When the last Saab cars to roll off the line at the Trollhättan factory grounds went under the hammer on the Klaravik auction platform, few were surprised to see the name Joakim Bratell among the winning bidders. The Swede has long been regarded as one of the country’s most dedicated Saab collectors, and he’s just added a new chapter to that reputation – not with one car, but two.
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Two Silver 9-3s from 2014
Bratell picked up two examples of the Saab 9-3, both from the 2014 model year, both finished in silver, and both with relatively low mileage. One had covered just 18,430 km and sold for 172,000 kronor, while the other, with 58,640 km on the clock, went for 142,000 kronor. Together they represent two of the final three cars to leave the factory grounds – a quietly symbolic last trace of production at what was once the heart of Swedish car manufacturing.
News of the win reached Bratell in a fittingly unglamorous setting. He was sitting in a beer tent in Småland, in southern Sweden, following the bidding live from his phone. He’s said the moment itself felt special, and the outcome even more so – he now owns three silver 9-3s, all from 2014, having already had one in his collection before the auction. As far as he knows, no one else in the world can say the same.
As for what’s next for the newly acquired cars, Bratell isn’t leaving any room for compromise: anything less than mint condition simply isn’t an option.
Nearly Twenty Saabs – and a Childhood Memory Behind It All
Bratell’s collection now sits at 18 to 19 cars, plus several spare bodies waiting in line. His attachment to the brand goes back to his youth, when he took over his father’s Saab 900 Turbo – an experience that, by his own account, won him over for good. He’s tried a Volvo once, he says, but it just wasn’t for him. In his view, every Saab model offers a genuinely great interior, with a level of comfort that translates directly into driving enjoyment.
It’s perhaps fitting, then, that Bratell lives just six kilometers from the old Stallbacka factory grounds – the very place where the cars he’s spent so much of his life preserving were once built.
Joakim says: “Mint condition is the only option. There’s nothing else.”
The phrase fits the cars. A 2014 Saab 9-3 from the final factory-ground group does not need cosmetic improvisation. It does not need speculative tuning. It does not need to be turned into a talking point through modification. Its importance is already built into its production context, mileage, color, and ownership chain.
From Collector to Manufacturer: Bratell Also Took Over Saab’s Interiors
What sets Bratell apart from most collectors is that he hasn’t just been buying Saabs – he’s been working to keep them factory-fresh on the inside, too. A couple of years ago, when the Trollhättan textile manufacturer Artex relocated its operations, an entire tradition of Saab interior production was suddenly at risk. Artex had built car interiors for Saab for decades, and when its Trollhättan site closed, that craft could easily have disappeared for good.
Bratell, through his own company, stepped in and acquired Artex’s sewing equipment, original patterns, leather stock, and tools, with the goal of restarting production of authentic Saab leather interiors for enthusiasts around the world. Hedin Parts played a role too, having been on the hunt for quality replacement leather covers for Saab 9-3 Convertibles – models whose interiors tend to suffer most from sun and rain. Today, a small but fully equipped workshop at the Trestad Center is back in production, turning out seats built on the original Saab patterns, with help from veteran craftspeople who once worked for Artex itself.
The earlier our story documented the people around that effort as well: workshop manager Magnus Axelsson, with experience from Artex and Lear Seating, and veteran seamstress Eila Lilja, whose decades of Saab interior work brought continuity back to the sewing table. The work has included 9-3 Convertible interiors and 2010–2011 9-5 material, with room to expand depending on demand.
The result is that Saab owners across Europe can now order interior covers made by the same hands, using the same templates, as the ones that once came straight off the Trollhättan line.
Saab Lives On
Between a collection approaching twenty cars and a revived interior production line, Joakim Bratell has quietly become one of the key figures keeping the Saab legacy alive today. While plenty of brands simply vanish along with the factories that built them, thanks to people like Bratell, Saab – in some form – keeps going, kilometer by kilometer and stitch by stitch, just a few kilometers from where it all began.
Not the last off the line was at the auction… They were pre-production cars.