Saab on the marque

SAAB management has recognised the need for the marque's future products to evoke more passion than its current line-up.

"We want to shift from appealing to intellectual intelligence to emotional intelligence," Saab global brand management guru Patrik Riese said last week.

The Swedish car-maker is known for turning out high-quality, well-engineered products that are high on safety and practicality - if not the style and dynamics of its German rivals.

This may be the reason why Saab last year recruited acclaimed former Mercedes-Benz designer Michael Mauer - who styled the SLK, among other cars.

The German styling whiz has been entrusted with the task of giving Saab's future products a bold new look as it strives to double worldwide sales to 250,000 cars annually.

As many as nine new products - including one or more SUVs - are in Saab's product pipeline.

"We will enter segments that we've never been in before," Mr Riese said.

"Internal pride and enthusiasm (within Saab) is very important - our future products will reflect this." Saab will fire its opening salvo at September's Frankfurt motor show where it will whisk the covers off a radical new sports car concept - reportedly known as the "Shooting Brake".

The concept will feature many styling cues and engineering innovations that will be incorporated in Saab's future products.

But Mr Riese said the company would not cash in its core values - one of which may be interpreted as quirkiness - in its pursuit of a fresh new image.

"Quirky has been associated with Saab in the past - but we'd rather call it exclusivity," he said.

"Saab's aircraft heritage is an important marketing tool and its Scandinavian individuality is also important. We have a very proud engineering heritage - we want that to shine through." Although Mr Riese said the new products were a key element of Saab's growth plans, he said it was a "waste of time if the sales and marketing initiatives are not up to the mark".

"We're working towards post-modern exclusivity and we need to create that aspiration among buyers." Mr Riese said Saab's future marketing plans would be based on a "more targeted approach" centered on cross promotions with other well-known brands and sponsorship of international sporting and cultural events.

Saab also plans to invest more in dealerships to ensure they reflect the image the brand aims to project.

The cross-promotion initiative will see the formation of the "S Team" - comprising Saab, Salomon, Sony and Suunto.

Mr Riese said broad-based television and newspaper advertising was only worthwhile in short bursts following a model launch.

Dynamic outlook SAAB's statistics indicate there are 10 million prestige car buyers worldwide and that 58 per cent of these opt for "conservative cars" while the other 42 per cent plump for "dynamic cars".

"We're in the segment that the trend is heading towards (dynamic cars)," Saab global brand management guru Patrik Riese said.

Saab has grouped buyers of its cars and its chief rivals as follows: Mercedes-Benz: Conservative luxury - well established, traditional mindset BMW: Modern luxury - status aware, boasting success Saab: Post-modern exclusivity - individualistic, reject mainstream The German brands each outsold Saab by almost four to one here last year but the Swedish car-maker says it can double its local annual sales to around 5000 cars within five years (it sold 2628 cars in 2000).