Thursday 3rd June 2010

Spyker To Use Saab Dealers To Sell Supercars

Dutch supercar maker aims to triple its dealer network by 2012

---

A curious logic behind Spyker's move to buy Saab could soon be revealed - the Dutch company's purchase of Saab could help to make its supercar arm profitable for the first time since it went public in 2004.

How so? Well, part of the plan seems to be to get Saab dealers to sign up to selling Spykers - as we first revealed when we spoke to Spyker's marketing boss, Hans Van Rennes, at the Geneva show back in March.

That bit of the plan is now clearly coming to fruition. "We are signing up Spyker dealerships left, right and center," Spyker CEO, Victor Muller, told Bloomberg in a recent interview at Saab's headquarters in Trollhaettan.

Using existing Saab franchises, Spyker aims to push its dealer network from 35 outlets to 60 this year, and to 90 by the end of 2011.

Spyker, which bought Saab in February from General Motors, sold just 36 cars last year - so we must presume the company wants to at least double that.

The other aspect to Spyker's profit plan is to share some of the economies of scale that Saab gets when buying-in generic ancillary parts, although significant component sharing between the two companies still seems to be a long way off.

[djt77]

Sweet, instead of buying a quirky saloon I can buy a quirky supercar from the same dealer

[dinkel]

I don't gettit . . .

I would, if they did a sportscar in the SAAB price bracket.

Spyker Sonnet: 2.8T in, V6 250 brake Exige- / S2000-ish kinda car.

Mmmmhhh . . .

[RJDM3]

if they can reduce cost, up production numbers, they have a fighting chance of selling more.

Good move on spykers behalf, i hope they can pull it off.

[AndrewW-G]

Makes perfect sense and is something that many other firms have done, with Lexus and Toyota being a prime example. Digging back in time, you'd see a few of the big names being sold alongside some fairly humdrum kit . . . . . . . what is now Ferrari UK started off in a corner of a Ford garage!

[soad]

That's cool - should give an excuse to visit Saab dealership!

[The Hitman]

dinkel said:

I don't gettit . . .

I would, if they did a sportscar in the SAAB price bracket.

Spyker Sonnet: 2.8T in, V6 250 brake Exige- / S2000-ish kinda car.

Mmmmhhh . . .

And you think that won't happen in the future because...?

I think its good for a supercar company to have ties to "normal" car makers. Fiat have Ferrari, VAG have Lambo/Bugatti. Not to say it makes their products better, but does have an effect on how they are seen in the public eye.

[anonymous-user]

Saab dealers Whitequay are already into Corvette so Spyker might sit nicely alongside!

[nelly_h]

Anything that makes it easier to get up close to an Aileron has got to be good news

[odyssey2200]

Really odd decision.

Credit is hard for deralers to and manufacturers to get so a dealer stocking plan is a precious commodity.

Should a dealer be

a, stocking a very expensive Spyker that he may not actually sell or
b, stocking Saabs and turning them over, generationg cash flow, profit and giving Spyker a return on their investment in Saab.

Unless Saab dealers won't actually be stocking Spykers, it does not make sence and if they are not stocking Spykers how are they going to sell more product and increase volumes and that makes the whole announcement a bit of a non-story?

[mark3man]

The Hitman said:

dinkel said:

I don't gettit . . .

I would, if they did a sportscar in the SAAB price bracket.

Spyker Sonnet: 2.8T in, V6 250 brake Exige- / S2000-ish kinda car.

Mmmmhhh . . .

And you think that won't happen in the future because...?

I think its good for a supercar company to have ties to "normal" car makers. Fiat have Ferrari, VAG have Lambo/Bugatti. Not to say it makes their products better, but does have an effect on how they are seen in the public eye.

'Supercar' companies have been taken under the wing of more well heeled mass producers for ages - even David Brown Tractors gained from owning Aston Martin, way before Ford was involved.
There is trickle up and down - access to a huge parts bin of cheap carpet fasteners, illuminated interior mirrors, all that sort of mundane stuff and the idea that your Fiesta had had some sort of design review from Aston Martin and went better as a result.
Quirky sums up SAAB because they have, despite being a niche manufacturer, never gone into real sports cars (you really can't count the half-*rsed attempt called Sonnett). With Spyker, they could.

[K17LER]

I think the companies sit well together, both having an aviation heritage.

I was lucky enough to be invited to visit Spyker's HQ in Holland last month. As car production has now moved to Coventry their facility in Holland is home to the Spyker Squadron race team and the research and developement vehicles. We weren't allowed to take any photos inside but I can tell you the R&D vehicles included that beautiful Aileron Spyder(which has my name on it and a seriously sporty SUV.







You may recognise the silver Spyker C8 if you were at Dunsfold on the 16th.

and here's Hans Van Rennes setting off for the Monaco GP in a Laviolette.

