Information is hard to find for minor imported brands such as Saab. Thus, any book on this automaker is helpful.
Saab Cars is an oversized hard-cover book with a nice balance between text and large, full-color photographs. Author Lance Cole has written a sympathetic and Euro-centric overview of the automaker’s history.
Don’t look here for an aggressive critique of the managerial decisions that led to Saab’s loss of independence in the 1990s. However, Cole’s narrative is refreshing in that he pays much more attention to engineering than American automotive historians. Aerodynamics and safety receive particular attention.
As discussed here, I would disagree with Cole that the 99 series “was one of Saab’s finest achievements” (p. 164). Nevertheless, he does offer a fascinating look at the development of the car, including early design sketches and an unusually detailed discussion of the design team’s deliberations.
Cole’s main criticism of Saab management was that it shifted too far away from its roots as a producer of small sporty cars. This represents an unusual challenge to industry groupthink, which assumes that small automakers can only survive by building bigger and more expensive cars. However, the picture Cole paints of an alternative direction is too vague to assess.
Cole is on firmer ground when he draws upon his reporting skills. He presents an even-handed assessment of General Motors’ controversial ownership of Saab and a detailed play-by-play of the the brand’s final days.
Saab Cars: The Complete Story
- Lance Cole; 2012
- The Crowood Press; Wiltshire, UK
“Strangely, while Saab became seen as a premium brand in America, Britain and other markets, at home the Swedes never really perceived the earlier Saabs as upper class, and to this day there is some domestic Swedish reluctance to see Saab as a Swedish equivalent to Audi, BMW or Mercedes; this speaks volumes for Saab’s small car origins, and of Saab forgetting that foundation for its brand.” (p. 11)
“The early scale models of the Saab 92 for wind tunnel testing revealed a coefficient of drag (Cd) 0.32 at the Swedish aeronautical institute, and the full-size production car Cd was a stunning Cd 0.35 — far lower than the average drag figure for cars of the era, that being circa Cd 0.45-0.60.” (p. 43)
“Paradoxically, Saab had followed fashion, not in design terms but in market terms, and by 1988 it would feel the full force of its own economic exposure. The engineering ethos, the internal ways of thinking of the Saab club and the Aeroplan men, struggled to survive the rush of more normal industrial thinking in a global market place. The true, harsh facts were that Saab, for all of its fabulous engineering and wonderful moments, had ignored change in the world car market, and naively, or maybe even arrogantly, continued steering toward oblivion.” (p. 252)
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