Saab History

Saab Design: Convertible vs. Coupé

Should you choose a convertible or a coupe? It’s an age-old debate…

Convertibles usually offer some kind of fixed or pop-up roll bar to protect passengers in the event of a rollover accident.

Contemporary convertible design may include such features as boron steel reinforced A-pillars, front and side airbags, safety cage construction and roll over protection structures or (ROPS) with pyrotechnically charged roll hoops hidden behind the rear seats that deploy under roll-over conditions whether the roof is retracted or not.

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Saab 900 Cabrio crash test car
Saab 900 Cabrio crash test car

Here’s the best imaginable presentation of the changes to the cabrio body vs. a coupé: the parts painted in blue are added extras to strengthen the cabrio body.

This is Valmet Automotive’s special knowledge since the 1980s, as this Saab 900 strip-down body shows:

Saab 900 Convertible Reinforcement
Saab 900 Convertible Reinforcement

As you can see in the picture, reinforcing structure of Saab 900 Convertible weighs as much as 53kg (117Lb)!

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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.

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