The history of Saab is quite different from the history of most of the other cars. Saab is an acronym for Svenska Aeroplan Aktie (B)olaget-a Swedish airplane company established in 1938. This Saab factory located at Trollhattan (Sweden) was initially not into manufacturing automobiles. Saab produced aircraft for the Swedish Air Force. But as World War II was nearing its end, it was obvious that the demand for aircraft was going to decline. As a solution to this problem Saab decided to venture into the passenger car market. Gunnar Ljungstrom was given the responsibility to design the first Saab car.
The first Saab car was based on the ursaab prototype where 'ur' in Swedish translates to 'original'! This prototype had to pass many tests and it did really well for itself. This first car hit the roads in 1949 and was called the Saab 92. If you are thinking why 92, then it was because, numbers 90 and 91 were already assigned to the aircrafts that Saab had produced earlier. This mid-size car was in the aerodynamic shape of a wing. Not surprising considering that 17 aeronautical engineers designed it. Even more astounding is the fact that only one of them had a driver's license! This lack of experience in making cars was in actuality the plus point for these engineers. They now had the ability to look at problems with a new, fresh and unique point of view-that of an aircraft engineer. And the fact that Saab was a premier in aircraft design only added to the advantage. This Saab 92 had the best drag co-efficient of all the cars at that time. In fact this drag co-efficient of 0.32 is very good even by today's automobile standards. The Saab 92 is the first ever car known to have been designed with keeping the passengers' safety in view. It had a cage meant for the passenger's safety in case of accidents. Most of the Saab cars also have a surface mounted ignition, which Saab believes is also much safer in case of accidents. This idea too was adapted from the aircrafts that Saab built.
Several people marvel at the fact that the Saab cars' interiors feel more like an aircraft cockpit than that of a car and customers are known to simply love it this way. Even today Saab makes high quality aircrafts, trucks, buses, spacecrafts, etc as well as high quality cars. Saab has given the world the best car innovations because of its unconventional thinking. These brilliant innovations include turbocharged technology and side impact protection, etc.
Saab manufactured cars like the Saab 93, Saab 95 and then moved on to make larger cars starting with Saab 99. But it was Saab 96 that made the Saab brand known to the entire world. Many of the Saab models participated in a lot of car rallies in the earlier days.
In 1990 General Motors bought a 50% stake in Saab and in 2000, it took over all of Saab. Hence GM now fully owns Saab and this company that manufactures the Saab cars is known as Saab automobile AB.
The different famous models of the Saab are as follows:
The 9-3 convertible-This car has a good suspension system and is the first car to receive a perfect safety rating of 5 under the Euro NCAP collision test programme.
The 9-3 sedan-It has one of the best engines and is devoid of any turbo lag. It offers highly comfortable seats.
The 9-3 sportcombi-This car has good fuel economy and is certainly worthier of the money than most similar other cars.
The 9-5 sedan-The car is spacious and one can stack just about anything in it. It's comfortable and works very well in any kind of tough terrain.
The 9-5 sportestate-This car is also roomy, comfortable and large.
The Saab models are renowned for their new ideas and unconventional designs all over the world. They almost give you an aircraft for the cost of a car! Wow, who wouldn't want to have one of them!
