Trollhättan will have one more major gathering of Saab cars before the 2026 season closes. On Saturday, September 12, Saabfesten joins Trollhättan Motorfestival at Stallbacka, giving Saab owners a dedicated exhibition area, access to the former Saab test track and, for one hour, the circuit almost entirely to themselves.
For Saab enthusiasts, the location changes the character of the event. This is not a parking lot meeting transplanted to Trollhättan. The cars will be gathering at Leveransvägen 4, beside the former Saab industrial complex and on the test facility where development cars once accumulated thousands of kilometers long before journalists or customers saw them.
The September meeting is organized as part of the larger Trollhättan Motorfestival, together with Motorkultur, Volvofesten.se and Saabfesten.se. Cars from several categories will occupy the exhibition area during the day, but Saab owners receive their own section and a dedicated period on the track.
That makes September 12 particularly interesting for anyone who wants to finish the Swedish 2026 Saab season with something more active than a static display.
Saab cars return to a track that actually belongs to their history
The test facility at Stallbacka has survived the complicated years that followed Saab Automobile. After Trollhättan Municipality acquired approximately 500,000 square meters of former NEVS property in 2023, the test track became part of the developing Industricampus Stallbacka. T Engineering subsequently took responsibility for operating the facility and reopened it to vehicle development work and organized activities.
The company gave it a very appropriate new name: T Legacy Track. T Engineering itself has strong Saab connections and was formed with substantial competence originating from Saab Automobile.
For people who followed Saab development during the Trollhättan years, the significance of the site requires little explanation. Test vehicles could leave the engineering and production area and be evaluated without first heading onto public roads. The facility includes the recognizable main circuit, its long straight and banked section, together with other surfaces and test areas used for vehicle development.
Today the track has a second life rather than being preserved as an inaccessible industrial artifact. It is again being used for engineering projects, test days and automotive events, which is why meetings such as the September Motorfestival can place privately owned Saabs on a piece of infrastructure originally built for their development.
One hour reserved for the Saab procession
The most important time for Saab owners is 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM. During that hour, the regular open track activity stops and the circuit is reserved for the Saab kortege, the organized Saab procession. Immediately afterward, from 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM, Volvo owners receive their corresponding track period.
Outside those two blocks, drivers with a track ticket can use the circuit during the event. The organizer lists the all day driving ticket at SEK 400, which is approximately $42 at the September 5 exchange rate. The ticket covers track driving during the available sessions throughout the day, excluding the Saab and Volvo procession periods.
That pricing also makes the event somewhat unusual. Track access at a historically significant automotive proving ground is being offered for roughly the cost of a modest enthusiast event entry fee rather than as an expensive dedicated track day.
Owners obviously should regard the session for what it is. This is a public motor festival using an active test facility, not a timed competition. The attraction is the opportunity to drive a Saab on the Stallbacka track and then return directly to an exhibition area populated by other enthusiast cars.
A large Saab area instead of scattered individual cars
For the autumn 2026 Trollhättan Motorfestival, the organizers are working with several motor clubs to give their members dedicated exhibition space. For Saab owners, that means the possibility of parking cars together as a recognizable group rather than having individual Saabs scattered throughout the general show area. Admission includes an exhibition place, while the Saab gathering is being coordinated through Saabfesten.
Behind that effort is a much wider network that Saabfesten has been developing around Trollhättan. One of its central initiatives is the Saab Alliance Club, presented as a federation intended to connect Saab enthusiasts and strengthen cooperation between clubs across Europe. Its stated aim is not to replace established national organizations, but to create another layer of contact between them, with joint events, networking, member benefits and an annual gathering in Trollhättan.
The wider Saabfesten clubs and groups network already brings together links to organizations including Saabklubben Danmark, Saab Turbo Club of Norway, Suomen Saab-klubi, 1. Deutscher SAAB-Club e.V., Saab Club Österreich, Saab Club Nederland, Saab Club Schweiz, Saab Club Belgium, Saab Club España and Saab Club Luxembourg. The same directory also includes model specific communities devoted to everything from the early Saab 92, 93, 95 and 96 to the 900, 9000 and 9-3 Viggen.
That list should not be read as a confirmed attendance sheet for September 12. Its significance is that Saabfesten is increasingly functioning as a meeting point between national clubs, smaller enthusiast groups and individual owners. The dedicated Saab area at the Motorfestival gives that network a physical place to come together at Stallbacka, while the reserved Saab procession from 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM gives the cars their own time on the former factory test track.
The result should also make for a far more useful Saab display than a conventional mixed car show. Put an early two stroke Saab beside a classic 900 Turbo, a 9000 Aero, a 9-3 Viggen, a 9-5 Aero and one of the final 9-3 generations, and the changes in Saab engineering become visible in a single line of cars. Add modified examples, daily drivers and track prepared builds, and the display begins to reflect how these cars are actually being used and maintained in 2026.
