Once in administration, the final Saabs were offered with every single option ticked, and this is one of them
Saab is known around the world for some of the more intriguing, if not slightly weird, car designs of the last eight decades. Its reputation was first built on fighter planes. Saab made stacks during World War II, but once the war was over no one wanted any fighter jets.
With a whole shed load of green paint left over from its plane building days (which it would return to), Saab made its first car: the 92. With an oil thirsty two-stroke engine and some rather flashy suicide doors the scene was set for some pretty mental cars to come, like this stunning final car.
Bringing ourselves up to speed, the launch of the 900 was where things really started to kick off. Having decided to dump massive turbochargers in most of its cars, just because it could, the 900 Turbo became an automotive legend having had its predecessor achieve great acclaim in rallying.
Sadly, after selling most of the company to GM during the mid-200s, the financial crash crippled GM more than enough, so Saab lost its way entirely, and GM stuck it in the mix with Opel. Once 2011 came knocking, things just weren’t going well. No one wanted them as they weren’t genuine Saab’s, instead mostly Chevrolet and Opel knockoffs with the odd rebadged Subaru thrown into the mix for reasons only alcohol can likely explain.
The car featured here is rather special in the same way it’s pretty sad. The 9-5 was the last car Saab produced, and once the administrators took hold of the company they decided to throw every single option from the bin to the final 9-5s made. This means that the cars produced in 2011 have literally every single option fitted, and there’s some pretty cool stuff in there. How many mid range saloons do you know of with factory-fitted rear entertainment systems?
This particular car is definitely one for a collector. Not only is it one of the famed 2011 outrun models with gadgetry that’s still cool eight years on, but it has a truly remarkable 7000 miles on the odometer. For a car pitched as a mid-range executive saloon, that has to be one of the lower end of the 9-5 mileage scale.
Complete with the economical 200-horsepower diesel unit and six-speed manual gearbox, this would make for a novel collector's car, or even someone wanting a daily driver that’s truly outside of the box. If we look back on the cars that have skyrocketed in value over the last 20 years, it is actually models like this that took us all by surprise. Perhaps it’s time to make a diligent investment.
