CRASH LANDING

SAAB NG 900 / 9-3 (1994-2003)

It wasn’t just that the new 900 introduced in 1993 was based on the GM2900 platform shared with the Vauxhall Cavalier that separated it from other Saabs, but it was that this was perhaps the first properly new Saab since the 9000 and before that, well, ever. Saab had been evolutionary ever since the 92 in 1950. Ditching almost all engineering eccentricity that had stuck with Saab for over 40 years, the NG 900 as it was known marked a new era best summed up as conforming to the 1990s.

The 900 was available as a five-door hatch or a coupe and convertible which both shared various bespoke panels including a revised floorpan. They carried over the old B204 engine but now sited transversely and fit with double counter-rotating balancing shafts. GM’s 2.5-litre V6 also appeared, reflecting the importance of the American market; nearly a third of all 900s sold went to the US. Many of the rest stayed in Sweden or, indeed, landed here. The UK was a large market for Saab, particularly