History of Volvo

In 1927, the Swedish automobile company Volvo was founded, starting as a division of the large bearing manufacturer SKF. In the same year, the first model of the Jakob OV4 brand was introduced, equipped with a two-cylinder power unit with a capacity of 28 horsepower. However, in 1935, the Volvo company gains full independence, and at the same time a new management.

In 1928, the first modification of the OV4 model was introduced, called the PV4. The car became noticeably longer, and also received a hard top, which was positively received by buyers. In the same year, the first Volvo Typ 1 truck was introduced, replacing light trucks based on the OV4 model in the model range. The first foreign representative office of the Swedish brand was also opened in the capital of Finland.

In addition to working on modifications to the OV4 model, Volvo engineers began to create a six-cylinder power unit, which was introduced in 1929 on the new PV651 model. In addition, the company’s management decided to pay maximum attention to the safety of passengers, albeit with the addition of front brake discs as an option.

However, in 1930, after the Volvo PV651 cars became the official car for taxis, sales soared tenfold, and profits, rationally, were directed to the creation of new models. In the same year, the second generation Volvo PV652 was introduced, which received more rounded body shapes, as well as a slight reduction in weight. In addition, the car was equipped with hydraulic brakes on all four wheels, and the management of Volvo, meanwhile, bought two factories – one of the old SKF factories and the production facilities of Pentawerken, a company specializing in the creation of power units. At the same time, due to high competition from the American concern General Motors, which produced cars under the Chevrolet brand in Sweden, but lower prices for Volvo cars allowed the company not only to get the first big profit, but and pay dividends to investors.

In 1932, an upgraded version of the Volvo PV652 was introduced, which received a new power unit with a capacity of 65 horsepower. However, in 1933, the model gave way to two cars of different classes at once PV653 and PV654. In addition, the cars received such an important design improvement as improved sound insulation. In 1934, Volvo introduced the first seven-seater taxi on the Swedish market, which became the most popular private transport vehicle, due to the fact that the car had the same price as the five-seater versions.

One of the most important factors in the further development of the Volvo company was the neutral position of Sweden during the Second World War. This allowed the Volvo brand to continue the modernization of its cars, reducing the annual turnover of models by only 10%, exactly the same number of cars from the total number were exported. However, the American strategy gradually began to go against the desire of the Volvo management to achieve maximum safety for their cars.

In 1946, a real crisis broke out for the Volvo brand, as the workers of other contractor companies responsible for the supply of raw materials for the creation of components, the management of the Swedish company faced a difficult problem. Initially, it was even planned to completely switch to lower quality items produced in the United States of America, but the US government froze the deal. As a result, in order to prevent a complete shutdown of the Volvo factories for an indefinite period, the company’s management decided to pay a salary increase to all the striking workers, which completely deprived the company of profits, but production did not stop.

Thanks to such drastic measures, production at the Swedish factories of the main competitor of Volvo, the General Motors concern, was stopped for 5 years. Meanwhile, the Swedish brand has become one of the largest automakers in Europe, setting a number of records, which were facilitated by the stable position of the country’s economy and the Swedish domestic market.

In the 1950s, Volvo continues to actively modernize its cars, gradually covering new market segments. Thus, the production of modifications of standard cars for the needs of firefighters, medical institutions, schools and even the country’s army was launched. The steady growth in profits leads the company to open its own division for the production of trucks, investing heavily in it, and also begins exporting its best vehicles to the United States market.

The 1970s became a new stage in the development of the Swedish company Volvo, when a design studio was opened at the automaker, where an aviation appearance was developed, which in fact was angular and did not much resemble airplanes. However, it was the square shapes that became the hallmark of the company. In 1971, Volvo’s products were completely transferred to the use of injection power units, the crown of which was the 164E model, equipped with a 175 horsepower engine. In 1972, an experimental Volvo model was introduced, which is a mobile model for testing technological developments. In the same year, such revolutionary solutions as ABS and EBD were presented. In addition, through subsidiaries, 33% of the shares of the Dutch truck manufacturer DAF passed under the control of Volvo.

In 1973, the global oil crisis began, and for the first time in its history, Volvo suffered losses at the end of the year, and hundreds of useless cars ended up in the warehouses of brand dealers. At the same time, in the United States of America, sales of Volvo cars were growing steadily, but from an economic point of view, this did not bring profit, due to the costly shipping of cars across the ocean. However, a solution was found quickly, and the company opened the first Volvo plant in Canada, and the main North American representative office of the Swedish concern was located in Toronto.