[Roy m]

They need to massively improve the level of dealer service if they're going to use SAAB dealers. In my experience they're absymal - certainly wouldn't buy a SAAB again because of this.

If you're going to sell a premium brand then you need premium service and they probably can't even spell it never mind understand it!

Roy

[davepoth]

Bear in mind this won't be every Saab dealer - it'll be ones in major cities and rich spots. They'll be the ones who will be able to afford to have one in the showroom.

A very clever marketing game. Spyker look less and less like a crackpot outfit building cars in a shed, since they will have good dealer coverage, and Saab get a little sprinkling of magic in the showroom that will help sway people to their mainstream products.

[toppstuff]

odyssey2200 said:

Really odd decision.

Credit is hard for deralers to and manufacturers to get so a dealer stocking plan is a precious commodity.

Should a dealer be

a, stocking a very expensive Spyker that he may not actually sell or
b, stocking Saabs and turning them over, generationg cash flow, profit and giving Spyker a return on their investment in Saab.

Unless Saab dealers won't actually be stocking Spykers, it does not make sence and if they are not stocking Spykers how are they going to sell more product and increase volumes and that makes the whole announcement a bit of a non-story?

Don't agree with this post at all - this is a very good idea.

Lets remember that Spyker only want to sell a few dozen cars globally. To do this, they need a larger presence in different countries. Saab has a big loyalty in the US , so by cherry picking a few dealers in key locations , they can get Spyker out there in the market where normally potential buyers would only ever know of Spyker through seeing photos of them.

There is also the halo effect to consider. It is entirely possible that a Spyker buyer would also purchase a few Saabs for his employees, staff etc. It would not be surprising at all to see that a Spyker buyer in Southern California has also purchased a 9.3 Aero X for his nanny / maid / chef / groom etc... In the upper end of the market, these things do happen.

I think we can be sure that there will NOT be a Spyker in the Saab showroom in Portsmouth, Crewe or Bury St Edmonds. Think San Diego, Paris, London, Los Angeles, Moscow , Dubai etc, and I can see it working for them.

[mikEsprit]

I've never walked into a SAAB showroom before. I will now. I suppose that is the point.

[MrTappets]

I must say I really like Spykers. Used not to but they've really grown on me as an alternative to the mainstream stuff (even if I cant afford any of it). And the noise those things make...!

[friscorays]

They must be desperate. My Aston Martin dealership, the leading dealership in sales in the USA in 2009, was temporarily a Spyker outlet as well. Temporarily is the operative word because they could not get rid of the things. I think they managed to sell a single pair (to one individual) after about a year of having them on offer. Who is seriously going to cross shop a $40k Saab and a $200k plus exotic?

[odyssey2200]

toppstuff said:

odyssey2200 said:

Really odd decision.

Credit is hard for dealers to and manufacturers to get so a dealer stocking plan is a precious commodity.

Should a dealer be

a, stocking a very expensive Spyker that he may not actually sell or
b, stocking Saabs and turning them over, generating cash flow, profit and giving Spyker a return on their investment in Saab.

Unless Saab dealers won't actually be stocking Spykers, it does not make sense and if they are not stocking Spykers how are they going to sell more product and increase volumes and that makes the whole announcement a bit of a non-story?

Don't agree with this post at all - this is a very good idea.

Lets remember that Spyker only want to sell a few dozen cars globally. To do this, they need a larger presence in different countries. Saab has a big loyalty in the US , so by cherry picking a few dealers in key locations , they can get Spyker out there in the market where normally potential buyers would only ever know of Spyker through seeing photos of them.

There is also the halo effect to consider. It is entirely possible that a Spyker buyer would also purchase a few Saabs for his employees, staff etc. It would not be surprising at all to see that a Spyker buyer in Southern California has also purchased a 9.3 Aero X for his nanny / maid / chef / groom etc... In the upper end of the market, these things do happen.

I think we can be sure that there will NOT be a Spyker in the Saab showroom in Portsmouth, Crewe or Bury St Edmonds. Think San Diego, Paris, London, Los Angeles, Moscow , Dubai etc, and I can see it working for them.

Yeah, your right.
What the fk do I know?

I only spent a large proportion of my working life representing car manufacturers as an area manager, having to deal with the minor things like stocking plans, stock levels, stock turn and volume.
But hell, having one flash car taking root in the showroom while taking up a disproportionate amount of the stocking plan and having to pay for that car at the end of the free stocking period has to ba good for the dealership, right?

[chickensoup]

Getting Saabs into Saab showrooms will be an interesting challenge for them.

Cannot see any crossover, unless they start to use the Spyker brand on Saabs. If they sell 36 cars a year, there wont be much stock to put in the dealerships. Not really a car you test drive along the high street

[willE36]

With supercars beginning to look more like each other, it would be great if this mean you actually get to see more Spykers on the road... Some original styling for once paired up with a glorious V8!

= )