X and the 9-5 Estate (the Sport Combi) were presented by Patrice Lamouroux, Saab Rive Gauche MD and Philippe Van Der Meulen, the head of Saab France. Saab fans walked in to take a look at the new Saabs all day long.

Around 100 customers and prospects took a chance to seat themselves in the cars. The unanimous response was: When can we meet again for a test drive? When can we order the cars, I want one …..

The press have shown a strong interest in the tour as well. We’ve already seen one report about the Saab 9-4x popping up in the French media and I’m sure there have been more reports about the tour, too.

After the tour concludes on Tuesday, the vehicles will move on to Spain for a new tour. I’ll have dates for that one later today.

Some images follow, which are from Paris, Rouen, and Provence. Special thanks to Jeff from Saabsunited.fr for forwarding the Viggen vs 9-4x images from Provence, which were taken by Saab France staff.

Click to enlarge.

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I just received this image, from a guy many of you might know as Golfhunter. He runs the French Saab website, Saablog-in as well Saabs United’s new French translation. he caught up with the tour party in Chambéry today. That’s his classic 900 on the right, and the car he’d like to have next is on the left

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In addition to dealers and customers getting a look at the new Saab 9-4x and 9-5 SportCombi, a few members of the French motoring press have taken the opportunity to come along and check things out, too.

Carissime.com attended one of the sessions and had a chance to take a quick drive in the Saab 9-4x Aero. They posted a short review online and their feedback was very positive indeed.

Googletrans:

[It is] impressive on its 20″ wheels, the Saab 9-4X is designed to affirm a strong identity and we can say that it succeeds. The front is particularly well thought out with a real research work in the interpretation of Saab style suited to a big SUV….

…. Our mini trial was very short but our first impressions are really positive , more (relatively speaking) the price is reasonable in relation to the services offered.

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I mentioned in an earlier article how important these tours are, not only for prospective customers, but also for lifting the spirits of the dealerships and service staff.

I think the following picture really does tell a thousand words in respect of this – dealer staff enjoying a chance to check out one of the new cars….

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Below is a gallery of images from the stops in Strasbourg, Metz and Mulhouse. Thanks to the Saab team in France for sending them along.

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One definite thing that is common to all stops around France so far …. The smiles on the faces whether it is from the customers or the dealers and their staff.

The cars are consistently praised as being the best Saabs ever from all aspects, technical or design.

The show must go on …

These dealer tours have been very important in terms of giving people a chance to see our news cars. Just as important, though, is the injection of insight and hope it gives for the staff in our distribution channels. For national organisations like Saab France, it’s a chance to deal with their contacts with new products, a welcome opportunity. And for dealers and service staff, it’s a chance to engage their customers with these new products and get some happy faces into the dealership.

It’s a welcome change for everyone. Here’s to making it a permanent one, and soon.

These images from three of the initial stops along the tour – Melun, Saint Quentin and Lille. Click this link for all of the dates and locations for the Saab Dealer Tour – France.

Click the images to enlarge.

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And just how much are people anticipating these dealer visits?

From Saab France:

Eight o’clock sharp, two customers arrive at Saab Rive gauche, the Parisian dealer. They didn’t want to wait till Saturday when the Tour will stop by their own dealer, so they went to a southern Paris located dealer (roughly 30 km south) to see the 9-4x.

A test drive, happy customers. Now the next step … an order.

It’s fantastic to see people enjoying these tours. I can understand that this would be a great opportunity for both dealers and customers. It’s been way too long for all of us, so seeing such a great start to the French tour is a wonderful thing.

Saablog-in also has some preliminary photos of the cars arriving from the French tour. Saablog-in is running a photo competition they’re running in conjunction with Saab Actu, so if you’re attending the tour, don’t forget to send your photos in.

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If you’d like to go along but you haven’t seen the dates or venues yet, you can see them at the following link: Saab Dealer Tour – France.

Saab Actu and Saablog-in will co-host the competition with support from competition sponsors: performance partners Hirsch Performance and Saab scale model sellers, Dimini.ch

Saablog-in & Saab Actu – along with with Saab Automobile France, Hirsch Performance and Dimini.ch – invite every French Saab fan attending the Saab Tour de France to send in their best pictures of the event.

The 10 best photographers will receive some great awards!

Aspiring photosnappers should make sure they attend one of the Saab Dealer Tour – France events and then send their photos in to Remi from SaabActu, via email to remi.saabactu-at-yahoo.fr (replace the -at- with @, of course).

This coming weekend, the tour will begin in France, where it will run from November 12th to 22nd.

This tour is a little different as it will be split into two tour groups to provide wider coverage in a short space of time. There’s some doubling up of times in the schedule because they can now be in two places at once.

NOTE: Both teams will have the 9-4x and the 9-5 SportCombi, so there is no need to be anxious that you might miss one of the new vehicles.

