About Volvos

Even those who own a Volvo or drive one on a regular basis don't know how far-reaching the arms of the Volvo company are. Volvo is responsible for much more than a handful of cars seen on the street.

Function

Volvo Group and Volvo Cars are two separate entities that have developed from the original Volvo Group.
Both groups are still headquartered in Gothenburg, Sweden. The Volvo Group manufactures large commercial vehicles such as buses, construction vehicles and large trucks, as well as aerospace components and marine industrial power systems. Volvo Cars is a division of the Ford Motor Co., and manufactures the personal cars of the Volvo division.

History

Volvo was founded in Gothenburg, Sweden, in 1927. Originally, the company was a derivative of SKF, a company that manufactured ball bearings. The first car was built after only one year of preparation from SKF sales manager Assar Gabrielsson and SKF engineer Gustav Larson. The first car was the Volvo OV4, nicknamed Jakob.
Trucks and marine engines made their debut only a few years after the cars. The first Volvo bus was built in 1934; following in 1962 were aircraft engines.
In 1999, Volvo Group sold the car manufacturing division, Volvo Cars, to Ford.
Volvo took over sponsorship of the Whitbread Round the World Yacht Race in 2001, renaming the event the Volvo Ocean Race. Also in 2001, Volvo purchased Mack Trucks and Renault, making it the second-largest heavy truck manufacturer in the world.

Types

In addition to the Volvo name, there are a number of other brands that fall under the umbrella of the Volvo Group.
Mack Trucks, headquartered in Pennsylvania in the United States, became a part of Volvo in 2001. Mack continues to produce heavy-duty trucks that are sold across the world.
In the same year, Renault Trucks was also acquired by Volvo. With headquarters in France, Renault manufactures heavy trucks including buses, coaches and military vehicles.
Nissan Diesel is also a part of Volvo; Nissan Diesel is a Japanese company that manufactures heavy diesel engines for everything from commercial vehicles and buses to light trucks.
Prevost Car is a Canadian company that manufactures high-end touring buses. Prevost Car is a division of Nova Bus, which is also owned by Volvo.

Significance

Volvo is highly regarded in a number of categories.
On average, Volvos are kept approximately 19.5 years before being scrapped, making them the second longest-lasting car brand. Similarly, Volvos are also well-known for their high mileage; there is one 1966 Volvo P1800S that has documented mileage of more than 2.5 million miles.
Volvo has also made great strides toward creating and maintaining the image of being safety-conscious. Among the developments brought forth by Volvo includes laminated safety glass (glass that holds together when broken or shattered), the three-point seat belt (a seat belt that has both the hip and shoulder restraint belts), the padded dashboard and the rear-facing child seat, as well as crumple zones and safety cages. Not only standard on Volvo models, these advances have come to represent the standard on cars regardless of manufacturer.

Potential

Volvo is also involved with developing an environmentally friendly, electric car called the ReCharge. The ReCharge is not only an electric car whose power will be solely supplied by batteries, but there will be no transmission, a change that is expected to raise efficiency by up to 20 percent.
Concept versions of the ReCharge run up to 62 miles on a charge.
The ReCharge is already being lauded for its low carbon dioxide emissions, lower than any other hybrid being developed. Operating costs can be up to 80 percent less than a gasoline powered car, and the ReCharge will be able to be charged at any regular wall socket, with only three hours needed to fully charge the car.