About Saab
Saab Automobile AB is an automobile manufacturing company in Sweden, and is currently a wholly-owned subsidiary of the General Motors Corporation. Saab is the exclusive automobile Royal Warrant Holder appointed by H.M. the King of Sweden. Saab directly competes with products from Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Volvo.
Company history
Until 1990, the company was owned by SAAB, an acronym for Svenska Aeroplan Aktiebolaget (Swedish Aeroplane Company), and was part of a conglomerate which included SAAB Aerospace and the truck manufacturer Scania.
The original Svenska Aeroplan Aktiebolaget was established in 1937 with the express purpose of building aircraft for the Swedish Air Force. As World War II was ending, it was apparent that the company's market for military aircraft would decline and after considering other options, Saab decided to move into the passenger car market, appointing Gunnar Ljungström in charge of design. The company's first car, the Saab 92 was a streamlined steel-bodied two-door saloon with a two-cylinder two-stroke engine driving the front wheels and with independent suspension all round. The company's aviation roots were evident in the car with the best drag coefficient of any production car in the world (CD = 0.32) at the time. The car's name was simply the 92nd SAAB design project and all previous 91 designs had been aircraft. One of the engineers working on the SAAB 92 prototype, Hans Osquar Gustavsson, also took part in the development of the JAS 39 Gripen.
Three cylinders replaced two with the introduction of the Saab 93 in 1955, and, until the Saab 95 and 96 in 1966, which used a 60 degree V4 4 stroke engine made by Ford, the company was renowned for its two-stroke motors, which continued until emissions regulations ended production in 1973.
