[69Firebird400]

By Andy Bannister

12.08.2008

Alas, poor Saab. So much potential, such consistent failure to deliver on the part of present owner, General Motors.

Now that GM is in dire straits, naturally its small Swedish subsidiary could be an early victim of a wider cull promising very bad news for jobs and the industrial base of Sweden. The Scandinavian state’s other long-standing marque, Volvo, is also looking for a new owner after less than a decade in the stewardship of Ford.

That survived despite GM watering down the formula by basing modern Saabs on mass-market Opel platforms, including the orginal Opel-Vectra based 9-3.

One crying shame that can’t be laid at GM’s door is the fact that the car that built Saab’s reputation, the little 96 (known as 95 in its even more quirky-looking station wagon version) died at the end of the 1970s without an effective replacement.

A sort of Swedish VW Beetle (though not anything like such a sales success), the teardrop-shaped 96 evolved from the earlier aircraft-inspired 92 and 93, starting off with a tiny two-stroke engine before inheriting a lusty German Ford V4 which saw it right through the 1970s.

Link: http://www.autosavant.com/2008/12/08...and-a-miracle/