This article is about the Volvo Group (AB Volvo). For the separate manufacturer of passenger automobiles, seeVolvo Cars. For other uses, seeVolvo (disambiguation).
TheVolvo Group (Swedish:Volvokoncernen; legallyAktiebolaget Volvo, shortened toAB Volvo, stylized asVOLVO) is a Swedish multinational manufacturing corporation headquartered inGothenburg. While its core activity is the production, distribution and sale of trucks, buses and construction equipment, Volvo also supplies marine and industrial drive systems and financial services. In 2016, it was the world's second-largest manufacturer of heavy-duty trucks with its subsidiaryVolvo Trucks.[5]
Volvo was founded in 1927. Initially involved in the automobile industry, Volvo expanded into other manufacturing sectors throughout the twentieth century. Automobile manufacturerVolvo Cars, also based in Gothenburg, was part of AB Volvo until 1999, when it was sold to theFord Motor Company. Since 2010 Volvo Cars has been owned by the automotive companyGeely Holding Group. Both AB Volvo and Volvo Cars share the Volvo logo and cooperate in running theVolvo Museum in Gothenburg, Sweden.[6]
The corporation was first listed on theStockholm Stock Exchange in 1935, and was on theNASDAQ indices from 1985 to 2007.[7] Volvo is one of Sweden's largest companies by market capitalisation and revenue.[8]
The first Volvo car, aVolvo ÖV 4, left the assembly line on 14 April 1927.
The brand nameVolvo was originally registered as a trademark in May 1911, with the intention to be used for a new series ofSKFball bearings. It means "I roll" inLatin, conjugated from "volvere". The idea was short-lived, and SKF decided to simply use its initials as the trademark for all its bearing products.[9]
In 1924,Assar Gabrielsson, an SKF sales manager, andGustav Larson, aKTH educated engineer, decided to start construction of a Swedish car. They intended to build cars that could withstand the rigours of the country's rough roads and cold temperatures.[10]
AB Volvo began activities on 10 August 1926. After one year of preparations involving the production of ten prototypes, the firm was ready to commence the car-manufacturing business within the SKF group. The Volvo Group itself considers it started in 1927, when the first car, aVolvo ÖV 4, rolled off the production line at the factory inHisingen, Gothenburg.[11] Only 280 cars were built that year.[12] The first truck, the "Series 1", debuted in January 1928, as an immediate success and attracted attention outside the country.[9] In 1930, Volvo sold 639 cars,[12] and the export of trucks to Europe started soon after; the cars did not become well known outside Sweden until afterWorld War II.[12] AB Volvo was introduced at theStockholm Stock Exchange in 1935 and SKF then decided to sell its shares in the company. By 1942, Volvo acquired the Swedish precision engineering companySvenska Flygmotor (later renamed as Volvo Aero).[9]
Pentaverken, which had manufactured engines for Volvo, was acquired in 1935, providing a secure supply of engines and entry into the marine engine market.[13]
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. Volvo was also responsible for producing theStridsvagn m/42. In 1963, Volvo opened theVolvo Halifax Assembly plant, the first assembly plant in the company's history outside of Sweden inHalifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
In the 1970s, Volvo started to move away from car manufacturing to concentrate more on heavy commercial vehicles. The car division focused on models aimed at upper middle-class customers to improve its profitability.[17]
In 1977, Volvo tried to combine operations with rival Swedish automotive groupSaab-Scania, but the latter company rejected it.[9]
Between 1978[9] and 1981, Volvo acquiredBeijerinvest, a trading company involved in the oil, food, and finance businesses. In 1981, those sectors represented about three quarters of Volvo's revenue, while the automotive sector amounted for most of the rest. In 1982, the company completed the acquisition ofWhite Motor Corporation's assets.[17]