The dates, times and venues are as follows:

November 12

1000 – 1200 – MELUN MOTORS
620 Impasse Epinette Pole automobiles
77240 Vert St Denis
Tél : 01 64 09 21 73

November 14

0800 -1000 – AUTO VAL
8bis Rue des Campanules
77185 Lognes
Tél : 01 60 17 28 77

1000 -1230 – KRYSTAL SAS
21 rue Jules Guesde
59650 VILLENEUVE-D’ASCQ

1200-1400 – AUTOMOBILES DU VAL DE MARNE SARL
121 – 123 avenue de Verdun
94000 CRETEIL
Tél : 01 42 07 19 14

1500-1730 – P2A
ZAC La Vallée
Rue Antoine Parmentier
02100 SAINT-QUENTIN
Tél : 03 23 67 21 91

1530-1700 – AERO 91
Z.I. de la Bonde
13 Av. du Maréchal Juin
91300 MASSY
Tél : 01 69 75 18 40

1830 – ESPACE DEFENSE AUTOMOBILES SA
12 rue des Peupliers
92000 NANTERRE
Tél : 01 47 69 00 01

November 15

0900-1200 – OUEST AUTOMOBILES CHARTRAINE
11 avenue du Val de l’Eure – Parc Euroval
28630 Fontenay sur Eure
Tél. : 02 37 18 23 19

0900-1200 – GENERAL AUTO METZ SARL
Village de l’Automobile
Parc de Berlange
2 rue de la Baillonville
57140 WOIPPY
Tél : 03 87 31 72 31

1400-1630 – DREUX AUTOMOBILES
6 boulevard de l’Europe
28500 Vernouillet
Tel : 02 37 38 94 00

1400-1630 – MK MOTORS
5 all de L’Euro
67205 Oberhausbergen
Tél : 03 88 56 93 95

1800 – SNOA
118 bis av. du Mont Riboudet
Tel : 02 35 70 84 24

1800 – PREMIUM AUTOMOBILE
21 G Rue de Thann
68200 Mulhouse
Tél : 03 89 33 35 62

November 16

0900-1200 – SOCADIA
Boulevard du Suffolk
14112 Bieville Beuville
Tel : 02 31 43 00 00

0900-1100 – JCL MOTORS
Rond Point de la Belle Etoile
1 impasse Gougeot
25770 Franois
Tél : 03 81 53 74 44

1400-1630 – ROGER HAMON SAS
Zone De La Bourdiniere
Rue du Verger
22120 Yffiniac
Tél : 02 96 63 96 96

1600-1900 – SUD EST AUTOMOBILES
1911 D1006
73490 LA RAVOIRE
Tél : 04 79 72 82 10

1800 – SAAB GUILLOU AUTOMOBILE
Route de Gouesnou
ZI Kergaradec
29200 Brest
Tél : 02 98 42 42 00

November 17

0830-1030 – BOUGAULT S.A.
Rue Claude Verney Carron
42000 Saint Etienne
Tél : 04 77 92 08 00

0900-1200 – SAAB EDC Motors
36 Route Kerourvois Nord
29500 Ergué Gabéric
Tél : 02 98 59 59 74

1200-1400 – MONTELIMAR AUTOMOBILES
ZI Sud – Avenue Gournier
26200 Montélimar

1400-1630 – SAAB PROST AUTOMOBILES
23 Rue de Bray
35510 Cesson Sévigné
Tél : 02 99 86 80 80

1630-1900 – CAVALLARI AUTOMOBILES
351 rte du Cannet
Bretelle de l’autoroute
06250 Mougins
Tél : 04 92 18 70 40

1800 – SAAB DANUBE AUTOMOBILES
7 bd de la Liberté
49000 Angers
Tél : 02 41 74 17 00

November 18

0900-1200 – SAAB AUTO MART 45
30 Bis Rue André dessaux
45400 Fleury les Aubrais
Tél : 02 38 84 40 16

0900-1200 – ETABLISSEMENT BALBI
39 Avenue Pasteur
84130 Le Pontet
Tél : 04 90 23 91 19

1400-1630 – AUTOMOBILES CHASSAY
11, Boulevard Abel Gance
37100 Tours
Tél : 02 47 40 60 60

1400-1900 – AUTOMOBILES TADEK
137 av Georges Borel
13300 Salon de Provence
Tél : 04 90 53 03 26

November 19

1000-1630 – SAAB RVE GAUCHE
76 Bis av Suffren
75015 Paris
Tél : 01 53 58 56 00

0930-1200 – AUTO 2000
170 Rue du Père Brottier
30900 Nîmes
Tél : 04 66 70 66 70

November 21

0930-1200 – SAAB SELECT AUTO
4 r Jean Deméocq
17000 La Rochelle
Tél : 05 46 45 48 22

0930-1200 – AUTO VIP
115 Chemine de la Fauceille
66100 Perpignan
Tél : 04 68 82 00 00

1530-1900 – ESPACE PERICAUD LIMOGES
123 r Feytiat
87000 Limoges
Tél : 05 55 31 34 37

1530-1900 – GARATGE SPORT
10 Verge del tilar
099 Andorra la Vella
Tél : 00 376 809 144

November 22

0930-1200 – ESPACE DECOUVERTE AUTO
Avenue d’Aquitaine
47550 Boé
Tél :05 53 96 04 42

0930-1200 – SOCIETE NOUVELLE CENTRALE GARAGE SIGNATURE
zone artisanale Bourgade
31670 Labège
Tél : 05 62 71 68 68

1530-1900 – VS AUTOMOBILES SARL
ZA Saint-Frédéric 2 – RN 117
Rond Point du Grand Basque
64100 BAYONNE
Tél : 05 59 55 16 26