Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Volvo in Sweden

                    THE HISTORY OF VOLVO


Volvo Cars

Volvo Cars

2002 Volvo S80

Volvo PV444

1998 Volvo V70 wagon

VOLVO CARS

Volvo Cars, or Volvo Personvagnar, is an automobile maker that was founded in 1927 in the city of Gothenburg in Sweden. Volvo, which is Latin for "I roll," was formed as a spin-off from roller ball bearing maker SKF. Volvo Cars was owned by AB Volvo until 1998, when it was acquired by the Ford Motor Company and placed in its Premier Automotive Group. In the American market, Volvo is marketed as a luxury car, with the intent to compete with Acura, Audi, BMW, Cadillac, Infiniti, Lexus, Mercedes-Benz and Saab. In the European market Volvo competes with brands such as Mitsubishi, Nissan, Peugeot, Renault, Subaru, Toyota, Vauxhall and Volkswagen. The main production sites are Ghent in Belgium and Gothenburg in Sweden.

SAFETY

Since the 1950s, Volvo cars have had a reputation for safety, starting in 1944 with the use of laminated glass in the PV model. The PV series cars were also among the first to have what Volvo called a 'safety body' (what is now called a unibody). The Volvo design team invented both the 'safety cage' and 'crumple zone' concept, where passengers are protected in a strong, encircling frame and the energy of a crash is absorbed by destruction of the bonnet or boot of the car. Volvo also invented the easy-to-use three-point seatbelt; first introduced as an accessory in 1957 and made standard on all Volvo cars in 1959. All these safety features are now standard in all cars and are responsible for saving millions of lives.[citation needed] Volvo also was the first company to produce cars with padded dashboards starting in late 1956 with their Amazon model. Volvo also developed the first rear-facing child seat in the late 1960s and introduced its own booster seat in 1978. In the mid-eighties, Volvo introduced the first central high-mounted stoplight (a brake light not shared with the rear taillights), which became federally mandated in the late eighties. Seatbelt and child seat innovation continued as shown in the 1991 960. The 960 introduced the first three-point seatbelt for the middle of the rear seat and a child safety cushion integrated in the middle armrest. Also in 1991 came the introduction of the Side Impact Protection System (SIPS) on the 940/960 and 850 models, which channeled the force of a side impact away from the doors and into the safety cage. In 1998, Volvo introduced its Whiplash Protection System (WHIPS), a safety device to prevent injury of front seat users during collisions. In 2004, Volvo introduced the BLIS system, which detects vehicles entering the Volvo's blind spot with a side view mirror mounted sensor and alerts the driver with a light. That year also saw Volvos sold in all markets equipped with side-marker lights and daytime-running lights (the latter having already been available in many markets for some time). Much of Volvo's safety technology now also goes into other Ford vehicles, such as the Aston Martin DB9. By the mid-1990s there was little to distinguish Volvo from some other manufacturers (notably Renault) on safety when put through tests such as EuroNCAP as other manufacturers caught up when they realised the marketing potential of safety. The Volvo 745 had some severe problems with the C-pillar that could break in collisions even at relatively low speeds. The design was strengthened and the 740 was renamed as the Volvo 940 . Also the production of P1800 had to be stopped because it didn't fulfill US safety standards. A US study showed that Volvo's safety have been slipping according to Russ Rader, a spokesman for the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. A Volvo spokesperson denied that the company's vehicles are any less safe than the Institute's top-rated vehicles.

ACQUISITIONS

In the early 1970s, Volvo acquired the passenger car division of the Dutch company DAF, and marketed their small cars as Volvos before releasing the Dutch-built Volvo 340, which went on to be one of the biggest-selling cars in the UK market in the 1980s.

Volvo, as one of the largest truck manufacturers in the world, took the initiative to sell its automobile manufacturing in 1998 in order to fully focus its efforts on the market for commercial vehicles. Ford, on the other hand saw advantages in acquiring a profitable prestige midsize European automobile manufacturer, well renowned for its safety aspects, as an addition to its Premier Automotive Group. The buyout of Volvo Cars was announced on January 28, 1998 and in the following year an acquisition was completed at a price of $6.45 billion USD.

As a result of the divestiture, the Volvo name is now utilized by two separate companies:

  • Volvo - a manufacturer of commercial vehicles, etc. owned by Swedish interests.
  • Volvo Cars - a manufacturer of automobiles owned by Ford Motor Company, in its Premier Automotive Group.

