Volvo facts for kids
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| Aktiebolag | |
| Traded as | OMX: VOLV A, OMX: VOLV B |
| ISIN | ISIN: [https://isin.toolforge.org/?language=en&isin=SE0000115446 SE0000115446] |
| Industry | Automotive |
| Founded | 1927 |
| Founders | Assar Gabrielsson and Gustav Larson |
| Headquarters | Gothenburg, Sweden |
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Area served
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Worldwide |
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Key people
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| Products | Trucks, buses, construction equipment, marine and industrial engines, customer financing, insurance and related services, product related services |
| Brands |
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| Revenue |  552.764 billion kr (2023) |
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Operating income
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66.784 billion kr (2023) |
| 49.932 billion kr (2023) |
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| Total assets | 674.068 billion kr (2023) |
| Total equity | 180.739 billion kr (2023) |
| Owners |
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Number of employees
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104,000 (2023) |
| Subsidiaries |
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The Volvo Group (also known as AB Volvo) is a big Swedish company based in Gothenburg. It makes many different things, like trucks, buses, and construction equipment. They also make engines for boats and industrial machines, and offer financial services. In 2016, Volvo Trucks was the second-largest maker of heavy-duty trucks in the world.
Volvo started in 1927. At first, they made cars, but over time, they grew into other areas. The company that makes Volvo cars, Volvo Cars, used to be part of AB Volvo. But in 1999, it was sold to the Ford Motor Company. Since 2010, Geely Holding Group has owned Volvo Cars. Even though they are separate companies, AB Volvo and Volvo Cars still share the Volvo logo and work together on the Volvo Museum in Gothenburg.
Volvo's shares were first sold on the Stockholm Stock Exchange in 1935. It is one of Sweden's largest companies today.
Contents
Volvo's Story: How It All Began
Early Days and Global Growth
The name Volvo was first used in 1911 for a new type of ball bearings. The word "Volvo" means "I roll" in Latin. However, the idea for bearings didn't last, and the company making them decided to use its own initials instead.
In 1924, Assar Gabrielsson, a sales manager, and Gustav Larson, an engineer, decided to build a Swedish car. They wanted to make cars strong enough for Sweden's rough roads and cold weather.
AB Volvo officially started on August 10, 1926. After a year of making ten test cars, they were ready to start building cars. The Volvo Group considers its start to be 1927, when the first car, a Volvo ÖV 4, rolled off the factory line in Gothenburg. Only 280 cars were made that year.
The first truck, called the "Series 1," came out in January 1928. It was an instant hit and got attention from other countries. By 1930, Volvo had sold 639 cars. Soon after, they started exporting trucks to Europe. Volvo cars didn't become well known outside Sweden until after World War II.
In 1935, AB Volvo was listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange, and the original owners sold their shares. By 1942, Volvo bought a Swedish engineering company called Svenska Flygmotor, which later became Volvo Aero. In 1935, they also bought Pentaverken, which made engines for Volvo. This helped Volvo secure its engine supply and enter the marine engine market.
The first bus, named B1, was launched in 1934. Aircraft engines were added to their products in the early 1940s. Volvo also made the Stridsvagn m/42, a type of tank. In 1963, Volvo opened its first assembly plant outside Sweden in Halifax, Canada.
In 1950, Volvo bought Bolinder-Munktell, a Swedish company that made construction and agricultural equipment. This company was renamed Volvo BM in 1973. Later, the construction equipment part became Volvo Construction Equipment.
In the 1970s, Volvo started to focus more on large commercial vehicles instead of just cars.
Working with Other Companies
In 1977, Volvo tried to join with another Swedish car company, Saab-Scania, but Saab-Scania said no.
Between 1978 and 1981, Volvo bought Beijerinvest, a company involved in oil, food, and finance. By 1981, these areas made up about three-quarters of Volvo's income. In 1982, Volvo also bought parts of the White Motor Corporation.
In the early 1970s, French company Renault and Volvo started working together. In 1978, Volvo Car Corporation became a separate company within the Volvo group. Renault bought a small part of it, then sold it back later. In the 1990s, Renault and Volvo worked even more closely, sharing in buying parts, research, and quality control. They even planned to merge in 1993, but Volvo's shareholders in Sweden voted against it. The partnership ended in 1994.
In 1991, Volvo Group started a joint project with Japanese carmaker Mitsubishi Motors in the Netherlands. They made the Mitsubishi Carisma and the Volvo S40/V40 cars together. In the 1990s, Volvo also worked with the American company General Motors. In 1999, a planned merger with Scania AB was stopped by the European Union.
Focusing on Big Vehicles
In January 1999, Volvo Group sold Volvo Car Corporation to Ford Motor Company for $6.45 billion. Volvo's engineering and parts were then used in some Ford, Land Rover, and Aston Martin vehicles. In November 1999, Volvo Group bought a small part of Mitsubishi Motors to partner on trucks and buses. But in 2001, after another company bought a large part of Mitsubishi, Volvo sold its shares.
In January 2001, Volvo bought Renault Véhicules Industriels (which included Mack Trucks). Volvo renamed it Renault Trucks in 2002. Renault then became the biggest shareholder in AB Volvo.
AB Volvo bought 13% of the shares in the Japanese truck maker Nissan Diesel (later UD Trucks) in 2006. Volvo Group took full ownership of Nissan Diesel in 2007 to grow its business in Asia.
In 2012, Renault sold its remaining shares in AB Volvo. That same year, Volvo sold Volvo Aero to a British company. In 2017, Geely, the owner of Volvo Cars, became the largest shareholder in Volvo by number of shares.
