Ultimately, the public would not buy them. That's a death sentence for a car.

GM was hoping to do with SAAB what Ford did with Volvo, but Volvo was a much larger company than SAAB. They just ended up being rebodied Opels (not a bad thing, but not a SAAB).

SAAB...

Helped make FWD common.

Made turbos a standard engine componet. Great torque and acceleration w/ good economy.

The 9000 Aero was the fastest production sedan in the world when it was new - with a 4 banger.

The original 900 turbo was a great car, I owned a couple.

That seemed like a big claim, so I looked up the 9000 Aero, which came out in 1993 and had 225 hp.

With a 0-60 of 6.7 seconds [8.1 seconds automatic] and top speed of 149, that would be far from the fastest sedan in the world in '93. That would get smoked by sedans like the E60 AMG Mercedes (375 hp), M5 (315 hp), etc. and even by just the plain-jane V8 mercedes and BMW sedans.

Sniper, I'd like to see a picture of your car if you have one handy.

Thanks!
Tom

You can get a great deal on used ones though. Seriously....great bang for the buck with these cars. And cops totally disregard them, it's a beautiful thing! :D

This is an exact twin of mine:

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...05-300x189.jpg

Total stealth car. I fly around all the time and the cops just ignore me. I guess they just figure i'm on my way to IKEA. :D

I believe the claim that they used in advertising was that the Aero was faster 40-70 (or something like that) than any other car in the world, basically highway passing. Having owned a '93 Aero I don't dispute the claim, on the highway the thing was a rocket. The 6.7 0-60 time is deceiving, it's hard to get great times from a FWD turbo car.

8000 jobs up in smoke in that region of west Sweden. I was brought up with SAAB. Every single model. In my opinion they have always made pretty good, reliable cars. I learned driving in a 96 V4 with the free wheel function. Superb fun and unbelievably good in winter conditions.

I live just 5 miles from the Koenigsegg factory. I have heard rumors from very high sources that they never actually intended to fulfill the deal, but was only in it for the substantial market publicity value. Who knows.

Obviously not a car guy...

to jog your memory...

great Saabs:

99 Turbo
http://www.trollhattansaab.net/images/99/99Tblack.jpg

900 Turbo SPG
http://www.mysaab900.com/images/saab900spg.jpg

It saddens me to here of their demise, as I grew up loving the marque in the late '70s and '80s. Not a volume manufacturer but wish they could have made it on their own and survived the tough times.

Yasin