Saabs will no longer be made in Sweden

[bigpoppanils]

FRANKFURT, Germany — In a continuing trend to build Saabs anywhere but Sweden, the next generation of the Swedish brand's 9-5 model from 2008 will be built at the GM plant in Ruesselsheim, Germany, an Opel executive told Reuters on Monday.

The source said current versions of the Saab 9-3 and 9-5 will continue to be built in Trollhättan, Sweden until then.

In March, the Ruesselsheim plant won the coveted job of making the next generation of GM's midsize cars in Europe, including the successors to the Opel Vectra and Saab 9-3.

The new Saab 9-7X, the brand's first SUV, will be built in Moraine, Ohio. The Saab 9-2X wagon is built in Japan, and the Saab 9-6X crossover, a knockoff of the Subaru B9 Tribeca due out in 2006, is expected to be built in Indiana.

The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported on Monday that Saab chairman Carl-Peter Forster, who is also president of GM Europe, said the Trollhättan plant might build a high-end Opel car GM has on the drawing board in Germany.

http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/News/articleId=105739

since I am part Scandinavian, the thought of being able to drive a car made in Sweden is what drew me to Saab in the first place. This gives me yet another reason to not consider Saab ever again.