This Carmaker Is Also In Aerospace Engineering
You won’t see many Saab cars on the road anymore. However, the company is still around and focused on aerospace engineering.
Written by Aleena Juarez
Reviewed by Kathleen Flear
Many
car brands
are famous for making good cars, but not all car brands focus their efforts on only building cars. For example, Hyundai might be known for making great SUVs, but the Korean automaker also makes things like drone semi-trucks. Another example is the Swedish company Saab, which has a long history of building cars, but Saab is also heavily involved in aerospace engineering. The early days of Saab
According to Saab’s
website
, the Swedish company first got started in 1937 building planes. The company's full name was Svenska Aeroplan Aktiebolaget, which was abbreviated to Saab. It didn't take long for the company to start building cars, however, and it did just that in 1945.Saab's first car was called the Project 92, and it was unveiled in 1947. In 1949, it was finally launched as the Saab 92.
Saab's success continued, and it merged with another Swedish automaker, Scania-Vabis, in 1969. This merger lasted for 20 years, and in 1989, General Motors decided to invest heavily into Saab.
GM owned half of Saab Automobile, which was the new name for the company. In 2000, GM decided to buy up the other half of Saab. As a result, every Saab car sold after 2000 was actually a GM car. This included cars like the Saab 9-3 and the 9-7X.
MORE: 5 Cars From the 2000s That Could Become Classics
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Does Saab still make cars?
Since Saab in the modern era was a division of GM, its fate was also tied to GM's fate. The Great Recession did a lot of damage to automakers, but GM took a lot of hits especially. For instance, GM canceled
Cadillac's first-ever EV
, mostly due to that recession.Saab, on the other hand, had a more unfortunate fate. GM tried to make Saab cars that Americans would like, but sales were almost always poor. As a result, the Great Recession was the final nail in the coffin for Saab Automobile.
GM sold Saab Automobile to other companies, and Saab Automobile filed for bankruptcy in 2011. Those companies' attempts to save the brand failed, however.
In 2016, the Saab Automobile brand became defunct. The Saab 9-3 was the last model in production, and its last model year was the 2014 model year.
Saab is building planes and other military gear nowadays
While Saab Automobile is dead, Saab is actually alive and doing very well. This is because Saab had split itself up decades ago. GM had actually invested in Saab Automobile, the car-making company that split off from Saab. The other Saab, meanwhile, focused its efforts on making planes and other military tech.
One of Saab's most successful products is the Gripen fighter jet. Saab is still building this plane, and many countries are buying it. Saab also develops and produces missiles for its planes. Saab also produces planes and equipment for civilian use too, such as the Saab 2000 airliner.
Saab is also making missiles for other military uses. One of the company's more recent products is the NLAW anti-tank missile that Saab developed along with another defense company.
Get insurance for your used Saab
Saab may not be building cars anymore, but if you're thinking about buying a used Saab, then you should also think about how you're going to insure it.
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