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 venska Aeroplan Aktiebolaget (= the Swedish Aeroplane Company), initials forming the name Saab, was founded in April, 1937 to manufacture aeroplanes. After the end of the Second World War the company operations had to be redirected and under the consideration were module houses, modular kitchens and motorcycles among the many choices. Finally it was decided to concentrate on automobiles. Gunnar Ljungström, an engineer, and Sixten Sason, an industrial designer, designed a front wheel drive prototype which featured a very streamlined body. The two-cylinder two-stroke engine was designed by Rolf Mellde. The prototype carried a heraldic insignia which never saw subsequent use.
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The 20 cars of the prototype series were built in 1949 and series production commenced in 1950. The insignia naturally featured an aeroplane - a twin engined propeller plane - which was dropped in the beginning of the 1970's.Subsequently Saab only had a text logo until 1987 when the insignia designed by the artist Carl Fredik Reuterswärd was introduced. The insignia depicted a mythological beast Gripen (griffin) with the Saab name and the name of Scania as a sign of the merger of the two companies. Gripen also is the name of the JAS 39 jet fighter being produced by the Saab aeroplane factory. In 1989 the Saab-Scania passenger car production was sold to General Motors.
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