The Volvo™ trademark is now jointly owned (50/50) by Volvo and Ford. One of the main promotional activities for the trademark is the sailing contest Volvo Ocean Race, formerly the Whitbread Around the World Cup. There is also a Volvo Baltic Race and likes to encourage its affluent image by sponsoring golf tournaments all over the world.

CAR MODELS

Early ages

  • Volvo ÖV 4, aka Jakob
  • Volvo PV (PV444 and PV544)
  • Volvo Snabbe
  • Volvo Trygge
  • Volvo Sugga (civilian (PV801, PV802, PV810, PV821, PV822 and PV831) and military (TP21/P2104, P2104))
  • Volvo Laplander (L-3304, L-3314, L-3314 and L-3315)
  • Volvo PV36
  • Volvo PV51
  • Volvo PV60
  • Volvo Duett
  • Volvo Amazon/Volvo 122
  • Volvo P1800
  • Volvo P1900
  • Volvo 66
  • Volvo C202
  • Volvo C3-series (C303, C304 and C306)

Three-numbered Volvos

Starting with the 140 series in 1968, Volvo used a three number system for their cars. The first number was the series, the second number the number of cylinders and the third number the number of doors; so a 164 was a 1-series with a 6-cylinder engine and 4 doors. However there were exceptions to this rule - the 780 for example, came with turbocharged I4 and V6 gasoline engines and I6 diesel engines, but never an eight cylinder as the 8 would suggest. Similarly, the 760 often was equipped with a turbocharged I4 engine and the Volvo 360 only had four cylinders. The company dropped the meaning of the final digit for later cars like the 740, but the digit continued to identify cars underhood on the identification plate.

  • Volvo 140 (Volvo 142, Volvo 144, Volvo 145)
  • Volvo 164
  • Volvo 240 (Volvo 242, 244, 245)
  • Volvo 260 (Volvo 262C, 264, 265)
  • Volvo 340 (Volvo 343, 345)
  • Volvo 360
  • Volvo 440
  • Volvo 460
  • Volvo 480
  • Volvo 740
  • Volvo 760
  • Volvo 780
  • Volvo 850
  • Volvo 940
  • Volvo 960

Models with current denomination

Today, the company uses a system of letters denoting body style followed by the series number. Although not official, it is fairly accepted that S stands for saloon or sedan, C stands for coupe or convertible and V stands for versatile or estate car. XC stands for cross country originally added to a more rugged V70 model as the V70XC and indicates all wheel drive paired with a raised suspension to give it a mock SUV look. Volvo would later change the name to the XC70 in keeping with its car naming consistent with the XC90. So a V50 is an estate ("V") in the smaller 40/50 series.

  • Pre-Ford
    • Volvo S40
    • Volvo V40
    • Volvo S/V70
    • S/V90
  • Small cars (Volvo P1 platform)
    • Volvo C30 (2007)
    • Volvo C70 (Second Generation 2005-Current)
    • Volvo S40
    • Volvo V50
  • Large cars (Volvo P2 platform)
    • Volvo S60
    • Volvo S80
    • Volvo S90 (Face lifted from the 900 series models)
    • Volvo C70 (First Generation 1997-2005)
    • Volvo V70
  • Cross Country
    • Volvo XC50 (Possible future model)
    • Volvo XC60 (Possible future model)
    • Volvo XC70 (Formerly V70XC, based on V70)
    • Volvo XC90

Concept cars

  • Volvo SCC
  • Volvo VESC
  • Volvo YCC
  • Volvo ECC

ENGINE TYPES

  • B4B and B14A - fitted into the Volvo PV and Volvo Duett from 1947 to 1956
  • B16 (A and B) - fitted into the PV, Duett and Volvo Amazon from 1957 to 1960
  • B18 and B20 - 1.8L/2.0L OHV 8v fitted into all Volvo models from 1961 to 1974 (and 1975 U.S. Spec 240 models).
  • B19, B21, and B23 - fitted from 1975
  • B200 and B230 - 2.0L and 2.3L, respectively, SOHC 8v fitted to 240, 360, 700, 940 series cars from 1985
  • B204 and B234 - 2.0L and 2.3L DOHC 16 valve engines
  • B27/B28 and B280- 2.7 and 2.8L SOHC 12v developed together with Renault and Peugeot
  • B30 - fitted to all 164 models

TRANSMISSIONS

  • Volvo AW70 transmission
  • Volvo AW71 transmission
  • Volvo AW72 transmission
  • Volvo M40 transmission
  • Volvo M400 transmission
  • Volvo M410 transmission
  • Volvo M41 transmission
  • Volvo M45 transmission
  • Volvo M46 transmission
  • