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Saab Automobile

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This article is about the Swedish automobile manufacturer. For the aircraft manufacturer, see Saab
File:Saab Emblem.jpg

Saab Automobile AB is a subsidiary of General Motors. Once an exclusively Swedish automobile maker, Saab Automobile now manufactures cars in Japan, the USA and Sweden. 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.

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. Current models are the 9-3 and 9-5, both of 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.

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 EMS.
  • 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, because it has become impossible to win with standard cars and being a small manufacturer SAAB could not afford to build special a "Homologation Special" like the Ford RS200 and Lancia Stratos and also because competition cars had evolves so they had too little in common with production cars to be of value to their 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

  • In 1958, the GT 750 was the first car fitted with headrests as standard.
  • In 1962, Saab became the first volume maker to offer diagonally-split dual brake circuits.
  • In 1970, Saab introduced a 'world-first' - headlamp wipers and washers.
  • In 1971, heated front seats were also introduced that year, the first time in the world that they were fitted as standard.
  • In 1971, Saab developed the impact-absorbing, self-repairing bumper.
  • In 1972 Saab introduced the concept of side-impact protection bars.
  • In 1977, Saab was the first manufacturer to put turbochargers in mass production cars.
  • In 1978, another 'world-first' was the passenger compartment air filter.
  • In 1980, Saab introduced Automatic Performance Control (APC).
  • In 1983 they introduced the 16-valve turbocharged engine and introduced asbestos-free brake pads.
  • In 1985 SAAB pioneered direct ignition, which eliminates the distributor and spark plug wires.
  • In 1986, the Saab 9000 became the first front-wheel drive car to offer ABS.
  • In 1990, the 'light-pressure turbo was introduced.
  • in 1991, Saab is the first manufacturer to offer CFC-free air-conditioning.
  • In 1992, Saab unveil the 'Trionic' ignition, with a 32-bit micro-processor.
  • In 1993 came the 'Sensonic' clutch and the 'Black Panel'.
  • In 1993, Saab developed 'Safeseat' rear passenger protection.
  • In 1995, Saab presented asymmetric turbo-charging of a V6, at the Motor Show in Frankfurt, Germany.
  • In 1996, Saab introduce the SAHR (Saab Active Head Restraint) for the seats.
  • in 1997, Saab fit ventilated front seats to the 9-5, another world-first in a passenger car.

Trivia

Saab cars are subjected to the moose test (aka elk test).

The first Saab, Saab 92, was hand-hammered into shape by using a support that consisted of an oak stump placed on top of a pile of horse-dung. Using the horse-dung support, the craftsman could get the correct response.

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 was 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.

Saab Performance Team at Linköping, in 1997 (Saab 91 Safirs in background)

Saab formed a Performance Team, which laid on exhibitions of automobile acrobatics and formation driving. Initially this was done with Saab 9000s, as above, then later models, such as the Saab 900 (NG) were used. The picture shows these vehicles on display at the Diamond Jubilee celebrations of the Saab Aircraft Company, at Linköping, in 1997.

Despite claims in American TV commercials that Saab cars are "born from jets," Saab Automobile is no longer connected to the aircraft concern.

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 badge engineering of Saab products. This criticism reached a fever-pitch with the introduction of the Subaru-derived 9-2X (derisively called the "Saabaru" by American critics) and the Chevrolet-derived 9-7X SUV. The 9-2X sold very poorly, with Saab barely managing to sell a few thousand of them. Likewise, the 9-7X SUV has garnered slow sales when compared to competing brands.

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. These losses led GM's most vocal investor, Kirk Kerkorian's Tracinda Corporation, to renew its call for GM to cut its losses and dump the Swedish brand. However, there did not seem to be any parties interested in acquiring the brand. In late March, 2006, it was reported that Mr. Kerkorian reversed his position and now is a supporter of the Saab brand (he had also voiced criticism of GM's Hummer brand).

Models

Historical models

1992 Classic Saab 900 convertible
  • Saab Historical Aircraft models listed

Current models

1997 Saab 9-5 V6 at Linköping, Sweden, on the occasion of SAAB's Diamond Jubilee
  • Saab current Aircraft models listed

Experimental vehicles and prototypes

Saab 92001 (Ursaab)
File:LicenceRenewed.jpg
Cover of Licence Renewed where James Bond drives a SAAB 900.

SAABs are notable for having inspired several popular songs:

SAAB cars can also been seen in several popular movies (see also IMCDB):

SAAB cars can also been seen in several TV series:

SAAB cars are also mentioned in several novels:

A Hewlett-Packard CPU-support chip features a Saab 900 Turbo 16 Cabriolet.[2][3]

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Saab vehicles.
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