Italian/Swedish luxury. The Saab 9000 Story

There’s a lot of focus on the rivalry between the German big three – Volkswagen, BMW & Mercedes, but in Sweden of course there was a rivalry between the “big two” – Volvo and Saab. So, as Volvo’s cars got larger and went upmarket in the 1970s, Saab must have surely taken note and decided that they had to respond. The result was the Saab 9000, produced even though Saab didn’t have the money to develop it. Just how did they find the cash, and was it a hit or was it a miss?