In the early 1970s, French manufacturerRenault and Volvo started to collaborate.[18] In 1978,Volvo Car Corporation was spun off as a separate company within the Volvo group[19] and Renault acquired a minority stake,[9] before selling it back in the 1980s after a restructuring.[18] In the 1990s, Renault and Volvo deepened their collaboration and both companies partnered in purchasing, research and development and quality control while increasing their cross-ownership. Renault would assist Volvo with entry-level and medium segment vehicles and in return, Volvo would share technology with Renault in upper segments. In 1993, a 1994 Volvo-Renault merger deal was announced. The deal was barely accepted in France, but it was opposed in Sweden, and the Volvo shareholders and company board voted against it.[9][18] The alliance was officially dissolved in February 1994 and Volvo sold off its minority Renault stake in 1997.[9] In the 1990s, Volvo also divested from most of its activities outside vehicles and engines.[9]
In January 1999, Volvo Group sold Volvo Car Corporation to Ford Motor Company for $6.45 billion. The division was placed within Ford'sPremier Automotive Group alongsideJaguar,Land Rover andAston Martin. Volvo engineering resources and components would be used in various Ford, Land Rover and Aston Martin products, with the second generationLand Rover Freelander designed on the same platform as the second generation Volvo S80. The Volvo T5 petrol engine was used in theFord Focus ST and RS performance models, and Volvo's satellite navigation system was used on certain Aston Martin Vanquish, DB9 and V8 Vantage models.[22][23][24] In November 1999, Volvo Group purchased a 5% stake in Mitsubishi Motors, as part of a partnership deal for the truck and bus business.[25] In 2001, afterDaimlerChrysler bought a large Mitsubishi Motors stake,[26] Volvo sold its shares to the former.[27]
Renault Véhicules Industriels (which includedMack Trucks, but not Renault's stake inIrisbus) was sold to Volvo during January 2001, and Volvo renamed it Renault Trucks in 2002. Renault became AB Volvo's biggest shareholder, with a 19.9% stake (in shares and voting rights) as part of the deal.[28] Renault increased its shareholding to 21.7% by 2010.[29]
AB Volvo acquired 13% of the shares in the Japanese truck manufacturerNissan Diesel (later renamed UD Trucks) fromNissan (part of theRenault-Nissan Alliance) during 2006, becoming a major shareholder. Volvo Group took complete ownership of Nissan Diesel in 2007 to extend its presence in the Asian Pacific market.[10][30]
Renault sold 14.9% of their stake in AB Volvo in October 2010 (comprising 14.9% of the share capital and 3.8% of the voting rights) for €3.02 billion. This share sale left Renault with around 17.5% of Volvo's voting rights.[29] Renault sold their remaining shares in December 2012 (comprising 6.5% of the share capital and 17.2% of the voting rights at the time of transaction) for €1.6 billion, leaving Swedish industrial investment groupAktiebolaget Industrivärden [sv] as the largest shareholder, with 6.2% of the share capital and 18.7% of the voting rights.[31][32] That same year, Volvo sold Volvo Aero to the British companyGKN.[33] In 2017 Volvo Cars ownerGeely became the largest Volvo shareholder by number of shares after acquiring an 8.2% stake, displacing Industrivärden. Industrivärden kept more voting rights than Geely (Geely getting a 15.8%).[34]
In December 2013, Volvo sold itsVolvo Construction Equipment Rents division toPlatinum Equity.[35] In November 2016, Volvo announced its intention of divesting its Government Sales division, made up mainly of Renault Trucks' Renault Trucks Defense but also ofPanhard,ACMAT,Mack Defense in the United States, and Volvo Defense.[36] The project for selling the division was later abandoned and, in May 2018, Volvo reorganized Renault Trucks Defense and renamed it Arquus.[37]
In December 2018, Volvo announced it intended to sell a 75.1% controlling stake of its cartelematics subsidiary WirelessCar toVolkswagen with the aim of focusing on telematics for commercial vehicles.[38] The sale was completed in March 2019.[39]
In December 2019, Volvo andIsuzu announced their intention of forming astrategic alliance on commercial vehicles. As part of the agreement, Volvo would sell UD Trucks to Isuzu.[40] The "final agreements" for the alliance were signed in October 2020, with UD Trucks sale pending on regulatory clearances.[41] The sale was completed in April 2021.[42]
In the early 2020s, Volvo partnered with other manufacturers to deploy infrastructure for non-hydrocarbon energies. In April 2020, Volvo andDaimler (laterDaimler Truck) announced that the former planned to acquire half of Daimler'sfuel cell business, forming a joint venture between the two companies.[43] In March 2021, the fuel cell business was reorganised as a joint venture called Cellcentric.[44] In December 2021, Volvo, Daimler Truck, andTraton agreed to the formation of an equally owned joint venture aimed to build anelectric vehicle charging network for heavy vehicles in Europe.[45] In December 2022, the joint venture (called Commercial Vehicle Charging Europe) began operations under thetrade name Milence.[46]
