14 Years With out Saab: Do You Miss It, and Might It Ever Return?

It’s been 14 years since Saab vanished from U.S. showrooms. December 2011 marked the top—chapter papers filed, the final 9-3 and 9-5 sedans rolling off supplier heaps, and the quirky Swedish marque gone in a single day. For a model that by no means bought greater than 38,000 automobiles in a single American 12 months (its 1986 peak), Saab punched far above its weight in loyalty. Ask any proprietor and also you’ll hear the identical chorus: “It wasn’t only a automotive; it was a persona.”

So we’re asking you—do you miss Saab? Was it the turbocharged whistle beneath onerous acceleration, the ignition key between the seats, the night-panel sprint that turned each gauge black besides the speedometer? Possibly it was the hatchback 900 that swallowed IKEA runs complete, or the 9-5 wagon that regarded like nothing else on the street. Drop your favourite reminiscence beneath—Turbo X in Electrical Blue? The unique 99 EMS with its soccer-ball wheels? We wish the tales.

The larger query: may Saab stage a comeback? The identify survives beneath Nationwide Electrical Automobile Sweden (NEVS), which has constructed EV 9-3s in China since 2017, however none carry the griffin badge in America. Mental property is tangled, and the U.S. market has moved on—crossovers, not sedans; Tesla, not turbo fours.

But stranger resurrections have occurred. Polestar, as soon as Volvo’s efficiency trim, is now a standalone EV model. Rivian and Lucid arrived from nowhere. Think about a Saab reborn beneath a deep-pocketed accomplice—Polestar’s Geely money, Hyundai’s platforms, even Ford’s unused Michigan crops. A compact electrical hatch with 400 hp, aircraft-inspired cockpit, and that signature wraparound windshield may flip heads once more. Quirky doesn’t should imply useless.

Saab taught us automobiles may have soul. Fourteen years later, the roads really feel just a little extra generic with out it. Inform us: would you line up for a reborn Saab tomorrow—or is the flame lastly out?