The first Saab automobile was the Saab 92001, the ‘Ursaab’.

The decision to actually start the automobile project was made in the fall of 1945. Development was started in Linköping by a 20 person team led by Gunnar Ljungström. The previous production code was for an airplane -the Saab 91 Safir- and the car project started as 92001.

An important requirement was that the car had to have a very low drag coefficient. Aerodynamical tests were part of the very early evaluations.  By summer 1946 the first prototype body was ready, hand beaten on a wooden jig. It had a borrowed 18 hp (13 kW) two stroke engine.

The original 1946 Saab 001 was driven thousands of miles. Today it is in the Saab museum in Trollhättan, with a cleaned grille and more roadworthy headlights.  The 92001 design was improved by Sixten Sason in 1947, resulting in another prototype: the 92002 and the Saab 92.