Saab History

Last Saab 9-5 (First generation)

Last Saab 9-5 first generationLast Saab 9-5 first generation

Today, at 12:30 CET,  it will be a 7-year anniversary of the last Saab 9-5 first generation rolled off the assembly line in Trollhättan02 February 2010 Last first generation Saab 9-5 rolls off Trollhättan production line.

The Saab 9-5 was a class-leader when it debuted, offering capable front-wheel-drive performance.

Saab Workers stand next to the last model of First generation Saab 9-5
Saab Workers stand next to the last model of First generation Saab 9-5

After 483,593 9-5 cars 1997-2010, a Snow Silver Vector 2.3t BioPower marked the end. The car is now taken care of at the Saab Car MuseumAlmost half a million 9-5s have been produced since its launch in 1997 – 252,236 sedans and 231,357 SportCombis.

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The first generation 9-5 was introduced in 1997 as the replacement to the Saab 9000 for the 1998 model year. At the time, the car represented a great leap forward for Saab. In the United States, the 9-5 was introduced in the spring of 1998, for the 1999 model year.

If some models had Saab’s 2.0- and 2.3-liter engines, the European versions were powered by a 1.9-liter diesel engine provided by Fiat. The Saab 9-5 was the first production vehicle to offer ventilated seats, as well as asymmetrical turbocharging in the case of the 3.0L V6 engine, and also a number of industry innovations: active front head restraints (SAHR), ventilated seats, Night Panel instrument dimming, a charcoal interior air filter and Saab BioPower flex-fuel turbo technology.

Rinspeed Saab 9-5 BioPower Concept '2007
Special version – Rinspeed Saab 9-5 BioPower Concept ‘2007

The three models – Base, SE, and SE V6 – make up the original Saab 9-5 lineup.

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Saab 9-5 BioPower Concept by Rinspeed

 

 

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Goran Aničić
the authorGoran Aničić
For over 15 years, Goran Aničić has been passionately focused on Saab automobiles and everything related to them. His initial encounter with Saab cars took place back in 2003 when the first Saab 9-3 and sedan version were introduced. At that moment, he was captivated by the car's Scandinavian design logic and top-notch engineering, and everything that followed stemmed from that first encounter. Later on, through his work at the editorial team of the Serbian automotive magazines "Autostart" and later "AutoBild," he had the opportunity to engage more closely with Saab vehicles. In 2008, he tested the latest Saab cars of that time, such as the Saab 9-3 TTiD Aero and Saab 9-3 Turbo X. In 2010, as the sole blogger from the region, he participated in the Saab 9-5ng presentation in Trollhättan, Sweden. Alongside journalists from around the world, he got a firsthand experience of the pinnacle of technological offerings from Saab at that time. Currently, Goran owns two Saabs: a 2008 Saab 9-3 Vector Sportcombi with a manual transmission, and a Saab 9-3 Aero Griffin Sport Sedan from the last generation, which rolled off the production line in Trollhättan in December 2011.

3 Comments

  • Jag hade gärna kört denna bil. Tyvärr hann jag aldrig äga en 9-5a…
    Men kört en del och den var suverän.

  • that was an exceptionally good car. I had three of them between 2002 and 2018. With the first one, I clocked up 485’000 kms.

  • Min första saab modell 99 1970 ägde 12 år mer än 360000km. Nr 2 900 LE 1984 ägde 14 år. 360000km. 2009 9-5 tid. 44000 mil. Hittills .

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