Volvo

Volvo was founded in 1926 as a subsidiary to SKF, the bearing factory of Gothenburg. The first car, an  ÖV4, an open car with a four-cylinder engine rolled out of the factory gates in 1927. Along with PV4, the saloon version it was produced until 1929. During the 30s, Volvo continued to manufacture cars such as the PV36 and PV650, however not very successfully and Volvo focused on making lorries.

The small PV444 (four seats, four cylinders, and 40 bhp) was introduced in the mid 40s, was a sales success, and was going to be produced until 1966, albeit from 1958 as the updated PV544. During the 50's and 60's, Volvo focused on growing on the export markets, especially in North America where Volvo now has its own niche and a devoted clientele. Volvo 121/Amazon was introduced in 1957, seen as one of the most beautiful of Volvos with its elegant italian ispired design by Jan Wilsgaard.

Volvo grew a reputation during these decades for making well built, trustworthy estate cars, with models like the Duett, (PV445 and P210), Amazon estate, 145 up to today's V70 .

In 1999 Volvo AB sold its car division to Ford, where it was a part of Ford's Premier Automotive Group, PAG along with Jaguar, Land Rover, Lincoln and Aston Martin. After the finance crisis in 2008 Ford was in desperate need of capital and sold Volvo to Chinese car manufacturer Geely in 2010. Volvo is the most sold car in its home country Sweden, and produced more than 500 000 cars in 2015, a new record for the manufacturer.