Open main menu
Home
Random
Recent changes
Special pages
Community portal
Preferences
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Incubator escapee wiki
Search
User menu
Talk
Dark mode
Contributions
Create account
Log in
Editing
Saab Automobile
(section)
Warning:
You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you
log in
or
create an account
, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
Anti-spam check. Do
not
fill this in!
===Svenska Aeroplan AB (1948–1969)=== [[File:SAAB 96 De Luxe 1964.jpg|thumb|[[Saab 96]]]] [[Saab AB|Saab]], "''S''venska ''A''eroplan [[Aktiebolag|''A''ktie''b''olaget]]" (Swedish for "Swedish aeroplane corporation"), a Swedish aerospace and defence company, was created in 1937 in [[Linköping]]. The company had been established in 1937 for the express purpose of building aircraft for the [[Swedish Air Force]] to protect the country's neutrality as Europe moved closer to [[World War II]]. As the war drew to a close and the market for fighter planes seemed to weaken, the company began looking for new markets to diversify. An automobile design project was started in 1945 with the internal name "X9248".<ref>{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=Ce_4UTP97ZIC&pg=PT84 |title= Cars: Freedom, Style, Sex, Power, Motion, Colour, Everything |first= Stephen |last= Bayley |publisher= Hachette |place= UK |date= February 2012 |access-date= 20 April 2012 |isbn= 9781840916065 |archive-date= 3 September 2023 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20230903090214/https://books.google.com/books?id=Ce_4UTP97ZIC&pg=PT84 |url-status= live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.hemmings.com/hsx/stories/2008/12/01/hmn_feature19.html |title=Sixten Sason |work=Hemmings Motor News |first=Jim |last=Donnelly |date=December 2008 |access-date=20 April 2012 |archive-date=29 July 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120729150316/http://www.hemmings.com/hsx/stories/2008/12/01/hmn_feature19.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The design project became formally known as "Project 92"; the ''92'' being next in production sequence after the [[Saab 91]], a single engine trainer aircraft.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://saabmuseum.com/en/saab-model/ursaab/ |title= Ursaab |work= The Saab Museum |year= 2012 |access-date= 3 May 2012 |archive-date= 13 May 2012 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120513213600/http://saabmuseum.com/en/saab-model/ursaab/ |url-status= live }}</ref> In 1948, a company site in [[Trollhättan]] was converted to allow automobile assembly and the project moved there, along with the car manufacturing headquarters, which has remained there since. The company made four prototypes named "[[Ursaab]]" or "original Saab", numbered 92001 through to 92004, before designing the production model, the [[Saab 92]], in 1949. The Saab 92 went into production in December 1949.<ref>{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=pI_r3ULwTkMC&pg=PA118 |title= The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Extraordinary Automobiles |page= 118 |first= Giles |last= Chapman |publisher= Dorling Kindersley |date= May 2009 |access-date= 3 May 2012 |isbn= 9781405336956 |archive-date= 19 April 2023 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20230419082012/https://books.google.com/books?id=pI_r3ULwTkMC&pg=PA118 |url-status= live }}</ref> 20,000 cars were sold through the mid-1950s. The 92 was thoroughly redesigned and re-engineered in 1955, and was renamed as the "[[Saab 93]]". The car's engine gained a cylinder, going from [[Straight-twin engine|two]] to [[I3 engine|three]] and its front fascia became the first to sport the first incarnation of Saab's trademark trapezoidal radiator grill. A wagon variant, the [[Saab 95]], was added in 1959. The decade also saw Saab's first performance car, the [[Saab 94]], the first of the [[Saab Sonett]]s. 1960 saw the third major revision to the 92's platform as the [[Saab 96]]. The 96 was an important model for Saab: it was the first Saab to be widely exported out of Sweden. The unusual vehicle proved very popular, selling nearly 550,000 examples. Unlike American cars of the day, the 93, 95 and 96 all featured the 3-cylinder 2-cycle engine, which required adding oil to the petrol tank, front-wheel drive, and freewheeling, which allowed the driver to downshift the on-the-column manual shifter without using the clutch. Front seat shoulder belts were also an early feature.{{citation needed|date = May 2017}} Even more important to the company's fortunes was 1968's [[Saab 99]]. The 99 was the first all-new Saab in 19 years and a clean break from the 92. The 99 had many innovations and features that would come to define Saabs for decades: wraparound windscreen, self-repairing bumpers, headlamp washers and side-impact door beams. The design by [[Sixten Sason]] was no less revolutionary than the underlying technology, and elements like the [[Saab hockey stick]] profile graphic continue to influence Saab's design language.{{citation needed|date = May 2017}}
Edit summary
(Briefly describe your changes)
By publishing changes, you agree to the
Terms of Use
, and you irrevocably agree to release your contribution under the
CC BY-SA 4.0 License
and the
GFDL
. You agree that a hyperlink or URL is sufficient attribution under the Creative Commons license.
Cancel
Editing help
(opens in new window)