25 years of Saab convertible

This year Saab celebrates 25 years of it's convertible. There was an older text cited several times but these days were interesting figures about numbers of vehicles sold :


First generation 1986-1993 48,894 units
Second generation 1994-2002 149,145 units
Third generation 2003 - 99,535 units until April 2011 (24 years + 4 moths = 292 months)

Total : 297574 units

Wow, nearly 300.000 of these wonderful cabriolets were sold. Let's divide the numbers a bit more :

1019 units sold each month
255 units sold each week
51 units sold each day (5 working days per week)
6 units sold each working hour (8.5 hours per day)
1 sold unit every 10 minutes

Why such a great and high-quality brand as Saab can have such a hard time like it has now ? Was it too slow in development ? Or was it corporate incompetence of GM which saw in Saab only a product instead of object of individualistic expression ? Competition ? Bad PR ? Probably a variety of all and more.

However it is, I wish Saab it get again a chance to raise up. There are many examples of how niche brands can live very good and even grow, think some japanese cars 20 years ago or Apple in the pre-iPhone time.

So many people can take his family or close friends for a Saab ride, in a convertible or in a sedan, hatchback, combi, suv or whatever will come ....