[6] On 13 June 2012, it was announced that a newly formed company called National Electric Vehicle Sweden (NEVS) had bought Saab Automobile's bankrupt estate.

The company had been established in 1937 for the express purpose of building aircraft for the Swedish Air Force to protect the country's neutrality as Europe moved closer to World War II.

[16] In 1948, a company site in Trollhättan was converted to allow automobile assembly and the project moved there, along with the car manufacturing headquarters, which has remained there since.

The car's engine gained a cylinder, going from two to three and its front fascia became the first to sport the first incarnation of Saab's trademark trapezoidal radiator grill.

Unlike American cars of the day, the 93, 95 and 96 all featured the 3-cylinder 2-cycle engine, which required adding oil to the petrol tank, front-wheel drive, and freewheeling, which allowed the driver to downshift the on-the-column manual shifter without using the clutch.

The 99 had many innovations and features that would come to define Saabs for decades: wraparound windscreen, self-repairing bumpers, headlamp washers and side-impact door beams.

The agreement yielded 1985's Saab 9000, sister to the Alfa Romeo 164, Fiat Croma and Lancia Thema; all rode atop a common Type Four chassis.

[19] After a review by GM, the factory changed over to a standard assembly line but was nonetheless shuttered in June 1991, after 20,664 cars had been built in about two years.

GM exercised its option to acquire the remaining Saab shares in 2000, spending US$125 million to turn the company into a wholly owned subsidiary.

The new model, marketed as a sport sedan, dropped Saab's iconic hatchback in favour of a more conventional four-door approach.

Owing to fading fortunes across its entire business due to a slowing economy in 2007, GM announced that the Saab brand was "under review" in December 2008, a process which included the possibility of selling or shuttering the car maker.

[21] As the talks progressed, GM's support receded, and Saab went into administration, the Swedish equivalent of America's Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

[24] The bid was backed by a group of Norwegian investors and the Chinese car maker Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Co Ltd (BAIC).

The loan was approved in October, but on 24 November 2009, Koenigsegg announced that it had "come to the painful and difficult conclusion that it could no longer carry out the acquisition"[25] much because of the constant delays and the difficulties coordinating the involved parties: GM, the European Investment Bank, the Swedish National Debt Office and BAIC.

[29] As talks with several firms failed, including the Netherlands-based boutique sports car maker Spyker, GM formally announced its intention to wind down the Saab brand.

Earlier bidders Spyker and Merbanco revised their offers and were joined by a submission from Luxembourg-based Genii Capital, which boasted the support of F1 chief Bernie Ecclestone.

[32][33] On 26 January, General Motors (GM) confirmed it had agreed to sell Saab to Spyker N.V.[34] subject to regulatory and government approval; the sale was completed on 23 February 2010.

On 30 March his former sponsor, Russian banker Vladimir Antonov, applied to Swedish authorities, the EIB and General Motors for permission to become a shareholder in Saab.

On 19 December 2011, with no alternatives left after GM continued to block any form of involvement with a Chinese partner, Saab officially filed for bankruptcy after a three-year fight for survival.

[43] On 6 August 2012, Spyker, represented by the law firm Patton Boggs, filed a lawsuit against General Motors in the United States District Court of the Eastern District of Michigan claiming US$3 billion in damages for the actions GM took in the fall of 2011 to stop the various proposed deals between Spyker and Youngman concerning Saab Automobile where Youngman claimed to be ready to invest several billion dollars in Saab Automobile to guarantee its future.

[51] Saab Automobile Parts AB was excluded in the deal and the Swedish National Debt Office would continue as an owner of that company.

Scania believed the logo is of high value in China and feared that it would end up in the wrong hands through the Chinese interests behind NEVS.

On 29 November 2013 NEVS announced that full-scale production would commence on 2 December 2013, having replaced the 20 percent of parts originally sourced from former Saab owner General Motors.

[58] Following negotiations with parts suppliers, small-scale production of the petrol version of the Saab 9-3 resumed in December 2013, with sales focused on the Swedish and Chinese markets.

In December 2013, Nevs announced that the Saab 9-3 sedan was back in regular production, with convertible, station wagon, and electric models to follow in the next year.

[82] To commemorate its 40th anniversary, Saab formed a Performance Team in 1987, which laid on exhibitions of automobile acrobatics and formation driving.

[84][85] In his studies of brand communities, Albert Muniz, professor of marketing at DePaul University in Chicago, found significant characteristics of Saab owners which he called Snaabery.

Writer John Crace characterised the typical "Snaab" as a creative advertising executive with large spectacles and an asymmetric hairstyle.

Saab had a factory rally team with successful drivers, Erik "On-the-Roof" Carlsson, Tom Trana, Simo Lampinen, Stig Blomqvist and Per Eklund.

The S2AB Historic Rally team entered four Saab 99 Turbos, driven by ex-champions Ola Strömberg, Erik Uppsäll, Travis Decker and Jörgen Trued.