How Volvo Shaped the Automotive Industry
The history of Volvo in the automotive industry is rich with innovation, evolution, and motorsports. From its first model to modern-day achievements, the automaker has always been at the forefront of the car-making world. This innovation has provided the groundwork for modern features, technology, and design aesthetics. Volvo has pushed the envelope, forcing the competition to follow suit, and as a result, has left a mark on the automotive world.
By identifying needs and predicting trends, Volvo has always stayed ahead, inviting other manufacturers to try and keep up. The result: a company built on hunting down success and invention. This automaker has never just made cars that are more advanced, it's also built machines that are crafted around the driving experience. With its fair share of roots in the motorsport world, Volvo understands what it takes to make a vehicle perform well, under any conditions.
Every Great Super Hero Has an Origin Story
Formed in 1927 by Assar Gabrielsson and Gustaf Larson (pictured above), Volvo is one of the most interesting manufacturers on the road. The very first Volvo, called ÖV4 (pictured below) and nicknamed ‘Jakob’, was an open tourer built on an ash and beech frame and rolled out of the factory in 1927. The brand’s original tenets were strength and safety, two ideals they have continued to define all these decades later.
The brand has gone through several ownership changes with the Ford Motor Company manning the help from 1999 to 2010, and China-based Zhejiang Geely Holding Group purchased the company from Ford and is the owner to this day. Interestingly, Volvo cars and Volvo trucks aren’t actually part of the same company. In the late 1990s, the Volvo Group took over the manufacturing of commercial equipment including Volvo trucks, while Volvo Cars manufactures the passenger cars we see on the road.
One style of automobile that Volvo is nearly synonymous with is the station wagon. The brand’s first wagon, the Duett, was launched in 1953 and since then, Volvo has sold some nearly six million wagons across the world. That tradition carries on to this day with the stunning V60 and V90 models. Probably the most classic Volvo station wagon is the 245. This slab-sided icon was launched in 1974 and was produced until 1993, an absolute eternity in the car business.
Setting the Bar for Safety and Technology
Volvo is also known for its innovation when it comes to safety and technology. It was the first car company to introduce three-point seatbelts, which were developed by Nils Bohlin in 1959. The company also created the rearward-facing child car seat in 1972 (pictured below), an oxygen sensor called the Lambda Sond in 1976 that’s now used in nearly every automobile, side-impact airbags in 1994, and numerous other safety systems whose influence can be found in cars of every shape, size, and kind across the world.
Another thing that makes Volvo so interesting is while it has always been about strength and safety, it has been heavily involved in motorsport throughout the years and has been incredibly successful with a range of cars both on the track and on rally courses across the world.
Continuing in the mold of pushing the envelope forward and doing something different, Volvo announced last year that starting in 2019, all its future models will either be hybrids or fully electric. According to Volvo, their goal is to be the first premium car manufacturer to convert their entire vehicle portfolio into electrification and have a stated goal of putting one million electrified cars on the road. Bravo, Volvo. Bravo.
Volvo is still committed to changing the automotive industry, and it remains a leader in efficiency, performance, and luxury. Visit Volvo Cars Silver Spring at 3121 Automobile Blvd, Silver Spring, MD 20904 or contact our sales staff online today and let us show you how the rich history of Volvo has helped this brand generate some of the best vehicles on the market today.
Image Credit: Volvo