Volvo - History

History

The Volvo Group has its origin in 1927 when the first Volvo car rolled off the production line at the factory in Gothenburg. Only 280 cars were built that year. The first truck, the "Series 1", debuted in January 1928, as an immediate success and attracted attention outside the country. In 1930, Volvo sold 639 cars, and the export of trucks to Europe started soon after; the cars did not become well-known outside Sweden until after World War II.

Marine engines have been part of the Group almost as long as trucks. Pentaverken, founded in 1907, was acquired in 1935. As early as 1929, however, the U-21 outboard engine was introduced. Manufacturing continued until 1962.

The first bus, named B1, was launched in 1934, and aircraft engines were added to the growing range of products at the beginning of the 1940s. In 1963, Volvo opened the Volvo Halifax Assembly plant, the first assembly plant in the company's history outside of Sweden in Halifax, Canada.

On 28 January 1999, Volvo Group sold its business area Volvo Car Corporation to the Ford Motor Company for US$6.45 billion, with the resulting group largely set on commercial vehicles. A decade later, in 2010, Ford sold Volvo Cars to China's Zhejiang Geely Holding Group.

On 2 January 2001, Renault Véhicules Industriels (which included Mack Trucks, but not Renault's stake in Irisbus) was sold to Volvo, which renamed it Renault Trucks in 2002. As a result, former mother company Renault is AB Volvo's biggest shareholder with a 20% stake (in shares and voting rights).

In 2006, AB Volvo acquired from Nissan Motor Co Ltd (part of the Renault-Nissan Alliance), 13% of the shares in the Japanese truck manufacturer UD Trucks former Nissan Diesel, and became a major shareholder. In 2007, the Volvo Group took complete ownership of Nissan Diesel to extend its presence in the Asian Pacific market.

In the last ten years, the company has undergone rapid growth in the service area with, for example, financial solutions supporting the sales of the manufacturing business units.