Apple Inc. is known for its relatively small, yet loyal customer base and marketing towards select groups of individuals. Saab hopes to foster similar success as it rebrands itself and styles the company to become the “Apple of car makers.” This rebranding signals the brand’s impending separation from General Motors.

“We don’t want to be another Audi,” said Knut Simonsson, director of Saab’s Global Brand and Sales, in an interview with a Dutch car magazine. He said that the future of the Saab DNA lies in “innovation, aircraft history, and Scandinavia,” adding that Saab is trying to transform itself into a “special brand for entrepreneurs, dentists, doctors, and agency people.”

Simonsson stated further that Saab should remain well into profitability with a projected 150,000 cars produced annually, allowing the company to become successful without having to become such a big entity. He suggested that Europe has been the key to this profitability.

The rebranded and revitalized Saab is set to release the 9-5 saloon sometime in 2009, as development is said to be 99 percent done and winter testing is under way. If they really plan to be like Apple, they should at least be prepared to release upgraded or restyled versions of their cars every six months and piss the hell out of people who bought the recently-old models.

Source: Autocar