Saab is a swedish military aircraft manufactor, and saab stands for "swedish airplane manufactor" in sweedish. so the company did not make cars in the beginning, but at the end of WW2 they came up with the idea to start making affordable family cars. when the first model came out (Saab 92)it was very popular, i think because there was no other car like it. it was very special because it was made with one peice of metal where there was just cut holes for winds sheilds/windows.