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Saab Automobile

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Saab Automobile AB is a Swedish automobile maker, now owned by General Motors. Until 1990 the company was owned by SAAB, an acronym for "Svenska aeroplanaktiebolaget" (The Swedish Aeroplane Company), which also included SAAB Aerospace and truck manufacturer Scania. General Motors bought half of Saab Automobile in 1990, with an option to acquire the entire company within a decade. Before exercising that option GM shared its ownership of Saab Automobile with Investor AB, the main owner of Saab.

File:Saab9-3sportsedan.jpg
Saab 9-3 Sport Sedan

Current models are the 9-3 and 9-5, both which are manufactured in Trollhättan, Sweden; the Saab 9-2X, which is manufactured in Japan; and the Saab 9-7X SUV, manufactured in the United States. In March 2005, it was announced that GM would move the production of the next-generation Saab 9-3 from Trollhättan to their Opel plant in Rüsselsheim, Germany.

Competition history

 
1974 SAAB 96 V4

Some of the early cars such as the two-strokers, V4s and Saab 99 were quite successful in rally sport, notably the 96 in the 1960s RAC Rally and Monte Carlo Rally, driven by Erik Carlsson.

  • In 1950 two Saab 92s (chassis numbers 7 and 8) enter the Monte Carlo Rally. The two cars are manned by Rolf Mellde and K G Svedberg in one and Greta Molander and Margaretha von Essen in the second. Greta Molander comes in 55th overall, 5th in her class and 2nd in the Ladies Class. In Rikspokalen in November Rolf Mellde wins and Saab becomes the best marque team with Mellde, Svedberg and Greta Molander, who also wins the Ladies Class.
  • 1952 Greta Molander and Helga Lundberg win the Ladies Cup in the Monte Carlo Rally.
  • 1953 Rolf Mellde wins the Swedish Rally Championship.
  • 1955 he lands on the roof, but still manages to win Rikspokalen in a Saab 92.
  • 1956 Bob Wehman and Louis Braun win the Great American Mountain Rally. Rolf Mellde comes in sixth and another Saab 93 in seventh place.
  • 1959 two Saab 93 are entered in the 24 Hours at Le Mans. The one driven by Sture Nottorp and Gunnar Bengtsson come in 12th overall and second in its class. The same year Erik Carlsson wins the Midnight Sun Rally.
  • 1960 Erik Carlsson wins the RAC Rally and Saab start competing in Formula Junior with the Saab Formula Junior.
  • 1961 Erik Carlsson enters the Monte Carlo Rally in a Saab 95 and finishes fourth, and wins the RAC rally for the second successive year.
  • 1962 Erik Carlsson and Gunnar Häggbom win the Monte Carlo Rally, and completes a hat-trick of RAC rally wins.
  • 1963 Erik Carlsson again wins the Monte Carlo Rally, this time with Gunnar Palm as co-driver. They also finish second in the Spa-Sofia-Liège Marathon de la Route.
  • 1968 Simo Lampinen wins the RAC Rally in a Saab 96V4.
  • 1971 Stig Blomqvist wins the Swedish and RAC Rallies in a Saab 96V4. Erik Carlsson retires from rallying and become Saab ambassador.
  • 1976 Stig Blomqvist wins the Belgian Boucles de Spa Rally in a Saab 99.
  • 1977 Stig Blomqvist wins the Swedish Rally in a Saab 99 EMS.
  • 1979 Stig Blomqvist wins the Swedish Rally in a Saab 99 Turbo. The first time a turbocharged car wins a World Championship rally.
  • 1980 Saab withdraws from all competition activities because of the high cost and that it is no longer possible to win with standard cars and competition cars have too little in common with production cars to be of value to the development. Some people from the competition department branch out and start Trollspeed aimed at producing competition upgrades for Saabs.
  • 2000 Saab returned to competition by sponsoring Swede Team Motor who compete with a Saab 9-3 Aero SportSedan, a Saab 9-3 Combi Coupe and a 1964 two-stroke Saab 96. The return to competition was to attract students to the auto-mechanic educations. The students get to work on the race cars before, during and after races to expand the students' knowledge and quality awareness.

