28.5.2002
Saab owners more and more satisfied

The Swedish Automobile Association's new car survey for cars bought in 2000 or 2001 showed the Saab 9-5 coming in second place and the Saab 9-3 CombiCoupè in tenth place, posting the greatest increase since the last ratings survey. BMW's 5 Series received the best score of all (9.56), despite a marginal dip compared with the previous year.

"Thanks to research carried out by ourselves and others regarding quality and loyalty we know that the work we do within the Saab Unlimited framework is successful", says Torbjörn Olsson, MD for Saab Sweden. "We sell well built cars and take care of customers as we would want to be treated ourselves, and that is my explanation for this excellent result."

In total 13,668 new car customers responded to the Automobile Association survey, of these 998 were Saab owners. The cars covered were brought into service in late 2000 or in January 2001. The questionnaires were answered and posted in when the owners had had around one year's experience of their new cars.

To the question "How satisfied are you with your new car", the Saab 9-5 scored 9.38 and the Saab 9-3 CombiCoupé 9.21, compared with the average car score of 8.95. Looking at the details in the survey it is clear that Saab owners are especially satisfied with decisive factors such as reliability, driving quality, engine performance and comfort.

"It's gratifying to get both of our models of the time in the top ten", says Torbjörn Olsson. "The enticement to buy is one thing, but to actually manage to fulfil customer expectations is even more pleasing. Saab loyalty figures are at a record high, four out of five new car customers buy a Saab again when they change the next time."

"It's a great honor to refer to this result regarding our customers' opinion of Saab", says Lars Hellberg, Director of Quality and Customer Satisfaction at Saab Automobile. "This confirms that our constant focus on continuously improving quality is perceived positively by our customers. The 9-5 consolidates its earlier position as number two and the 9-3 has significantly improved from a 23rd to a 10th place. Very commendable!"