About Saab Cars
Saab AB was a Swedish aerospace company, created in 1937 in the town of Linkoping. The company's main role was to build aircraft for the Swedish Air Force. However, as the war ended and the market became weaker they looked for new outlets and started a new business with an automobile design project in 1945 The project became known as Project 92 which later relocated to Trollhattan as they needed a better-equipped building for automobile assembly. They remained there ever since. The Saab AB company made in total of four prototypes named after the original Saab which resulted in the Saab 92 being produced in 1949.
1960 saw the third revision to the 92 model and was the first Saab that was widely exported outside of Sweden, selling nearly 550,000 in total. 1968 then saw the release of the Saab 99 and this defined Saab in the following decades. It had a wraparound windscreen and headlamp washers to name but a few of the improvements that had taken place.
In 1978 Saab entered an agreement with Fiat to sell the re-badged Delta as the Saab 600 and they did so as a joint platform. This saw the production in 1985 of the Saab 9000, the Fiat Croma and the Lancia Thema. The 9000 was the company's first luxury car but sadly failed to sell many models.
1978 also saw the replacement of the 99, the Saab 900 and one million models were produced. This was Saab's most iconic and best-selling model. This was closely followed the following year in 1986 by a soft convertible model.
In 1989, Saab-Scania became an independent company, Saab Automobile AB with their headquarters being in Sweden. GM's acquired the remaining shares and created the launch in 1994 of a new 900. This car shared its platform with the Opel Vectra. Saab earned high profits in 1995 however the model did not acquire the same cult status as the 900 model.
1997 saw the launch of the replacement 9000: the Saab 9-5 and was the first Saab to be built without a combi-coupe body for almost 20 years. GM acquired their remaining Saab shares in 2000 and in 2003 the all-new 9-3 was introduced. This was marketed as a sports sedan and featured a more conventional four-door option. The car was co-developed with the Opel Astra.
In 2005 the Saab 9-2X and Saab 9-7X were introduced to the American market, however, both were commercial failures and were withdrawn from sale a few short years after their production. Following this GM delayed production by 3 years of the 9-3 wagon and cancelled a 9-5 replacement in 2005. It also announced the plans to change the production site to that of Opel's factory in Russelsheim.
In 2010 GM confirmed that Spyker was to purchase Saab. GM continued to supply Saab with engines and Spyker Cars N.V. agreed to sell the sports car brand.