In December 2013, Volvo sold its construction equipment rental division. In November 2016, Volvo planned to sell its Government Sales division, which made military vehicles, but later decided not to. In May 2018, this division was renamed Arquus.
In December 2018, Volvo announced it would sell most of its car telematics (smart car technology) company, WirelessCar, to Volkswagen. This was so Volvo could focus on telematics for commercial vehicles.
In December 2019, Volvo and Isuzu announced they would work together on commercial vehicles. As part of this, Volvo would sell UD Trucks to Isuzu. The sale was completed in April 2021.
In the early 2020s, Volvo started working with other companies to build ways to power vehicles without hydrocarbon fuels. In April 2020, Volvo and Daimler (now Daimler Truck) announced they would create a joint company for fuel cell technology. In March 2021, this became Cellcentric. In December 2021, Volvo, Daimler Truck, and Traton agreed to build an electric vehicle charging network for large vehicles in Europe. This joint company, called Milence, started in December 2022.
In April 2021, Volvo announced a partnership with steel maker SSAB to develop steel made without fossil fuels for future Volvo vehicles. In November 2023, Volvo bought Proterra's battery business.
What Volvo Group Does
The Volvo Group has many different parts:
- Volvo Trucks: Makes medium and heavy-duty trucks for regional and long-distance transport, and for construction work.
- Mack Trucks: Makes light-duty trucks for local deliveries and heavy-duty trucks for long distances.
- Renault Trucks: Makes heavy-duty trucks for regional transport and construction.
- Arquus: Makes military vehicles.
- Dongfeng Commercial Vehicles (45% owned by Volvo): Makes trucks.
- VE Commercial Vehicles Limited (VECV) in India (45.6% owned by Volvo): Makes trucks and buses.
- Volvo Construction Equipment: Makes equipment for construction.
- SDLG (70% owned by Volvo): Makes construction equipment.
- Volvo Group Venture Capital: A company that invests in new businesses.
- Volvo Buses: Makes complete buses and bus parts for city, line, and tourist travel.
- Volvo Financial Services: Helps customers with financing, banking, and real estate.
- Volvo Penta: Makes marine engine systems for boats and diesel engines for industrial uses.
- Volvo Energy: Manages and supports electric vehicles, batteries, and charging networks.
In 2021, about two-thirds (62%) of Volvo's income came from trucks and related services. Construction equipment was second (25%), and the rest came from buses, marine engines, and smaller operations.
Where Volvo Makes Things
Volvo has many factories around the world. As of 2022, it has plants in 19 countries. Ten other countries have independent companies that assemble Volvo products. Volvo also has centers for product development, distribution, and logistics.
Its first plant for vehicle assembly was in Hisingen, Sweden. In 1930, Volvo bought its engine supplier in Skövde. In 1954, Volvo built a new truck assembly plant in Gothenburg. In the 1960s and early 1970s, Volvo opened plants in Canada, Belgium, Malaysia, and Australia. Volvo also started making vehicles other than cars and road trucks by buying the Eskilstuna plant. From the 1970s onwards, Volvo set up more factories in Sweden and gradually bought the Dutch DAF car plants. It also built its first South American plant in Curitiba, Brazil.
From the mid-1970s, Volvo started building assembly plants with smaller lines. These plants focused more on workers and used automation better. Examples include Kalmar (car assembly, 1974), Tuve (truck assembly, 1982), and Uddevalla (car assembly, 1989). Kalmar and Uddevalla closed in the early 1990s. The Tuve plant replaced the old Gothenburg plant for truck assembly in the 1980s. In 1982, Volvo got its first plant in the United States, the New River Valley plant in Dublin, Virginia.
Starting in the late 1980s, Volvo expanded its bus production by buying companies in various countries. In the late 1990s, Volvo built its main bus production center for Europe in Wroclaw, Poland. In the 1990s, Volvo also increased its construction equipment by buying the Swedish company Åkerman and the construction equipment part of Samsung Heavy Industries. In 1998, the company opened a factory for its three main heavy products (trucks, construction equipment, and buses) near Bangalore, India.
Volvo sold all its car manufacturing parts in 1999.
After buying Renault Véhicules Industriels and Nissan Diesel in the 2000s, Volvo gained many more factories in Europe, North America, and Asia.
In 2014, Volvo Construction Equipment bought the haul truck manufacturing part of Terex Corporation. This included five truck models and a factory in Motherwell, Scotland.
| Volvo Production Sites (as of October 2022) | |
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| Company | Plants |
| Volvo Trucks |
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| Renault Trucks |
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| Mack Trucks |
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| Volvo Construction Equipment |
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| Volvo Buses |
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| VE Commercial Vehicles |
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| Dongfeng Truck |
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| SDLG |
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| Volvo Penta |
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| Notes | |
Companies with a light blue background are minority owned by Volvo.
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| Sources | |
The Volvo Brand Name
Volvo Trademark Holding AB is a company owned equally by AB Volvo and Volvo Car Corporation.
This company's main job is to own, protect, and keep safe the Volvo brand names and symbols. This includes the name Volvo, the Volvo logos (like the grille slash and iron mark), and Volvo Penta. They also give permission for these names to be used by their owners. They work every day to keep the Volvo trademarks registered around the world.
Another important job is to stop anyone from using or registering trademarks that are too similar to Volvo's without permission. This helps prevent fake products or confusion.
Working with Universities
Volvo works closely with several universities and colleges for research and to find new employees. Some of these include Penn State University, INSA Lyon, EMLYON Business School, NC State University, Sophia University, Chalmers University of Technology, The Gothenburg School of Business, Economics and Law, Mälardalen University College, and the University of Skövde.
See also
In Spanish: AB Volvo para niños
- Port of Gothenburg
