Saab’s greatest hits

01 Saab 92

Saab’s first ever production car arrived in 1949 with its aerodynamic teardrop shape following on from the wonderful Ursaab prototype. The 92 managed a drag coefficient of just 0.35 and was powered by a 25bhp (ish) two-stroke engine.

04 Saab 900 Turbo Carlsson

Bearing the name of Erik Carlsson and a gloriously over-the-top bodykit, the Carlsson was the ultimate 900 Turbo with only 600 built for the UK market between 1990 and 1992. All featured three door bodies, 185bhp and brilliant whaletail spoilers.

07 Saab 9-3 Viggen

Another Saab with a great name and a great bodykit, the hot 9-3 Viggen got its moniker – which means ‘thunderbolt’ in Swedish – from the Saab 37 Viggen fighter jet. The car was genuinely quick too with a top speed of 155mph and development input from Tom Walkinshaw Racing.

02 Saab 99 Turbo

The first Saab to be fitted with a turbocharger and a car that would define the company’s future engine choices. The little Garrett turbo fitted to the 99’s 2.0-litre Triumph slant-four engine boosted power to around 133bhp.

05 Saab Sonett I

With a name derived from the Swedish for “how neat it is”, the Fifties Sonett I was a two-seat roadster with an aluminium chassis and a 57.5bhp 3cyl engine. A production run of 2,000 cars was planned, but when racing rules changed the project was scrapped with just six cars built.

08 Saab 9-5 Aero

The first generation 9-5 Aero may have had the greatest driver focused, button filled interior of all time. It also looked fantastic, was hugely reliable and could do 0–62mph in under 7.0 seconds. All the car you would ever need?

03 Saab 96 Sport

The rally prepped Saab 96s of the early Sixties weren’t actually fantastic cars. They were heavy and underpowered compared to rivals, but they had a secret weapon in the form of Swedish driver Erik Carlsson. He won the Monte Carlo Rally twice and the RAC Rally three times in a row.

06 Saab Sonett III

The Saab Sonett III arrived in 1970 with pop-up headlights and a Ford V4 engine that made 65bhp. With a 0–62mph time of 13 seconds it wasn’t exactly rapid, but isn’t it just one of the cutest coupes you’ve ever seen?

09 Saab Aero-X

A two-door concept supercar unveiled at the Geneva show in 2006, the Aero-X was powered by a 2.8-litre twin-turbo V6 that ran on bioethanol and produced 400bhp. Its roof and doors opened up like a fighter jet cockpit, and there were even rumours of a potential production car.