In 1974, a strategic cooperation was concluded between Volvo and the French automakers Renault and Peugeot. And in 1977, the Volvo 240 and 262 models were introduced – luxury coupes and sedans equipped with a new generation of power units with a capacity of 140 horsepower. However, the following year, a clear conflict within the company’s management began to be traced, which led to the separation into an independent division of Volvo Cars. However, this did not affect the quality of the products, which became a truly benchmark, which is confirmed not only by the number of prizes and awards, but also by international vehicle safety requirements developed on the basis of the standard characteristics of Volvo cars.

The next 20 years were a time of experimentation for the company. The products were in high and stable demand, so the engineers could give free rein to their imagination and work on creating new models that are radically different from the usual cars of the Swedish brand. This is how the Volvo CC coupe-cabriolet was introduced, and in collaboration with Renault Sport, the motorsport division of the French concern, several variants of streamlined bodies were developed that had increased aerodynamic efficiency. In 1990, an agreement was signed on joint work on trucks between Volvo and Renault, which was a very valuable achievement, since in just 2 years the European truck market was 30% composed of cars of these two brands.

In the 1990s, the company chose a new path for the development of its vehicles, presenting the entire current model range, built on all-wheel drive chassis. Buyers warmly accepted this decision, and journalists dubbed Volvo the Swedish BMW. By 2000, the company consistently occupies the highest places in all rankings of the best cars, but it was no longer the same company as before. The reason for this was the continuation of the conflict between the shareholders of Volvo, which led to a protracted dispute about the future fate of the automaker. So in 1999, by a majority vote, with dissatisfaction on the part of the Swedish government, a controlling stake in Volvo was sold to the American concern Ford.

Further cooperation between Renault and Volvo was in jeopardy, but American managers decided to donate 20% of the shares of Volvo’s truck production division free of charge. In addition, the Swedish company continues to produce new models, in turn, providing its technologies and patents for the use of Ford, which began to actively use them in the construction of premium cars.

After a strategic group of American specialists took over the helm of Volvo in 2003, the pace of production of the company’s cars began to gradually decline, and updating the current model range did not help either. In view of this, the Volvo company reached low profit margins, but the real horror began 5 years later. The global financial crisis led to the fact that new car sales worldwide fell by 30%, especially hitting brands specializing in the production of mid-range and premium cars. The decision of the Ford concern to save the Swedish company Volvo was a complete freeze on the development of new models of the company, and then a complete cessation of car production from mid-2009 to January 1, 2010. Thus, the American concern was able to gain time to find new owners of a loss-making enterprise.

In 2012, the company started production of the Volvo V40 model. This is a class C front-wheel drive hatchback that replaced the S40 sedan and V50 station wagon. The car is built on a modified global platform Ford C1, used to create various models of Volvo, Ford and Mazda. The production of the VolvoV40 CrossCountry has also begun. This car is an off-road version of the “C” class hatchback.

Since 2013, the Volvo V60 has been produced – a class D station wagon with front or all-wheel drive. One of the features of the model is the ability to choose one of the preset chassis settings – Touring, Dynamic, Four-C or Lower Sport, which was previously only available in the R-Design version.

In 2014, the company presented the Volvo XC90, an SUV of the K2 class. The Volvo XC90 is built on a scalable SPA platform that is easy to adapt to almost any size, drive type, and so on. There is also a hybrid version of the XC90, combining a 60-kilowatt electric motor (80 hp and 240 Nm) and a 2-liter turbocharged gasoline engine with supercharger and direct fuel injection. The total output of such an installation is almost 400 liters. With. and 640 Nm.

The new owners of the Swedish brand were the Geely company and the Chinese government. Under the agreement, the Chinese automaker can fully use all the technical developments of Volvo, and the Swedish company, in turn, remains independent. In addition, the release of the first models, developed with the participation of the Chinese automaker, was scheduled for 2015, which was to prepare buyers for a change in brand direction.

In 2015, the world premiere of the Volvo V60 Cross Country took place. This is an off-road universal car class “D”. Depending on the market, the Volvo V60 Cross Country can be equipped with a T5 4-cylinder petrol engine producing 245 hp. With.