Other highlights

Saab was the first manufacturer to put turbochargers in mass production cars, after the short-lived 1962 General Motors A-bodies. In 1980, Saab introduced Automatic Performance Control (APC), and in 1983 the 16 valve turbocharged engine. In 1985 SAAB pioneered direct ignition, which eliminates the distributor and spark plug wires.

In 1962 Saab became the first volume maker to offer diagonally split dual brake circuits.

In 1972 Saab introduced the concept of side-impact protection and self-repairing bumpers on the Saab 99. Heated front seats were also introduced that year. Saab also introduced asbestos-free brake pads in 1983. Saab cars are also subjected to the moose test.

In order to increase production volume, Saab helped Valmet to start a car factory in Uusikaupunki (Nystad), Finland. Since 2003, Saab no longer manufactures any cars in Finland as the production of the 9-3 Convertible was moved to Graz, Austria.

A common feature of Saab car types is the use of the number 9 in the model numbers. Current models are the 9-3 and 9-5, both which are manufactured in Trollhättan, Sweden, and the 9-2X and 9-7X, which are manufactured by Subaru and General Motors. The exception to this naming rule is the Saab 600, which is a rebadged Lancia Delta.

All modern Saabs (except the 9000 and 9-2X) instead have a floor-mounted ignition. Saab believes this is a safer position in case of an accident. The driver's knee often jerks upward in a collision; the compact and dense ignition module on the steeering column of many other cars has shattered many kneecaps. Second, the floor-mounted position yields more space, allowing modern Saabs to have a metal bar that rotates over and up into the ignition when the key is turned to the "Lock" position. This makes Saabs very challenging to hotwire. Last of all, the ignition is located on the floor because, in the airplanes that inspired Saab automobiles, the throttle controls were all located down on the floor. Originally Saabs also had the key located on the right side of the steering column, but when they changed from a column shifter to a floor shifter, the ignition key followed along, except in the Sonett III and 9000.

In 1986 the Saab Long Run took place. Three standard Saab 9000 Turbos set 2 world records and 21 international records at the Talladega Superspeedway in Talladega, Alabama, USA. 100,000 km (62,137 miles) were covered with an average speed of 213.299 km/h (132.537 mph) and 50,000 miles (80,467 km) with an average speed of 213.686 km/h (132.778 mph).

Ten years later, in 1996, three standard Saab 900 (NG) Turbos driven by factory test drivers and two standard naturally aspirated Saab 900s driven by journalists set new world records on the same speedway.

In 1987, Saab created a TV advertisement called "Saab suite" (subtitled Ballet in 3 acts for 8 SAAB 9000 Turbos). In the film, stunt drivers show incredible driving with stock cars, such as one-wheeled burnouts, bumper-to-bumper driving through a slalom, cars slaloming from opposite directions on the same course, two-wheel driving, sliding in full speed, and jumping over passing cars—all on a closed airport runway with classical music playing in the background. Click Here to view the video.


Criticism of GM's Management of Saab

In 1990 GM purchased half of Saab (and bought the other half ten years later) in what is now seen as an impulse buy. Saab loyalists have long criticised GM's brand engineering of Saab products. This criticism reached a fever-pitch with the introduction of the Subaru-derived 9-2 (derisively called the "Saabaru" by American critics) and the Chevrolet-derived 9-7 SUV. Neither vehicle received much interest from the American car-buying public. In fact, fewer than 1000 of each model has sold as of December 2005.

The Saab brand overall has not been a money-maker for GM, with total losses 1990-2005 exceeding 2 billion UsD, showing black digits only two of these years. The losses are all the more daunting because Saab, in 2005, posted record unit sales in Europe, its core market. GM's most vocal investor, Kirk Kerkorian's Tracinda Corporation, has renewed its call for GM to cut its losses and dump the Swedish brand. However, there doesn't seem to be any parties interesting in acquiring the brand.

Models

Historical models

 
1992 Classic Saab 900 convertible

Current models

Experimental vehicles and prototypes

 
Saab 92001 (Ursaab)

See also

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Saab vehicles.
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