In April 2021, Volvo announced that it had signed up a new partnership with steel manufacturerSSAB to develop fossil fuel-free steel for future use in Volvo's vehicles.[47] The partnership is derived from SSAB's own green steel venture, HYBRIT.[48]
In November 2023, Volvo acquiredProterra's battery business for US$210 million.[49]
Volvo has announced that it is developingtrucks with combustion engines that run on hydrogen. Commercial tests will begin in early 2026.[50]
Volvo Trucks (midsize-duty trucks for regional transportation and heavy-duty trucks for long-distance transportation, as well as heavy-duty trucks for the construction work segment)
Mack Trucks (light-duty trucks for close distribution and heavy-duty trucks for long-distance transportation)
Renault Trucks (heavy-duty trucks for regional transportations and heavy-duty trucks for the construction work segment)
VE Commercial Vehicles Limited Ltd., India (VECV), a joint venture between Volvo Group andEicher Motors Limited in which Volvo holds 45.6% (trucks and buses)
Volvo Buses (complete buses and bus chassis for city traffic, line traffic and tourist traffic)
Volvo Financial Services (customer financing, inter-group banking, as real estate administration)
Volvo Penta (marine engine systems for leisure boats and commercial shipping, diesel engines and drive systems for industrial applications)
Volvo Energy (management and support for electric vehicles, batteries and electrification networks)[52]
According to the company, in 2021 almost two thirds (62%) of its revenue came from trucks and services related to them. Second came construction equipment (25%), and the rest was from buses, marine engines, and minor operations, each of them below 5%.[53]
Volvo powertrain facilities inSkövde, pictured in 2010
Volvo has various production facilities. As of 2022[update], it has plants in 19 countries, with 10 other countries having independent assemblers of Volvo products. The company also has product development, distribution, and logistics centers.[54] Its first plant for vehicle assembly, on the Hisingen island, was owned by SKF until it was made part of the Volvo company in 1930.[9] That year, Volvo acquired its supplier of engines inSkövde (Pentavarken).[55] In 1942, Volvo acquired its supplier of transmissions, Köpings Mekaniska Verkstad,[56] located in the town ofKöping. In 1954, Volvo built a new truck assembly plant in Gothenburg and, in 1959–[9] 1964,[57] a car assembly plant inTorslanda.[9] The first truly branched away plant of Volvo was theFloby gearbox plant (100 kilometers to the northeast of Gothenburg), incorporated in 1958. In the 1960s and early 1970s, Volvo and its assemblypartners opened plants in Canada, Belgium, Malaysia,[55] and Australia.[58] In the early part of that period Volvo also started to venture into vehicles other than passenger cars and road-going commercial vehicles by acquiring theEskilstuna plant (Bolinder-Munktell).[55] From the 1970s onwards, Volvo set up various facilities (Bengtsfors,Lindesberg,Vara,Tanumshede,Färgelanda,[55]Borås[59]), most of them within a 150 kilometer radius of Gothenburg,[55] and gradually acquired the DutchDAF car plants.[9] It also established its first South American plant inCuritiba, Brazil.[60]
From the mid-1970s onwards, Volvo began building assembly plants with smaller assembly lines, more worker-centric and with better use of automation, leavingFordism. These wereKalmar (car assembly, built in 1974),[57]Tuve (truck assembly, 1982)[57][61] andUddevalla (car assembly, 1989). Kalmar and Uddevalla were closed down in the early 1990s, following yearly losses.[57] The Tuve plant (called the LB plant) replaced the Gothenburg plant (X plant) for truck assembly through the 1980s, as the former could produce more technologically complex models.[61] In 1982, Volvo gained its first plant in the United States, the New River Valley plant inDublin, Virginia, after acquiring the assets of the White Motor Corporation.[17] Starting in the late 1980s, Volvo expanded its limited bus production capabilities through acquisitions in various countries (Swedish Saffle Karroseri, Danish Aabenraa, German Drögmöller Karroserien, Canadian Prévost Car, Finnish Carrus, American Nova Bus, Mexican Mexicana de Autobuses). In the late 1990s, after a short-lived joint venture with Polish manufacturerJelcz, Volvo built its main bus production hub for Europe inWrocław.[60] In the 1990s, Volvo also increased its construction equipment assets by acquiring the Swedish company Åkerman and the construction equipment division ofSamsung Heavy Industries.[62] In 1998, the company opened an assembly facility for its three main heavy product lines (trucks, construction equipment, and buses) nearBengaluru, India.[60]
