The company was created as a subsidiary to SKF. Assar Gabrielsson was appointed managing director and Gustav Larson technical manager.
The trademark Volvo (which is Latin for ‘I roll’) was first registered by SKF on 11 May 1915 with the intention to use it for a special series of ball bearing for the American market but it was never used for this purpose (however in the application for the trademark, it was also designated for the purpose of automobiles). The SKF trademark as it looks today was used instead for all SKF products. Some pre-series of Volvo-bearings stamped with the brand name ‘Volvo’ were manufactured but never released to the market, and it was not until 1927 that the trademark was used again, now as a trademark and company name for an automobile.
The first Volvo car left the assembly line on 14 April 1927, and was called the Volvo ÖV 4. After this the young company produced closed top and cabriolet vehicles, which were designed to hold strong in the Swedish climate and terrain. In the registration application for the Volvo logotype in 1927, it simply made a copy of the entire radiator for the ÖV 4, viewed from the front. The round logo with the arrow pointing to the right (♂) is the Greek alchemical symbol for iron.
Presented in 1944, the Volvo PV444 passenger car only entered production in 1947. It was the smallest Volvo yet, but became Volvo’s most produced car, and spearheaded Volvo’s move into the profitable American market. The first Volvos arrived in the United States in 1955, after the hardware wholesaler Leo Hirsh began distributing cars in California. Later, Texas was added, and in 1956, Volvo themselves began importing cars to the US. North America has consistently provided Volvo with its main outlet since.[11]
In 1963, Volvo opened the Volvo Halifax Assembly plant, the first assembly plant in the company’s history outside of Sweden, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.[12] In 1964, Volvo opened its Torslanda plant in Sweden, which currently is one of its largest production sites (chiefly large cars and SUVs).[13] Then in 1965, the Ghent, Belgium plant was opened, which is the company’s second largest production site.[14] This was also Volvo’s first location producing cars within the European Economic Community.[12] In 1989, the Uddevalla plant in Sweden was opened, which was jointly operated by Volvo Car Group and Pininfarina Sverige AB from 2005 to 2013.[15]
In the early 1970s, Volvo acquired the passenger car division of the Dutch company DAF, and marketed its small cars as Volvos before releasing the Dutch-built Volvo 340, which went on to be a big seller in the UK market in the 1980s. In 1986 Volvo sold 113,267 cars in the US marking a record year for the company. The appearance of Japanese brands like Acura and Lexus and the growing popularity of Subaru station wagons in subsequent years meant the loss of a significant market share for Volvo, one which it has never regained.[11]
Volvo’s long-time CEO Pehr G. Gyllenhammar saw early on that Volvo was too small to survive in the future, and attempted several times to merge with other manufacturers. Volvo nearly merged with Saab in the late seventies, while in 1978 an aborted affair would have seen the Norwegian state take over 40 percent of the company. In return, Volvo would receive 200 million SEK and a ten percent concession in the Oseberg oil field. Major institutional actors in Sweden opposed the deal and blocked it.[16] A deal to merge with Renault was blocked in 1993, mainly opposed by a Swedish stockholders’ association.[17]
A collection of Volvo’s most important historical vehicles are now housed in the Volvo Museum, which opened in a permanent location in Arendal at Hisingen on 30 May 1995.[18] For several years, the collection had been housed at the Blue Hangar, at the then closed Torslanda Airport.[18]
In 1999, Volvo Group decided to sell its automobile manufacturing business in order to concentrate on commercial vehicles, and to buy a 5% stake in Japanese automaker Mitsubishi Motors (with which Volvo Group along with the Dutch government had participated in a joint venture at the former DAF plant in Born, Netherlands since 1991). Ford saw advantages in acquiring a profitable prestige mid-size European automobile manufacturer, well renowned for its safety aspects, as an addition to its Premier Automotive Group. The buyout of Volvo Cars was announced on 28 January 1999,[19] and in the following year the acquisition was completed at a price of US$6.45 billion. As a result of the divestiture, the Volvo trademark was used by two separate companies:
- Volvo Group – a manufacturer of trucks, buses and construction equipment (among others) owned by Swedish interests
- Volvo Car Group or Volvo Cars – a manufacturer of automobiles owned by Ford Motor Company
Volvo Group completed its 5% deal with Mitsubishi in November 1999, but sold its stake back to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in March 2001.[20][21]