Saab History

The Saab 900 Finlandia

Saab 900 Finlandia

The Saab 900 Finlandia – this is another Saab born in Finland, in a small town that has an exotic name that is hard to pronounce – Uusikaupunki. The name Uusikaupunki is long and apparently difficult if you’re not a Finnish-speaker.

Over the years, the media have produced several misspelled versions of the name, but this should be the winner: Saab produced various models at the Valmet Automotive plant in U Winterupunki (?!), Finland, between 1969 and 2003, in the partnership established in 1968 with Valmet. (Caption from gtopcars site)

To get back that story about Finlandia – Here’s another superb Saab rarity from Finland – the Saab 900 Finlandia. Only 570 cars were manufactured between 1979 and 1986, with the body extended by 20 cm (7.87402 inch).

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Saab 900 Finlandia rear seats space, photo by: Oliver Abholte
Saab 900 Finlandia rear seats space, photo by: Oliver Abholte

Where did the extra 20cm go? Into the rear doors for loads of extra legroom? No, both doors were stretched. The front and rear doors have been extended by 10 cm each. The Saab 900 CD (sometimes referred to as “Finlandia”) is an extended executive version of the Saab 900 4-door. The extension benefits only the rear seats.

These cars were mainly used by government officials and CEOs, also including the President of Finland in the 1980s.

Super-Finlandia – Saab 900 Limousine

And here the story of Finlandia’s special extended model doesn’t stop, for those who haven’t heard, there was an even longer versionthe Saab 900 Limousine! Ao, we’re not talking about redesigned limousines, but real-designed factory Saab limos.

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Saab 900 Limousine
Saab 900 Limousine – 50 centimeters longer than the CD model

This was limo was Pure luxury from Finland – the unique Saab 900 Limousine. This is a fully functional prototype of a car that sadly never went into production. A total of 70 cm longer than the basic model, it was used on a few special occasions only. The 900 CD was that car shorter? Yep, about 50 cm shorter. Fortunately, this prototype has been preserved. It’s in the Automobile Museum in Uusikaupunki, Finland

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.

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