15,000 Saab Cars Remain in Active Use in Finland
Fifteen thousand Saab cars remain in active use in Finland, although production of the brand did not resume after the Trollhättan plant went bankrupt in 2012. Saab enthusiast culture is particularly widespread in Swedish-speaking Ostrobothnia, YLE News reports.
There are 40,000 registered Saabs in the country. Saab Club ry has 3,500 members, while Swedish-speaking Ostrobothnia is the region with the highest density of cars of this brand. At the municipal level, Mustasaari in Ostrobothnia and Uusikaupunki in southwestern Finland lead by this indicator.
Clubs and collections
Saab Club ry holds summer and winter events, as well as local meetings throughout the year. Participants inspect cars, exchange maintenance advice and information about spare parts. Miikka Riissanen, a board member of the association from Vaasa, jokingly called enthusiasm for Saab a “disease,” while a particular passion for turbocharged models an even more serious form of this interest.
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Finland’s largest Saab collection is kept at the Uusikaupunki Automobile Museum. Nearly one million cars of the brand were once assembled in this city. The largest private collection belongs to Sami Plussaari from Kruunupyy: more than one hundred Saabs are gathered on his property, where a private museum also operates.
Tuning and young owners
Brand enthusiast Kristian Salonen from Kurikka owns several Saabs, including a 2006 V6 Aero that he has significantly modified. According to him, Saab cars are popular among tuning enthusiasts, and changing the software can add up to 100 horsepower.
Salonen also believes that repairing a Saab can be cheaper than overhauling the engines of some other brands. He noted that spare parts for these cars are still available, including thanks to new production in Sweden. In recent years, he has noticed growing interest in Saab among young people and has sold cars brought from Sweden to young buyers.
