Boy, this is a strange one: after thinking the only traces left of the Saab brand were whatever cars show up on Marketplace, lovingly kept alive by the Saab faithful, it turns out there are still a handful of lightly used test mules sitting in the remains of the original Saab factory in Trollhättan. There’s a mixture of traditional gasoline powered offering as well as full EV experimental models, but what’s most important is that they represent some of the most loved Saab designs (and there’s not a single rebadged Trail Blazer in the mix). Check out this collection of surviving test cars listed here on klaravik.se.
When Saab was in its downward spiral, GM was seemingly content to let it go out with a bang. Like many arranged marriages, there was a fair amount of disagreement between Saab’s engineers who wanted to keep spending money on silly things like a console-mounted ignitions switch, while GM wanted to experiment with rebadged products to beef up the lineup without spending a ton of money (I’m looking at you 9-2X and 9-7X, the latter of which was built atop GM’s GMT360 platform, while the former was a lightly disguised Subaru Impreza.)
After GM sent Saab packing, its bankrupt carcass was scooped up by a company called NEVS. This organization was backed by Chinese funding and sought to build an EV brand out of the remnants of the Saab infrastructure. This is why a few of the cars up for grabs are some sort of a hybrid or a pure electrical vehicle. Shown here is a pre-production 9-3 that was to be a fully-autonomous, self-driving vehicle, and the listing mentions it is best suited to be a museum display as certain mechanical pieces are missing and it doesn’t run.
Now, this is the one I expect to fetch a very strong number. It’s a 5-speed manual-equipped Saab 9-3 Aero with just under 12,000 original miles. If you wanted a time warp Saab with the ideal enthusiast-preferred configuration, this is the car, short of a Viggen or manual Aero wagon. Of course, there is the fine print: “The car is deregistered and may not be driven on the roads. It must be collected on a trailer.” So, even though it looks like a blast to drive, I doubt you’ll be able to put it back on the road. Still, this is literally the last of any remaining Saab vehicles at the factory, so book yourself a trip to Trollhättan ASAP. Thanks to Barn Finds reader Russell Glantz for the tip.
Unexpected auction to be sure. These cars are going to need a lot of TLC to be roadworthy after sitting for 15 years.
There was a step between GM and NEVS though missed in the description, GM sold Saab to Spyker and that took a couple of years to go down the tubes and the remains sold to NEVS in 2011. It’s a long and somewhat convoluted story which can be found via an online search for those wanting the gory details.