Swedish Day UK

The event is held at the sea front, during the local Carnival Week and at the peak of the tourist season. Holiday makers and locals alike, who would not drive any where to a car event, can wander happily through a line of interesting parked cars without any effort and they do.

The number of display 'slots' is very limited so South West SAAB decided to use a chronological theme. We displayed four cars: (1) Mike Barnes' with his 96L (2) Alex Rankin, 900i Cabriolet (3) Mik Sansom, 900LPT 3Door Aero and hot off the line (4) a very shiny New 9-5 borrowed from Astley-SAAB of Yeovil by Robin Morley, well done and thanks to all. To show that we were a group we had display flags at the extremes of the group, a huge SAAB banner at one end and the SAAB logo and Swedish Flag at the other - no other participating organisation could compete! The 'walk through' numbers were extensive and one of the first was the new owner of a white 16T cabbi (the only other participating SAAB) who wanted to join the Club - he was given a 'SAAB Driver' and contact details and so it continued throughout the day. A number of possible members, both local and nationally, were given the membership information and we can only hope that they convert into Members. The 9-5 attracted a lot of attention, many people making favourable comments with some stating that they would now consider it a serious alternative to a BMW 5series. The ability to show 'SAAB future' as well as 'SAAB past' also enabled the current SAAB status to be explained - that SAAB had not been taken over by the Indians or the Chinese but that a Spyker SAAB would now be able to stand on its own merits and face the future with confidence. All in all a successful day, both for (potential) membership and on the PR front.