Posted on February 4, 2010 – 19:16 in Features | Stephan
Nulla tenaci invia est via – the story of Saab
Saab was founded as a division of “Svenska Aeroplan Aktiebolaget”, originally a company that built aircrafts and jetfighters for the Swedish Air Force, a heritage that was still depicted some years ago in the “Born From Jets” campaign. And still there is a lot of aircraft-stuff in any Saab, like the “Night Panel” mode and the seats. Coming from an aeronautic background is a common feature for Saab and Spyker as well.
In 1944 the company began to create a passenger car, the Saab 92001. The car had a drag coefficient of only 0.30, which was the lowest of any production car of that time. The first Saab sported one of the most important features of any Saab: it stood out, it had a character.
The next Saabs were the 92, 93, 94 and 95, launched through the 1940ies and 50ies, all of them quirky little cars with some pretty astonishing features for their time. A real milestone was the Saab Sonnet, a performance sportscar with a very distinct, futuristic and appealing design, which was reworked throughout the next 20+ years 3 times.
Another milestone was the launch of the Saab 99 in 1968, sporting the distinct Saab shape and bringing new features like the wraparound windscreen, self-repairing bumpers, headlight-washers, heated front-seatds and more. A lot of those features are common now, but were unheard of at that time and helped to forge Saabs image of a progressive and smart company. The 99 also was the first Saab to receive a turbocharged engine, a feature that is closely connected to the brand’s image nowadays.
In 1978 the 99′s replacement, the Saab 900, hit the market. For a lot of people this is THE Saab. It’s a classic car, with a timeless design, powerful turbocharged engines, the typical curved dashboard and the option of the “Aero” package with even more power and improved perfomance. The 900s are highly collectible nowadays, but they still serve as daily drives too (which shows the superior quality of those Trollhattan built cars).