Saab, Saab

The first car was the Saab 92001 on 10 June, 1947. The company soon developed a reputation for safe and reliable automobiles, with a notable competition history.

During the 1960s several successful and advanced systems were developed and sold to several European countries (used in e.g. banking). The aircraft computer (CK 37) was achieved in 1971 in the Viggen. The now less successful commercial-application company was sold in 1975 to Sperry UNIVAC, while Saab retained its flight computer development.

General Motors bought 51 percent of the automobile division Saab Automobile in 1990, and acquired the rest a decade later.

Aviation Week & Space Technology Vol 169 No 17, "New Kid on the Block", p. 16 . In June 2009 General Motors entered in an agreement for the sale of Saab Automobile to the iconic Swedish sportscar manufacturer Koenigsegg, being the third sale of a GM subsidiary after Hummer and Saturn.

Saab has been making airplanes since the 1930s, and the purely jet predecessors to the Gripen were the Tunnan, the Lansen, the Draken and the Viggen. The last civilian models made by Saab were the Saab 340 and Saab 2000. Both were mid-range, turboprop-powered, passenger planes. The development and the manufacturing of these airplanes takes place in Linkping, Sweden.

Source: Wikipedia > Saab