The US buyers demanded a V8 engine in the Saab 9000 – but Trollhättan said no. But in Finland a prototype was developed.
The Saab 9000 turns 40 this year and it is being recognized with a special edition of Saab Cars Magazine. The entire magazine is dedicated to the car, which is now almost endangered on the roads.
Together with the Saab Museum in Trollhättan, Saab Cars Magazine has unearthed lots of material from the development work of the Saab 9000.
A V8 engine was high on the wish list for a long time – not least to attract buyers in the important US market.
In Trollhättan, the idea of a Saab 9000 with a V8 was rejected, but in the Finnish Nystad, where Saab-Valmet built the 900 Cabriolet, a prototype car was developed with a V8 engine.
– Saab in Sweden said that such an engine would not fit. However, we saw an opportunity for a new niche model that could be built here, says Hannu Berger, who for many years worked as development manager at what is now called Valmet Automotive.
Saab Cars Magazine has received an exclusive test drive of the car. The test mule has rolled almost 7,000 miles, the V8 has been tested in Spanish heat, Finnish cold and on the Autobahn.
“The familiar starter motor sound is followed by something I’ve never heard in a Saab before, the musty rough tone of a 90-degree V8,” writes Carl Legelius.
Saab Cars Magazine #12
More to read in the magazine:
✔ We test drive the prototype that survived against all odds
✔ The 9000 mules did the job – a single car survived
✔ 110 pages Saab 9000 with lots of reports
Read more >
Buy SEK 149
