A Saab 9000 CD in China, seen in central Beijing in 2016. The sweet Swedish sedan was in a reasonable shape, dirty and dusty, painted in black, with darkened windows and non-standard sporty alloy wheels.
The Saab 9000 CD was the 4-door sedan version of Saab’s 9000-series. The 5-door liftback was known as the 9000 CC and later as the 9000 CS. The liftback version was more of a typical Saab but I always liked the design of the sedan better, proportions were better and it just looked cooler than the liftback.
The car had OZ alloy wheels fitted. They didn’t look very solid so they might be fake. Almost every kind of alloy wheel, from any brand, is available in all sorts of fake forms in China. After living for a while in China, you start to know the difference between fakes. Some come from the same factory as the real thing, and are thus nearly as good. Others come from all kind of other factories, and may range from reasonable quality fakes to totally crap fake.
The interior was in dire need of a clean up! The seats were protected by very basic seat covers. The rest of the interior seems largely original.
The Saab 9000 series was made from 1984 until 1998. It was based on the famous Type Four platform, a joint development of the Fiat Group and Saab. This platform also underpinned other great cars like the Alfa Romeo 164, the Fiat Croma, and the Lancia Thema.
The Saab 9000 dates back to the good old times, when automaker Saab and truck maker Scania were still part of the same company. Sadly, that ain’t no more. Saab is long death and Scania is part of the Volkswagen Group. However, happily, some Saab DNA lived on in China!
The Saab 9000 CD was available with various engines, ranging from a 131 hp 2.0 to a 225 hp 2.3 turbo to a 207 hp 3.0 v6. Sadly there were no engine badges on this car so I can’t be sure what was under the bonnet.
The ‘Q’ license plate means this was, and perhaps still is, a company owned car. I have a personal Saab connection. My parents had two Saab 900 liftbacks and later on a Saab 9000 liftback.
I saw this Saab in an old area of Beijing. In those days the older areas of town still had shared neighborhood toilets. The truck in the background is a “vacuum truck” for cleaning out communal toilets. Very rare today, but not as rare as the Saab 9000 CD, which was never officially sold in China.