Volvo sold all its car manufacturing assets in 1999.[60]
Following the acquisition of Renault Véhicules Industriels[60] and Nissan Diesel[63] in the 2000s, Volvo gained various production facilities in Europe, North America, and Asia.[60][63]
In 2014, Volvo's Volvo Construction Equipment acquired thehaul truck manufacturing division ofTerex Corporation, which included five truck models and a manufacturing facility inMotherwell, Scotland.[64][65][66]
Volvo Trademark Holding AB is equally owned by AB Volvo and Volvo Car Corporation.[88]
The main activity of the company is to own, maintain, protect and preserve the Volvo trademarks, includingVolvo, the Volvo branding symbols (grille slash and iron mark),Volvo Penta, on behalf of its owners and to license these rights to its owners. The day-to-day work is focused upon maintaining the global portfolio of trademark registrations, and to extend sufficiently the scope of the registered protection for the Volvo trademarks.
The main business is also to act against unauthorised registration and use (includingcounterfeiting) of trademarks identical or similar to the Volvo trademarks on a global basis.[89]
In November 2013, Volvo Trucks enlistedJean-Claude Van Damme to perform a split between two moving trucks in reverse. The goal of this campaign, titled "Epic Split," was to demonstrate the stability and precision of their "Dynamic Steering" model.[91] In just three weeks, the video went viral, garnering over 61 million views onYouTube.[92]
Two years after the "Epic Split", Volvo Trucks aimed to demonstrate the durability of one of their trucks by handing over the controls to a four-year-old girl named Sophie. Conceptualized by the Swedish agency Forsman and Bodenfors, the widely shared video clip features Sophie using a remote control to navigate the truck through various obstacles, showcasing the vehicle's robustness and precision.[93]
^It includes financial information attributable to both AB Volvo proper and its consolidated and non-consolidated affiliates (such as subsidiaries and joint ventures), collectively known as the Volvo Group.
^Simister, John (November 2006)."Volvo C30 T5 SE".Evo. Archived fromthe original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved29 November 2013.The T5 petrol engine is almost the same as the one borrowed from Volvo by Ford for the Focus ST...
^"ASTON'S CLEARER ADVANTAGE".The Scotsman. 29 November 2013.Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved29 November 2013.The optional satellite navigation remains a Volvo-sourced system that is absurdly fiddly.
^Simister, John (December 2006)."Land Rover Freelander".Evo. Archived fromthe original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved29 November 2013.But it's good news for the new 'Freelander 2', based on the S-Max/S80/next-Mondeo platform, powered in the top model by a 229bhp Volvo straight-six
^abcdeLaw, Christopher M. (July 2017). "Restructuring the Swedish manufacturing industry the case of the motor vehicle industry".Restructuring the Global Automobile Industry. Routledge Library Editions: The Automobile Industry. Vol. 4. Taylor & Francis. pp. 207–208.ISBN978-0-415-04712-8.
^"Vår historia".www.volvogroup.com (in Swedish). Retrieved22 October 2024.
^abcdSandberg, Åke, ed. (2007).Enriching Production: Perspectives on Volvo's Uddevalla plant as an alternative to lean production. Avebury. pp. VIII–IX,1–8.ISBN978-1-85972-106-3.
^abcdefgIvarsson, Inge; Alvstam, Claes G. (2007). "Global production and trade systems: the Volvo case". In Pellenbarg, Piet; Wever, Egbert (eds.).International Business Geography: Case Studies of Corporate Firms. Routledge. pp. 63–74.ISBN978-0-203-93920-8.
^abBerggren, Christian (2019).Alternatives to Lean Production: Work Organization in the Swedish Auto Industry. Cornell University Press. p. 129.ISBN978-0-87546-317-9.
