I would not buy a car made in China. Wouldn’t be surprised if they use the blood of dissidents instead of motor oil.
Though I dont know jack about the recent automobile industry sales numbers, is anyone else totally blown away that Saab only sold 8000 cars a year?
I would have guessed that they sold 8000 per year in the California market alone…
Too bad to again see a once thriving company out of business, and thousands of workers out of a job.
Oh, at least Sweden has decent unemployment benefits-something like 3 years with full health insurance.
So Ole and Harald won’t be out on the street.
Not that this is necessarily relevant but Norinco manufactures firearms of (mostly) excellent quality for export; the manufacturer also produces some copies of USGI weapons with unquestionably superior receivers to most US brands. Of course, Norinco is also the government entity that supplies China with military-grade weapons among many, many other products used by everyday citizens of China.
I would assume any automobile manufacturer with facilities in China would also enjoy joint-government ownership of said facilities. So yes, I would buy a Volvo or Saab made in China if I were in the market for a Volvo or a Saab. The Chinese seem to know how to manufacture reliable machines.
I’d probably wait at least a coupla years to see how quality control and long-term safety hold up—just like I wouldn’t want to be the first in line for laser eyeball surgery (as a general rule of thumb, I don’t want to be the first adopter in anything that uses two or more of the terms “laser” “eyeball” or “surgery”).
Of course, as a committed cheapskate, I also wouldn’t want to pay $20 grand for a car that didn’t have armor and rocket boosters. And a professional if slightly sassy onboard AI. That had the voice of a Bond girl. [sub]Or maybe M.[/sub]
I’m sorry…what were we talking about? Oh, right. Yes, I would buy a SAAB for $20,000.
Spyker has requested to reopen negotiations with GM (see NYTimes).
So they might pull one out of the hat.
I just dropped in to a local saab dealer (Charles River Saaab)-no firesale going on.
I wonder how long they have before they shut down?
I wouldn’t buy a Volvo period. My Dad had one when I was in college. God that thing was a POS.
Of course I would. In ten years, when they’ve developed a reputation for reliability and I can be sure my expensive purchase isn’t going to be a piece of crap.
Before then, no way.
So, it appears that they have finally closed a deal to sell SAAB to Spyker.