New Saab 9-2 Mini Cooper fighter: First sketches revealed

First sketches of Saab's proposed 9-2 revival have been revealed.

The Saab 9-2 was the first car the company offered.

Showing off its aircraft heritage was easy--the car was designed by aircraft engineers. They insisted on lightweight, aerodynamic design--two basic principles of airplane design that make sense for cars, too.

Saab eventually replaced its beloved, rally-winning classic 9-2 with an entirely new generation of car, the 9-3. The 9-3 was a much more appropriate car for its day and incorporated Saab DNA in the form of streamlined design and a wrap-around, airplane-like windshield.

Eventually Saab was purchased by General Motors, whose blind and blundering bean counters nearly killed the brand with their cheapening tactics like basing Saabs on other brands, from Opel to Subaru and GM.

GM's beancounters did what they do best and sent the Saab brand to its deathbed, as they have done to so many others.

Then along came Spyker. A Dutch maker of wildly 0ver-styled exotic sports cars that exude sex appeal from every curve. Spyker CEO Victor Muller has been showing a sketch of the proposed 9-2 revival to journalists. A couple of those journalists sat down with digital illustrators to create conjectural images of the new MINI Cooper/New Beetle/Fiat 500 rival. You are invited to inspect these educated guesses in the slideshow below.

For more info see the slideshow and links below:

Saab 92: Spyker announces MINI Cooper rival

Why General Motors failed