It was founded as a Swedish aircraft company and later became a legend with the cars it produced. However, we have compiled the story of Saab, an automotive company that went bankrupt nowadays, for you.
Saab was a Swedish aerospace and defense industry company founded in Trollhättan in 1937. The full abbreviation of the brand's name is "Svenska Aeroplan Aktiebolaget" meaning "Swedish Aircraft Company". Saab, which produced aircraft for the Swedish Air Force for many years, developed its production target after a while and decided to produce motor vehicles. From 1947 to 1990 it was an automobile manufacturer under the name of Saab Automobile. The first automobile model that emerged after this decision was the Saab 92.
The reason why this model, which was produced in 1949, was named Saab 92, was because the single-engine trainer aircraft that the company produced before this vehicle was named Saab 91.
In other words, the company did not see automobile production as a separate field and approached these automobiles with the same sensitivity as producing an airplane. The Saab company, which started to produce cars with the designs it has made, has managed to gain confidence with these cars it has produced. Its cars, produced with Swedish steel, were among the most reliable and robust cars in the world.
This was exactly the highlight of Saab cars. Since the first manufacturers of Saab cars were engineers who also contributed to aircraft production, all models were based on aircraft aerodynamics. Thus emerged Saab cars that pierced the wind safely with their speed.
Saab 92 sold 200,000 units in the 1950s. The mainframe of the vehicle was so strong that no new model was produced for a long time, only changes were made to the existing model. In the late 1950s, Saab entered the computer market with Datasaab. The company was partly a result of the need to make a computer small enough to be mounted on an airplane as navigation equipment.
The Saab 96 model, produced in the 1960s, was the first model Saab company shipped outside of Sweden. Saab 96, which sold 550 thousand units in total, provided great profit to the company. In May 1965 the company's name was changed to Saab AB to reflect its broad spectrum of activities. The Saab 99 model, produced in 1968, opened the doors of a unique era for Saab, because now the Saab 92 model design has been completely abandoned. In 1968 Saab AB merged with Scania-Vabis, the Swedish truck, bus and heavy-duty diesel engine manufacturer, to become Saab-Scania AB.
The aircraft computer (CK 37) was used at Viggen in 1971. The company joined Sperry UNIVAC in 1975, while Saab retained the flight computer development process. When the year was 1976, exactly 1 million Saab car models were sold. According to the agreement made in 1978, Saab launched the Saab-Lancia 600 model, which was jointly developed with Fiat.
After the success of the Saab-Lancia 600 and Saab 99 models in the market, Saab launched the Saab 900 model in 1978. And exactly 1 million pieces of this model were produced. The biggest reason why Saab fans are passionately attached to this car brand is the Saab 900 model.
Produced under the same agreement with Fiat, the Saab 600 was launched in 1985 as the sister vehicle of the Alfa Romeo164, Fiat Croma and Lancia Thema models. All these models were distinguished by their use of type 4 chassis. Making its name known to the whole world with such studies, Saab began to attract the attention of large companies.
In 1990, the United States-based auto giant General Motors bought 51% of the automobile division of the Swedish company Saab. In 2000, General Motors bought all of Saab's shares and became the owner of Saab. Although the 9-3 and 9-2X and 9-7X models produced in 2003 were introduced to the market under the name Saab, they did not have a close relationship with the Saab, which was loved by the drivers, and failed.
When General Motors tried to change the design of its Saab cars, it failed and eventually tried to sell the company in 2008 but was unable to. Over the years, General Motors withdrew from its subsidiary, Saab, and the company was increasingly struggling with financial difficulties.
In 2010, Saab was sold to the Dutch company Spyker, but Spyker was unable to save the now exhausted Saab. Although the Saab brand was finally bought by the company NEVS in 2011, it was forbidden for any company to use the Saab name as a car brand due to the economic problems it entered in 2014. Thus, the Saab adventure came to an end.