Today GM has decided to close down Saab it seems. They haven't been able to sell the brand, while the engineering/construction rights for the 9-3 and 9-5 obviously have been transfered to a Chinese car manufacturer.I have never owned a Saab, but I admire the older models such as Saab 96 or Saab 900 Turbo for their purity, partially the design and certainly for engineering quality. Lately GM has done everything to lose this spirit and character. The design got spoiled and the engineering was outsourced to Opel. But what is good for Opel doesn't have to be good for Saab. But the biggest mistake certainly was to not cherish the brand and the passion for individuality.
For us who love oldtimers this is not really a problem. The 900 Turbo soon will appear at rallyes and other events and owners will profit from the good build quality and the long term reliability.
The advertisement shown here is from 1982 and it says "Saab, one car length ahead". Well, if they hadn't been two car lengths behind recently we probably wouldn't discuss the end of Saab today.
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Should we be saying "hello Saab" now! I hope so. When I lived in the UK ( I left for OZ in '82), I drove a new 2 door Saab 99 Turbo, a mild homologation production model, they used for rallying. The ad agency I worked for paid for the car (!) and I have many happy memories - like stripping out the interior and turning up the turbo boost for a day's fun at the Brighton Speed Trials. It covered the standing kilometre a fraction slower than a 275 GTB and beating Jaguar E Types. Drove home in company with a new Porsche 911 and could easily stay with him. I wonder if they will get the chance to build really great Saabs again? We'll see....
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