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Saab, Svenska Aeroplan AktiBolaget (Swedish aeroplane corporation), a Swedish aerospace and defence company, was created in 1937 in Linköping. The company had been established in 1937 for the express purpose of building aircraft for the Swedish Air Force to protect the country’s neutrality as Europe moved closer to World War II. As the war drew to a close and the market for fighter planes seemed to weaken, the company began looking for new markets to diversify.
An automobile design project was started in 1945 with the internal name “X9248”. The design project became formally known as “Project 92”; the 92 being next in production sequence after the Saab 91, a single engine trainer aircraft.
Saab Prototype
In 1948, a company site in Trollhättan was converted to allow automobile assembly and the project moved there, along with the car manufacturing headquarters, which has remained there since. The company made four prototypes named Ursaab or “original Saab”, numbered 92001 through to 92004, before designing the production model, the Saab 92, in 1949.
Saab 92
The Saab 92 went into production in December 1949. 20,000 cars were sold through the mid-1950s. The 92 was thoroughly redesigned and re-engineered in 1955, and was named the Saab 93. The car’s engine gained a cylinder, going from two to three and its front fascia became the first to sport the first incarnation of Saab’s trademark trapezoidal radiator grill. A wagon variant, the Saab 95, was added in 1959. The decade also saw Saab’s first performance car, the Saab 94, the first of the Saab Sonetts.
Saab 94 Sonett
1960 saw the third major revision to the 92’s platform as the Saab 96. The 96 was an important model for Saab: it was the first Saab to be widely exported out of Sweden. The unusual vehicle proved very popular, selling nearly 550,000 examples. Unlike American cars of the day, the 93, 95 and 96 all featured the 3-cylinder 2-cycle engine, which required adding oil to the petrol tank, front-wheel drive, and freewheeling, which allowed the driver to downshift the on-the-column manual shifter without using the clutch. Front seat shoulder belts were also an early feature.
Even more important to the company’s fortunes was 1968’s Saab 99. The 99 was the first all-new Saab in 19 years and a clean break from the 92. The 99 had many innovations and features that would come to define Saabs for decades: wraparound windscreen, energy absorbing bumpers, headlamp washers and side-impact door beams. The design by Sixten Sason was no less revolutionary than the underlying technology, and elements like the Saab hockey stick profile at the rear side window continued to influence Saab’s design language for many years.
In 1969, Saab AB merged with the Swedish commercial vehicle manufacturer Scania-Vabis AB to form Saab-Scania AB, under the Wallenberg family umbrella.
The 99 range was expanded in 1973 with the addition of a combi coupe model, a body style which became synonymous with Saab. The millionth Saab automobile was produced in 1976
Saab 99
Saab entered into an agreement with Fiat in 1978 to sell a rebadged Lancia Delta as the Saab 600 and jointly develop a new platform. The agreement yielded 1985’s Saab 9000, sister to the Alfa Romeo 164, Fiat Croma and Lancia Thema. The 9000 was Saab’s first proper luxury car but failed to achieve the planned sales volume.
1978 also was the first year for the 99’s replacement: the Saab 900. Nearly one million 900s would be produced, making it Saab’s best-selling and most iconic model. A popular convertible version followed in 1986, all of which were made at the Saab-Valmet factory in Finland, making up nearly 20% of 900 sales. Even today, the “classic 900” retains a cult following.
In 1989, the Saab car division of Saab-Scania was restructured into an independent company, Saab Automobile AB, headquartered in Sweden; General Motors and Investor AB controlled 50% each. GM’s investment of US$600 million gave it the option to acquire the remaining shares within a decade. In the fall of 1989 Saab opened a new factory in Malmö
GM exercised its option to acquire the remaining Saab shares in 2000, spending US$125 million to turn the company into a wholly owned subsidiary.
The new close relationship yielded its first product in 2003’s all-new 9–3. The new model, marketed as a sport sedan, dropped Saab’s iconic hatchback in favor of a more conventional four-door approach. Owing to fading fortunes across its entire business due to a slowing economy in 2007, GM announced that the Saab brand was “under review” in December 2008, a process which included the possibility of selling or shuttering the car maker.
On 26 January, General Motors (GM) confirmed it had agreed to sell Saab to Spyker N.V. subject to regulatory and government approval; the sale was completed on 23 February 2010.
In early 2011, Saab began to run out of money, and Spyker were not able to cover the losses. Both companies stopped paying bills, and on 30 March several suppliers refused further deliveries to Saab’s factory in Trollhättan. Initially Spyker CEO Victor Muller blamed the media for the problems, and claimed that Saab had no problems with funding. On 5 April all production was halted at Saab’s plant in Trollhättan.
On 19 December 2011, with no alternatives left after GM continued to block any form of involvement with a Chinese partner, Saab officially filed for bankruptcy after a three-year fight for survival.
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