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Saturday 30 September 2017

Saab

Saab is a Swedish airplane and automobile maker, which started in Trollhattan, Sweden in 1937.

Saab stands for "Svenska Aeroplan AB (aktiebolag)" (Swedish for "Swedish Aeroplane Company Limited").

The main focus of Saab's aircraft production is fighter aircraft.

Saab Automobile was founded in Sweden in 1945 when its parent company, SAAB AB (soon to be Saab AB) began a project to design a small automobile.

Full-scale production of the company's first automobile, Saab 92, started December 12, 1949. The design was very aerodynamic for its time, due to Saab's experience in making fighter aircraft. The entire body was stamped out of one piece of sheet metal and then cut to accommodate doors and windows.

SAAB 92 1949. By Lars-Göran Lindgren Sweden 

The 92 was thoroughly redesigned and re-engineered in 1955, and was renamed the "Saab 93". Its front fascia became the first to sport the first incarnation of Saab's trademark trapezoidal radiator grill. It was first presented on December 1, 1955.

The Saab 93 was the first Saab to be exported from Sweden, with most exports going to the United States.

The 93 first achieved fame on the rally circuit. In 1957, Erik Carlsson finished first in the Finland Rally in a Saab 93, in 1959 he won the Swedish Rally, also in a Saab 93.

The 93's lasting legacy was in the field of safety: it was the first mass production car to have seat belts as standard, leading Mercedes-Benz (and later every other manufacturer) to follow suit soon afterwards.

Saab 93. By MartinHansV

In 1978 the Saab 900 was launched, in time becoming Saab's best-selling model.

General Motors bought 51 percent of Saab Automobile in 1990, and acquired the remainder a decade later, turning Saab Automobile into a wholly owned GM subsidiary.

General Motors sold Saab Automobile AB to the Dutch automobile manufacturer Spyker Cars N.V. in 2010.

The novelist Kurt Vonnegut ran America’s first Saab dealership in Cape Cod. The dealership, on Route 6A, W. Barnstable, Massachusetts, eventually failed.

Source The Independent

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