AUTOMOBILE
MAR 29, 2022
Volvo Tradition : The History Of The Safest Car In The World
When we talk Sweden we also talk about Volvo, an automobile company with long tradition as the safest car producer in the world.
The Volvo Group (Swedish: Volvo Koncernen; officially Aktiebolaget Volvo, shortened to AB Volvo) is a multinational manufacturing company headquartered in Gothenburg, Sweden.
Volvo was founded in 1915 as a subsidiary of SKF, a bearing manufacturer company. However, the Volvo Group and Volvo Cars consider the launch of their first car series, the Volvo V4, as their start.
The name Volvo was originally intended to be used to refer to one of SKF’s bearing products. The name comes from the Latin volvere which means “I spin” or “I roll”
The first Volvo car dubbed the “Jakob” was born when SKF sales manager Assar Gabrielsson and SKF engineer Gustav Larson agreed to build an original Swedish car in 1924.
Gabrielsson and Larson then started manufacturing the car in 1926. A year later, after making ten prototypes, the two felt ready to start car production.
On April 14, 1927, the first Volvo car drove past the factory gates in Gothenburg on Sweden’s west coast. The car was officially called the V4 and it was an open tour with a four cylinder engine.
The first Volvo truck was made in January 1928. This series attracted the attention of many people so it was sold outside Sweden. This year also Volvo sold 639 cars, with a model like the Jakob, but the cabin is closed. In 1934, Volvo built its first bus and the company began manufacturing a variety of engines, including aircraft and ship engines.
In 1935, AB Volvo was listed on the Swedish Stock Exchange because SKF sold almost all of its shares in the company.
On September 1, 1944, the car that would make Volvo an international car company was unveiled in Stockholm. “Little Volvo”, as it was called. The name was held in Sweden as a promise of postwar prosperity and within two weeks 2,300 people had ordered the PV 444.
In August 1955, the first Volvo PV 444 was unloaded at a port in Long Beach, California. Many viewers were skeptical of the design and model, but two years later Volvo Cars had become the second largest imported brand in California and in 1974 in the United States, and became the largest market at that time.
In 1978, Volvo Car Corporation was separated into a separate company within the Volvo Group and Renault acquired a minority stake in Volvo Cars.
The Volvo 200 series or often referred to as series 2 was the best selling serie of the Swedish company. It was produced in a fairly long time span, namely 1973 to 1993. According to historical records, the Volvo Series 2 has sold 2.8 million units worldwide. Its existence as an expensive car, is predicted to be the backbone that is able to raise Volvo for several decades.
It is said that this has made the 7 series neglected because of it. This famous vehicle was designed by Jan Wilsgaard, whose figure was included in the ranks of the 20th century car designer nominations.
In the year 2002, Volvo issued its first SUV model with the name Volvo XC90 and became an instant success all over the world. It redefined the large SUV segment and became Sweden’s most important export product in years.
Due to economic conditions and competition in the market, the Volvo Group sold its car manufacturing division, Volvo Car Corporation, to Ford Motor Company for 6.45 billion US dollars in January 1999. From this merger, many Volvo components and engines were later used in Ford cars, Land Rover and Aston Martin.
According to Wikipedia, in November 1999, the Volvo Group purchased a 5% stake in Mitsubishi Motors, as part of a partnership agreement for the truck and bus business. In 2001, after DaimlerChrysler purchased a large share of Mitsubishi Motors, Volvo also sold its stake to DaimlerChrysler.
In 2010 Ford sold Volvo Car Corporation to Geely Automobile of China, having previously sold off Jaguar Land Rover and Aston Martin.
In 2018, the Volvo XC60 is the safest car according to nypost.com report. This SUV scored a full five stars on the EURO NCAP ratings from the latest crash tests. and nearly hit 100 percent in two categories.
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