No great Saab story on Long Island

Based on sales figures, relatively few Long Islanders will miss the Saab brand if it disappears, as now seems likely.

One of them will be 42-year-old Aaron Clow of Farmingville, who writes computer software training manuals and owns two Saab 9-5's. Clow, webmaster for the Saab Club of North America, views Saabs as offering European handling at a reasonable price. "I grew up with them," he said. "I like the driver-centric cockpit, and the seats have always been the best of any kind of car I drove."

There weren't enough fans of the Swedish car.

This year through October, Long Islanders purchased only 76 Saabs -- out of more than 154,000 new vehicles delivered here in that period, according to registrations data from the Michigan-based auto information provider R.L. Polk & Co. By comparison, 1,491 new Volvos were registered, products of Sweden's other automaker.

Saab Automobile filed for bankruptcy Monday, after previous owner and technology license holder General Motors rejected an attempt by a Chinese carmaker, Zhejiang Youngman Lotus Automobile Co., to gain control of the brand, which was purchased last year by Spyker Cars. GM was concerned its technology would end up in the hands of Chinese competitors.

Saab originally was an aeronautical engineering company, and a separate Saab defense and security company still exists. Headquartered in Trollhattan, Sweden, Saab made cars for 64 years but hasn't produced any since April.

Stuart Morrison, of North Shore Saab in Roslyn, said a cadre of loyal customers revere the marque for performance, safety and, yes, even its quirks -- things like ignition switches on the center console. Buyers were "very intelligent," he said, adding their "per-capita income was very high."

His is one of only three Saab dealerships on the Island. Said Morrison, "Hopefully, a knight in shining armor will ride through Trollhattan and save the company."