Saab has long been known as a Swedish car manufacturer with stylish car designs with a high priority on safety. Saab is an acronym for Svenska Aeroplan Aktiebolaget. Saab is the exclusive automobile royal warrant holder as appointed by the King of Sweden. It was originally a division, established in 1944, of the Swedish Aeroplan company.

Originally called Project 92, the goal was to create a passenger car which resulted in the Saab 92001. The car showcased the company’s roots in aviation with a drag coefficient of.30, the lowest of any car at the time. The 92 was completely redesigned and engineered in 1955 and was renamed the 93. The first Saab performance car was produced in that same decade. The Saab 96 was the first car to be exported out of the country and proved to be very popular. The 1968 Saab 99 was the first new car in 19 years and had many innovations that came to define Saabs for decades such as the wraparound windshield, self repairing bumpers, side impact door beams and headlight washers.

In 1969 Saab merged with Scania-Vabis AB tesla model y side mirror replacement to become Saab-Scania AB. The millionth Saab car was produced in 1976. In 1978 Saab came to an agreement to jointly develop a new platform which led to the Saab 9000 sister to the Alfa Romeo 164 and became Saab’s first luxury car. The Saab 900 was also produced around this time which proved to be a best selling model with nearly one million produced.

In 1989 Saab was restructured into an independent company with General Motors and Investor AB each owning half. Saab earned a profit in 1995 for the first time in seven years with the new 900 launched in 1994 thanks to GM’s investment. In 2000 General Motors purchase the remaining shares of Saab making it a wholly owned subsidiary of GM. Under GM’s direction the 9-3 and 9-2x were produced though neither proved a success in the American market.

GM put the Saab brand under review in December 2008 due to economic problems with it’s entire business and pulled support away leaving Saab in bankruptcy. After many talks and negotiations with a variety of buyers, Saab was purchased by Spyker in 2010 is now called Saab Spyker Automobiles.

Saab introduced many innovations over the years including first car fitted with seatbelts as standard, headlight wipers and swashers, heated front seats, self repairing bumper, turbo engine with wastegate, passenger compartment air filter, split field side mirror, asbestos free brake pads, 16 valve turbocharged engine, direct ignition, CFC free air conditioning, safeseat rear passenger protection system, active head restraints and variable compression engine.

The Saab brand has an unusual image in most markets, therefore Saab owners are bit offbeat. A study of brand communities showed that Saab owners has Snaabery a contempt for other brands such as BMW and a camaraderie with other Saab drivers. Another psychological study found that Saab drivers had the highest level of psychological involvement with their cars.