Daniel Howes

Saab story: Stepchild neglected by GM

Nearly a decade ago this month I found myself in the small Swedish city of Trollhättan, home to Saab Automobile AB.

There was a julbord, the traditional holiday smorgasbord, and the singing of Swedish Christmas songs I learned from my grandmother. During the brief daylight hours, we toured the plant, lunched in a local restaurant and listened to an obligatory product presentation, where a chief engineer I remember only as Lennart declared unequivocally that the coming all-new 9-3 sedans would no longer be plagued by that front-wheel drive malady known as "torque steer."

It's gone, he said, this annoying tendency for front-wheel Saabs powered by turbo-charged engines to lurch left or right when the driver stomps on the gas. I remember the lot of us looking at each other, bemused, because saying so at an automaker renowned for torque steer doesn't make it so.

He was partly wrong, as it turned out. But the anecdote helps explain why parent General Motors Co. is pulling the plug on the Swedish brand it has controlled for nearly 20 years: Saab never delivered on the promise retired GM Chairman Jack Smith saw in the quirky brand because, bottom line, GM seldom gave Saab the resources to compete with premium automakers.

Nor did GM and Saab seem to recognize how marginally competitive their vehicles were or how fragile Saab's brand image was. When GM did help Saab, such as the ill-fated 9-2x compact, the 9-7x SUV or the long-overdue all-wheel drive system for the 9-3 sedans, the benefits turned out to be mostly illusory if they were benefits at all.

That's as true today as it was back in the early part of the decade, if not more so. For the more such core GM brands as Chevrolet and Cadillac, as well as resurgent rivals like Ford Motor Co., pump one strong product after another into their U.S. showrooms, the more Saab's deficiencies become so glaringly obvious -- no matter how fun they are to drive.

Ford is moving into, at least, the third iteration of its Sync info-tainment system, which integrates satellite radio and wireless Bluetooth communications with standard radio and CD formats into an easy-to-use system. Our '08 9-3, very well equipped by Saab standards, wasn't even available with Bluetooth when we took delivery in June 2008.

The interiors of the latest Cadillacs -- SRX crossover, the CTS sedan and wagon -- convey a sense of precision and craftsmanship not seen in decades on Cadillacs. The materials are premium; the layout of the communications and climate control stack is intuitive; the newest entries from Chevy (Equinox), Ford (Taurus) and Lincoln (MKT) are just as strong.

The Saab? Not so much. Switches are clunky. The stereo and its small screen are comparatively crude. Materials on the instrument panel lack refinement and feel more like a mid-decade Chevy than an end-of-the-decade premium car purporting to compete with the likes of Audi, BMW and Volvo.

And all-wheel drive, a must for Saab to compete for customers in New England as they cross-shop Saab with Audi Quattros, Mercedes-Benz 4Matics and AWD variants from BMW and Volvo? Wasn't available in Saab's core 9-3 sedan until the '08 model year -- and that only after Saab's then-U.S. chief, Jay Spenchian, lobbied GM's European product chiefs furiously to make it happen.

Too late. By then, GM's quest to amp up the Swedish marque's sales volume was steering Saab down a fraught path by a) transforming a Subaru into a 9-2 "Saabaru" and b) adding Saab-y styling cues and minor suspension tweaks to a Chevy Trailblazer SUV. The sales gains were temporary, but the brand damage was permanent.

Spyker Cars NV, the Russian-controlled Dutch sportscar maker, is trying to revive a deal for Saab. The Swedes are preparing for the worst. And the people who called the shots for Saab are mostly gone, leaving the mess for others to clean up. Naturally.

dchowes@detnews.com (313) 222-2106 Daniel Howes' column runs Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.