Björn Envall

Björn Envall , born in 1942, is an automobile designer and was head of the design department at Saab, until his retirement. He started his career at Saab as an apprentice, under Sixten Sason, in the 1960s, especially helping with the design of the Saab 99 and the ill-fated Saab Catherina sports car. In fact, after the failure of that design to be accepted by Saab, he designed (on paper only) a further and progressive two-seater, which was never built.

After a brief spell at Opel (two years), he took over Sason's work at Saab, in 1969. He held this position until 1992. Among his designs are the Saab EV-1, Saab 98, the Saab 99 Combi Coupé, the Saab 900 and the Saab 900 Convertible He also guided the co-operation project with Fiat, that led to the Saab 9000. He made the original drawings of the 'new generation' Saab 900, in 1988, before the involvement of General Motors in the company. Envall proved himself capable of producing excellent design work, with modest resources.