There is no indication that participation is limited to concours cars or historically significant examples. That matters for an event built around club involvement and driving. A carefully preserved original has its place, but so does a 9-5 that has covered hundreds of thousands of kilometers, a tuned 9000 or a 9-3 prepared for a session on the test track. For Saab owners, the strength of the September gathering lies precisely in that mixture.
Not only a Saab event
The wider Motorfestival program means visitors should expect a much broader collection of vehicles around the Saab area.
The organizers list Volvo cars, motorcycles, American cars, European cars and Japanese cars among the exhibition categories. A moped and A tractor rally is also planned, while the vehicle exhibition concludes with an awards presentation later in the afternoon.
That broader format is worth preserving rather than turning the day into an exclusively Saab event.
Trollhättan’s relationship with the automobile did not stop when Saab Automobile production ended. Stallbacka is again being used for engineering, specialist manufacturing and vehicle development, while T Engineering has become one of the companies carrying parts of that technical competence forward.
Its activities now include control systems, electrical architecture, calibration, vehicle engineering and small volume projects. The same Legacy Track is consequently being used by contemporary projects as well as enthusiast events.
That gives the September meeting a different background from a museum based anniversary. Visitors are bringing old Saabs into an automotive environment that is still working.
The exhibition continues while the track is active
Track driving will understandably attract much of the attention, but owners who do not want to drive can simply use the event as a large end of season Saab meeting.
The asphalt area beside the track provides the exhibition space, while the organizers are encouraging clubs to assemble their members together. An exhibition award presentation is currently listed for 4:00 PM.
The published schedule should still be treated as provisional. Another event page notes that individual times can be adjusted at short notice, so anyone making the trip specifically for a track session should check the organizer’s information again before departure.
That is particularly relevant for visitors traveling from Norway, Denmark, Germany or the Netherlands, where arriving in Trollhättan often means planning an entire weekend rather than simply driving over on Saturday morning.
Trollhättan is again becoming useful to Saab owners, not only symbolic
There has been an interesting change around Stallbacka during the last few years. For a long period after Saab Automobile stopped producing cars, visiting Trollhättan increasingly meant looking backward. The museum remained essential, former factory buildings could be viewed from outside and enthusiasts could identify places associated with the company, but much of the industrial infrastructure was inaccessible. The reopening of the test track altered that relationship.
Saab owners can now attend events where the former proving ground is physically part of the program. In 2025, SaabPlanet readers already saw the track used in connection with the Trollhättan Motor Festival and NEVS related activities. The September 2026 event continues that pattern rather than treating the Stallbacka site as scenery. It is difficult to think of a better use for the facility.
A Saab 9000 Aero does not need another commemorative sign explaining that cars were once tested here. Put the car onto the actual circuit and the historical connection becomes self explanatory.
The same applies to a 9 3 Viggen, 9 5 Aero, Turbo X or a carefully rebuilt classic 900. These cars were engineered around very specific ideas concerning high speed stability, steering response, braking and real world durability. Bringing privately owned examples onto the former development track connects those engineering decisions with the physical place where Saab engineers worked on them.
Saabfesten has also been building a wider network
The September gathering follows a busy 2026 season for Saabfesten.
Rather than functioning as a single annual event, Saabfesten has increasingly presented itself as a network connecting clubs, companies and enthusiast groups around Trollhättan. Its website now maintains separate sections for participating Saab clubs and commercial collaborators.
Among the listed companies is T Engineering, alongside businesses producing custom wheels, decals and automotive products. The wheel company listed by Saabfesten is particularly interesting because it began in 2019 by helping NEVS develop wheels for prototype vehicles and later expanded into small series automotive components.
This mixture of clubs, technical companies and owners is probably more useful to the present Saab community than attempting to reproduce the structure of Saab events from twenty years ago.
The manufacturer is gone, but the cars are now old enough to require a different support system. Parts knowledge, specialist fabrication, diagnostics, restoration, club networks and owner experience increasingly determine whether individual Saabs remain on the road.
Events in Trollhättan provide one of the few places where all of those groups can meet within the same physical environment.
September 12 could be the right finale for the 2026 Saab season
There are larger Saab meetings. There are events with rarer cars, more formal judging or a stronger international program.
The attraction of September 12 is much simpler and more specific.
Bring a Saab to Stallbacka. Park it among other Saabs. Spend the morning looking through the exhibition. Then, at 1:00 PM, watch the Saab procession take over the former factory test track, or join it yourself.
Drivers wanting additional circuit time can purchase the track ticket and use the open sessions outside the reserved Saab and Volvo hours.
For owners who have spent the summer traveling between club meetings, festivals and local Saab gatherings, it is an appropriate place to finish the season. Not because Trollhättan needs another ceremonial tribute to Saab, but because the infrastructure Saab left behind is being used again for exactly what it was built to do: put cars onto a track.
Trollhättan Motorfestival and Saabfesten take place Saturday, September 12, 2026, at Leveransvägen 4 in Stallbacka, Trollhättan.
Official information and updates are available through Saabfesten.se, with participating clubs listed on Clubs and Groups and exhibitors on Company and Teamworks. The official ticket listing confirms the September 12 date, track driving arrangement and Saab procession period
