How to save SAAB from GM’s death-row
Since GM didn’t manage to sell SAAB, they announced that they will shut down the legendary SAAB brand last Friday:
G.M. would still be willing to consider selling Saab if a new buyer were to emerge. If that does not occur, the process of winding down Saab will begin in January… “I can’t rule it out, but the clock starts now.” John F. Smith, a General Motors executive vice president
Nytimes.com
In other words SAAB is now on the death-row. GM is not an charity organization. Until now buyers have only offered them words, here is my idea for how to get potential 10 billion Euros. In other words, numbers so good that it would be criminal to say no.
SAAB has the most dedicated automobile consumers in the world. Still GM only manage to sell 93,000 SAAB cars last year. Too few brands have something unique left. Users of SAAB understand this better than GM management.
Here is my solution: start selling one of the SAAB cars customized into a special edition. Sell it for a higher price, lets say 50.000 Euros. Give buyers half of the money back after 2 years if they in that time have managed to sell 10 cars to others.
By buying one of the unique SAAB cars the buyer automatically becomes an owner of SAAB. Each bought car makes the buyer a part-owner of the car, that will make fans go from being ambassadors to Kings and Queens (everyone will recognize this special edition of SAAB and see what they stand for – a hero and owner of the SAAB brand). Include a free tripe to the SAAB fabric in Trollhättan for every partner that owns a SAAB car. Give each car a unique number, so more fans can expand the fantribe by using social media (connect every car with an user story, ore an Twitter account on wheels). Let these part-owners become future salespeople of SAAB cars. Connect the cars with Google Maps and GPS, give the owners better commissions on the sales if they park and drive them in popular places. Give every employee and suppliers the same deal (at least 10.000 people are directly or indirectly involved in the making of SAAB cars today).
Numbers: Sell 200.000 cars before they are made to consumers, employes etc. 200.000 x 50.000 Euros = 10 Billion Euros. 10 billion Euros will make a difference.