After World War II, Saab, an aircraft and defence company, became interested in automobile manufacture. It produced its first car, the Saab 92, in 1949.
In 1969 Saab merged with Swedish truck company Scania. After producing a number of cars in association with Fiat in the 70s and 80s, Saab-Scania spun the car manufacturer off into an independent company that was half owned by Scania’s parent, Investor AB, and General Motors.
GM acquired Saab in its entirety in 2000, but wasn’t able to turn it into a profit making luxury car brand to compete with Volvo, let alone BMW, Audi and Mercedes-Benz.
During GM’s 2009 bankruptcy it closed down several plans, and resolved to sell off Saab if it could. In 2010, Saab was purchased by Dutch sports car maker Spyker. Spyker gained rights to the 9-3 platform, as well as supply deals for the new 9-5 and 9-4x.
After period of poor sales and instability, Spyker sold Saab off to NEVS (National Electric Vehicle Sweden), a China-backed company.
Since then production of the 9-3 has come and gone, and the company has been in and out of bankruptcy court.
