Volvo - Safety on Wheels

The Swedish company Volvo was founded in 1926. Like most current automotive companies, it began as something else. The original purpose of Volvo was to produce commercial trucks and other vehicles, aerospace components, buses and construction equipment, among other things.

The word "Volvo" in Latin means "I roll". The company was first named to produce ball bearings, but later became a heavy equipment manufacturer before finally appearing in its final reincarnation as a car maker.

Reputation

The Volvo reputation is one of sturdiness and safety-oriented. Although several of their cars have been fairly high-end and good-looking, it always comes back to durability and how the vehicle will hold up under duress or in an accident.

Business Areas

Volvo has split up to follow its varied business interests and now forms six separate entities. Among them, Volvo Buses, Volvo Construction Equipment, Volvo Trucks, Volvo Financial Services, and Volvo Penta.

The name Volvo is now used for two different companies, Volvo Cars, which is owned by the Ford Motor Company, and simply Volvo, which manufactures commercial vehicles and is owned entirely by Swedish shareholders.

Models

The earliest Volvo car was the OV4, or open wagon with four cylinders. Between 1927 and 1929, only 996 of these cars were made. They are now quite the collector's item. The PV651 replaced the original car in 1929, but true success in the automotive field was elusive until the introduction of the PV444 in 1944.

Other early models included the Volvo Laplander, the PV series, Volvo Duett, and Volvo Amazon among a myriad of other cars. No one can accuse the company of not being prolific!

After 1968, Volvo used numbers only to identify its cars, beginning with the 140. All models received three numbers, the first standing for the series; the second was the number of cylinders and the last number were how many doors the car had. For example, a four cylinder, 2-door coupe would have been 142, while a five-door hatchback from the same series would have been 145. Obviously, there were exceptions to the rule, but in general, the system worked just fine.

Nowadays, the system has changed once again. Volvo currently uses a letter to describe the body style, with the series number right after it. The current body styles are as follows:

C is for coupe or convertible

V means estate car

XC is for cross-country, used with the V70 (V70XC, but later became XC70)

Location

Manufacturing plants for the Volvo have been set up around the world. Sweden, Thailand, Malaysia, and China are all current production locations. They are appealing to car producers because they tend to provide cheap labor. In the past, Volvo vehicles have been made in South Africa, the Netherlands, and Canada.

Safety

Volvos are famous for their safety features. Considered to be one of the most secure cars for beginner drivers, the Volvo has always been on the cutting edge of safety technology.

Early on, Volvo Cars developed the prototype of the first rear-facing baby seat which later became standard for small children. They also were among the first to include laminated windshields, three-point seat belts and a collapsible steering wheel among various other advances, all before 1980!

By the 90´s, Volvo was on a roll. The auto company was incorporating a driver's airbag and children's booster seat into their vehicles. Anti-lock brakes and bumpers that absorbed part of the shock in case of impact were also included as safety enhancements.

In 1970, the Volvo Accident Research Team was formed to develop safer technologies and to investigate potential problems in the vehicles. This team helped develop side airbags, roll stability control and dual-stage airbags among other features. They were also the first to create and use a pregnant crash test dummy.

The result of all this investigation was a car that had a world-wide reputation for being extremely safe, and other auto makers were quick to implement the same or similar safety technology into their models.

Success

Volvo Cars was bought out by the Ford Motor Company in 1999. Since then, its growth has gone through the roof. With over 81,000 employees in 25 different countries, the company has expanded rapidly, seeing over $30 billion in sales in 1994.