The article represents a brief overview of Saab corporation history that had a major influence on the design and construction of their automobiles. The emphasis is placed on the basic trends of Saab cars line development.

A famous slogan of the Saab company ?Born from jets? reflects somehow the history of the first Saab automobile. It was made by 16 aeroplane engineers and consequently was founded on the aircraft design. The significance of a motto is that the high quality and reliability of Saab vehicles may be equalized with the quality and safety of airplanes. At present time Saab automobiles production is carried out by General Motors corporation (GM), but Saab jet division is still owned by the Swedish Saab company. So let's take a digression into the history of Saab corporation.



The make Saab appeared in 1937 with the creation of aircrafts for the Swedish Air Force. From then on it has focused on building military airplanes, including fighter airplanes for NATO. Due to their high quality Saab jets were recognized world over.



Since 1949 Saab experts have been involved in the production of well-engineered cars. The distinguishing characteristic of Saab automobiles consists in the aerodynamic design that in of great help in fuel economy. This peculiarity is observed in all Saab models. Safety is one of major priorities of Saab vehicles. The engineers of this company use all the latest technological advances to make their automobiles reliable and modern. Such innovations include: self-repairing bumpers, self-cleaning headlamps, turbo-charged engines, air filters and so on.
In 1980s due to the growth of global economy and the spread of multinational corporations the Saab corporation was faced with difficulties in keeping its positions on the market. This led to the separation of the Saab automobile sub-unit and its selling to a number of investors. The main investor has become General Motors corporation that has 50% of the shares.



The line of Saab models has lately been supplemented with the first sport utility vehicle (SUV). Other models get regular updates according to the requirements of the market. But still, there are argues about increasing impact of General Motors corporation (GM). Numerous discussions are led on account of the ability of Saab to maintain its uniqueness and to compete with such celebrated European makes as Mercedes, Volvo and BMW.



Despite all these facts the amateurs of Saab vehicles do not lose hope that its aeroplane heritage will help them to design unique and reliable cars.