Saab automobiles

I had one. Ran pretty good, just some cosmetic issues.

My grandmother imported one from Sweden in the 80s. Right hand drive with a 5 speed manual. My grandmother was cooler than your grandmother!

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Growing up I always figured my friend’s parents that owned one were well off…almost a BMW level.

Then they vanished. Were they shite? I guess Volvo USA is sort of on that path…

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There’s your clue.

My freshman roommate and good friend had one in college. He was coming back to T-town from NOLA where he is from with a couple of oz of bud and got pulled over in Meridian. They ended up taking possession of his car in exchange for dropping all charges, like nothing ever happened. A true Saab story.

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Googled it/ they sold to GM in 2000, quality went down, and bankruptcy was declared in 2011

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What a Saab story...

Edit: Dammit Funky Tide ya beat me to it

Saab aircraft > Saab automobiles.

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Growing up I always figured my friend’s parents that owned one were well off…almost a BMW level.

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Couldn't tell you much about Saab owners except that the ones I knew tended to be either more progressive leaning or younger males who went for the Aero sport models. That's mostly before my time. I don't recall them being known for bulletproof reliability like the early 1990s Volvos were. They were known for being safe though, and featured cockpit-style interiors similar to Saab's aircraft business.

They had a cult following in the US, but very few dealerships, repair/service centers, and only a couple of models. They had (at best) 1-2 engines available, so they needed a real infusion of cash to expand.

They didn't really have the capital to take advantage of the crossover SUV craze at the time. They could barely afford to update the two cars they offered and were flirting with bankruptcy.

Then General Motors bought them and they immediately had capital to redesign the 9-3 (their most popular car)

Unfortunately the timing was horrible. The recession was looming, and GM was also stretched very thin. Saab didn't have the resources to expand their lineup internally at a rapid pace, so they ended up getting products shared with other GM brands at the time (including a Chevrolet SUV, a Subaru station wagon, sedans that were based on Buicks and Opels).

The little company did what it could now that it had cash, but it General Motors clearly had unreasonable sales expectations for the brand and pushed them hard to expand behind what they were ready for - even forcing unwanted products onto them.

In the end not even Saab's own employees or the Sweedish government wanted to buy the company. General Motors killed it off and invested more into expansion in China and in pickups/SUVs in north America.

Let's look at their final lineup when the company went out of business:

This 9-2x is so very clearly an Impreza WRX, which was also produced by a GM brand at the time (Subaru). Again not what Saab buyers really wanted. It sold okay but it wasn't saving the brand on its own.


This 9-4X probably would have been more popular if it came out earlier. It's using the Chevrolet Equinox architecture, but Saab engines and Saab's design. Looks good for the time, but it was too late to save Saab.


This final Saab 9-5 sedan was based on the larger, higher end GM cars. Saab designed it with GM's pocketbook. For the time, this was a very sharp looking car but it didn't go on sale until right before GM started to try to unload Saab. It was too late, especially as expensive cars became vastly harder to sell in the recession.


The latest 9-3 relied on GM's parts bin, but the design work was mostly done by Saab. It actually was pretty popular. It had a sedan, wagon, and convertible version. It wasn't too expensive either, and this one came out a little earlier than the last version of the 9-5.


This big SUV (the 9-7X) is very clearly the SS variant of the Chevrolet Trailblazer. It even had a 6.0L American V8 and sounded like a NASCAR. Cool vehicle, but not what Saab buyers wanted.

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most of those models pictured are on GM chassis

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All of them are. At the time Subaru and Opel were also GM brands.

GM wanted Saab to basically be like an Audi competitor to eventually pair up with their Cadillac products in Europe, but they didn't give the company the time to grow into that organically. They just threw cash and their massive parts bin at them and tripled the size of their lineup just as lending tightened and the car market started to crash.

GM is like a lot of giant American companies (Ford, Boeing, etc.) in that their leadership can't see past the next quarter. Outside of trucks, SUVs, some Cadillacs, and the Corvette (all of which they do well)....they really can't think very long term. Ironically they have a solid plan for EV rollout that is being foiled by the reality that most people just don't want them yet.

Even today the only small cars that GM has done well were designed or built (or both) by their German or Korean arms. Example - the new Chevrolet Trax is a very good vehicle for an excellent price, but Detroit clearly had nothing to do with it beyond marketing. That vehicle was designed and built by Chevrolet's Korean division. Saab had a lot of small and mid sized cars. They were just a weird fit with GM, who has already had a European company called Opel, which was running semi autonomously in their brand portfolio for at least 75 years at the time.

I had one many years ago.. I loved it

After 3-4 weeks, I Took it up to circuit city to get a stereo system installed in it.. when they were backing my brand new car out of the bay, they left the passenger door opened on accident and the door hit the bay pole thing and ripped my door off.

It sat in the shop for almost 6 months because they couldn’t find parts for it to fix the door

Got rid of it after they finally fixed the door lol