AB Volvo

In 1915 the well-known Swedish ball bearing maker AB SKF registered the trademark Volvo (Latin for "I roll"), intended for a new brand of ball bearings. That plan came to nothing, but in the following decade the name came into use in the car industry. The first car bearing the Volvo name was completed in 1924, created by Assar Gabrielsson and Gustaf Larson. In 1926 AB Volvo, wholly owned by SKF, was formed under Gabrielsson and Larson. Series production began in 1927 with the ÖV4 and PV4 cars.

The following year, 1928, the first truck bearing the Volvo name was built – the LV40 with a 1½-tonne payload. It was followed by the LV60 (2 t) and the first chassis for a bus body.

In the following years Volvo expanded vigorously, buying the engine maker Pentaverken, the gearbox maker Köpings Mekaniska Verkstads AB and the body plant Gösta Nyström's Karosserifabrik.

Until the 1950s Volvo was a small manufacturer by European standards; its breakthrough in the car market came with the PV444 and PV544, built from 1947 to 1965. At the end of the 1950s the P120 series (nicknamed "Amazon") was added to the range.

In 1964 a new main plant opened at Torslanda, and a year later the first plant outside Sweden – a car assembly plant in Ghent, Belgium.

In 1966 the 140 series went into production; modernised and renamed the 200 series, it was still being built in 1993!

In 1969 truck production was separated into an independent company, the Volvo Trucks Division. In 1975 the car division of the Dutch carmaker DAF was acquired, together with its 66 and 77 models (the latter later went into production as the Volvo 300 series). The 850, presented in 1991, and the large mid-size 700 and 900 series were very successful in the market.

In 1999 Ford acquired Volvo's car division; currently the C30, S40, V50, S60, V70, C70, S80, XC70 and XC90 are built. Production of trucks, buses, construction equipment and engines still belongs to the Swedes. In 2001 the French truck maker Renault VI was acquired, together with a controlling stake in the US truck maker Mack Trucks. In 2006 Volvo also acquired the Japanese truck and engine maker Nissan Diesel.