by Brian Byrne. Saab's fourth millionth car was produced at Trollhättan’s assembly lines in Sweden this week. The model was a just-launched Saab 9-3 SportWagon.
The milestone has been reached 55 years and six months after the Svenska Aeroplan Aktiebolaget (Swedish Aircraft Company Limited), commonly known as 'Saab', produced its first car at the same Trollhättan plant, which was formerly used to build aircraft. That car was the aircraft-inspired, teardrop-shaped 92 model.
The millionth car - a Saab 99 Combi Coupé - was rolled out in January 1976, the two millionth - a Saab 9000 Turbo - in March 1987 and the three millionth - a Saab 9-5 Saloon - in October 1997.
Saab’s best selling model so far is the now-classic, first generation Saab 900, of which 908,810 were produced between 1978 and 1993. Number two in the list is the Saab 99 (588,643 units), third is the Saab 96 (547,221), fourth the Saab 9000 (503,087) and fifth the current Saab 9-5 series (392,048).
The current Saab 9-3 range includes Sport Saloon, Convertible and new SportWagon variants, whilst the 9-5 series offers Saloon and Estate formats. In North America, the Saab 9-2X and 9-7X add all-wheel-drive, sport compact and SUV versatility.