Today, at 12:30 CET, it will be a 7-year anniversary of the last Saab 9-5 first generation rolled off the assembly line in Trollhättan. 02 February 2010 Last first generation Saab 9-5 rolls off Trollhättan production line.

The Saab 9-5 was a class-leader when it debuted, offering capable front-wheel-drive performance.

After 483,593 9-5 cars 1997-2010, a Snow Silver Vector 2.3t BioPower marked the end. The car is now taken care of at the Saab Car Museum. Almost half a million 9-5s have been produced since its launch in 1997 – 252,236 sedans and 231,357 SportCombis.

The first generation 9-5 was introduced in 1997 as the replacement to the Saab 9000 for the 1998 model year. At the time, the car represented a great leap forward for Saab. In the United States, the 9-5 was introduced in the spring of 1998, for the 1999 model year.

If some models had Saab’s 2.0- and 2.3-liter engines, the European versions were powered by a 1.9-liter diesel engine provided by Fiat. The Saab 9-5 was the first production vehicle to offer ventilated seats, as well as asymmetrical turbocharging in the case of the 3.0L V6 engine, and also a number of industry innovations: active front head restraints (SAHR), ventilated seats, Night Panel instrument dimming, a charcoal interior air filter and Saab BioPower flex-fuel turbo technology.

The three models – Base, SE, and SE V6 – make up the original Saab 9-5 lineup.