By: Oliver Westall

Oliver Westall — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 15:45:34 +0000

The problem is more fundamental than the journo suggests. Of course, the Saab purchaser (outside Sweden) bought it because it was that really difficult trick – an distinctive car with high performance but social democrat associations. No-one could have dreamt that up – pure serendipity. In short, they bought it because it was different and explicitly because it wasn’t Ford or GM. True, the successor models were poor – usually because the GM components showed through, and GM had the crazy idea that Saab’s act should be cleaned up to make the car attractive to a wider market. That was to miss the whole point. I should know – I’m a sherry sipping tweed jacket academic who owned Saab’s consistently for thirty eight years, never even bothering to check out the competition, because that would be disloyal to the idea of being different. We were the people who stuck with Apple when it was unfashionable, because they weren’t PCs, and who won’t read anything from the Murdoch empire, because it’s so successful. What do I drive now? A BMW. It’s perfect by every objective test, but every time I drive it I feel an erosion of identity because they’re so ubiquitous.

Comments on: Opening Lines I Wish I’d Written

By: Oliver Westall