Saab

Over the years, Saab built a reputation for their regular use of turbochargers and environment-friendly technology, for caring about the passengers’ safety and also for being somewhat eccentric. The company began a series of performance cars – the Saab Sonett series – with the Saab 94 model.
In 1970, 500.000 Saab-badged cars had been built and within the next 6 years the number doubled: one million Saabs made.

Saab and Italian carmaker Fiat signed an agreement in 1978 to develop a new car platform together, as well as for Saab to sell a rebadged Lancia Delta as the Saab 600 (Lancia belongs to the Fiat Group). From such treaty resulted a few models: Fiat Croma, Lancia Thema, Alfa Romeo 164 and the Saab 9000.
Saab hit the barrier of 2 million cars produced in 1987. Nevertheless, at this point the Swedish company was experiencing profound financial losses and struggling hard to keep profits.

American car group General Motors purchased a 50% stake of Saab in 1990 but this wasn’t enough to keep the company from falling even more. It wasn’t until 1995 that Saab could again declare a profitable year, which didn’t happen since 1988.
In 2000, General Motors bought the other 50% that were left from the Swedish company’s shares, becoming full owner of Saab.
Today, Saab models in the markets are direct rivals to cars from BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Audi and Volvo.

Saab’s current “griffen logo” represents a mythological creature that had the body of a lion and the head and wings of an eagle, although only the head can be seen on Saab’s emblem. This logo was originally from truck manufacturer Vadis-Scania, which merged with the SAAB airplane company (before the Saab car division was established).
The “griffen” is also derived from the coat of arms of both Count von Skane and Swedish province of Skane, precisely where Saab was first established.

This symbol was originally styled by artist Carl Fredik Reutersward and was recently updated (in 2000), now having only the letters “SAAB” instead of the previous “SCANIA” and “SAAB” words (when both companies were merged).

Saab began successfully taking part in rally competitions in the 1950’s. Two Saab 92 cars were entered at the 1950 Monte Carlo Rally, where driver Greta Molander took second place in the Ladies Class, 5th in her car’s class and 55th overall. Greta Molander and Helga Lundberg also won the Monte Carlo Rally’s Ladies Cup in 1952.

In 1953, driver Rolf Mellde leads a Saab to first place at the Swedish Rally Championship. Then, 2 years later, Mellde drives a Saab 92 to victory at the Rikspokalen Rally.
Two Saab 93 cars compete at the 1959 24 Hours of Le Mans, where one of them, driven by Sture Nottorp and Gunnar Bengtsson, takes 2nd place in its class an 12th overall.
Saab also entered the Formula Junior competition in 1960 with its Saab Formula Junior.

Legendary and triumphant driver Erik Carlsson was Saab’s best motorsport bet ever, scoring a large number of first prizes throughout the 1960’s. He began in 1960 with a victory at the RAC Rally and repeated the feat in both 1961 and 1962 seasons.
Erik Carlsson also entered the Monte Carlo Rally in 1961, driving a Saab 95 to finish in fourth. However, the next year, Erik and Gunnar Häggbom took the first place in the same race. Erik wins the Monte Carlo Rally again in 1963, this time with co-driver Gunnar Palm in his Saab.

In 1968, Finn Simo Lampinen drove his Saab 96V4 to victory at the RAC Rally. The same car also entered the 1971 Swedish and RAC Rallies, with driver Stig Blomqvist scoring the first place in both events. Stig Blomqvist also won the Swedish Rally in 1977 with a Saab 99 EMS and in 1979 with a Saab 99 Turbo. The 99 Turbo was the first turbocharged car to win something at a World Rally Championship.

Saab decided to leave the rallying competitions and all motor sports in 1980, alleging shortage of funds to finance the costs involved in racing. 20 years went by until Saab eventually returned to competition and the carmaker began to sponsor the Swede Team Motor in 2000. This team currently drives Saab models 9-3 Aero SportSedan and 9-3 Coupe, alongside a Saab 96 from 1964.
Saab’s comeback to motor sports had the express intention of attracting the students to auto-mechanic classes, getting to work on the race cars for the racing events.