Saab Enthusiast Resurrects The Failed Swedish Brand With Renderings

For automotive fans, the Saab brand is a familiar name that counts as a piece of history. The 2001 Saab 9-X Concept was a hopeful vision for the brand under GM's regime, but something that didn't materialize due to a number of hurdles that led to the Swedish marque's complete failure within the previous decade.

Ernst Hellby recounts those times and imagines a Saab comeback through a set of renderings. It's a what-if-SAAB-was-back dream for him, and the resulting crossover utility vehicle actually looks good in our eyes.

Hellby said that classic artifacts found in the house he grew up in – like the Bruno Mathsson chair Pernilla or the Margaretha Bowls by Sigvard Bernadotte – inspired him to create these renderings of his all-time favorite cars.

Obviously, the swoopy front lines as viewed from the side was derived from the 9-X concept, the main inspiration for the rendering. There are a lot of cues coming from that concept from two decades back, but Hellby also pushed the proportion to something extraordinary without losing the sense of realism.

According to him, he wants those seeing the Saab he designed to want to drive the car. He also added sporty cues into the vehicle based on Saab Aero models, primarily on the fictional car's stance and attitude. The wheels are actually a nice touch, we must say, though we agree that the proportion are a bit extreme.

Though imagining a Saab comeback seems like a long shot, it will always be fun to imagine the could-haves and would-haves of a failed car brand. Then again, with the current environmental climate in Europe, a returning Saab nameplate will likely have an electric powertrain rather than the fossil-fueled Swedish machines we've known.