Saab

Saab was a pioneering Swedish automotive manufacturer with roots in aircraft and military- vehicle development. Its first production car was a small, teardrop-shaped, front-wheel drive two-door sedan with a two-stroke engine dubbed the 92. Saabs evolved into larger, innovative models like the 900 Turbo and eventually came to share GM platforms, as exemplified by the 9-3 sedan. The company is remembered as a sometimes quirky, well-engineered, not-quite-luxury brand that made advances in turbocharging technology and vehicle safety. Despite its best efforts, Saab often found itself under financial duress and wound up a General Motors brand when the corporation took a 50 percent stake in 1989 and then bought the rest in 2000. Saab eventually met its demise in 2012, two years after GM sold it to Swedish supercar maker Spyker, which itself fell on hard financial times after the acquisition.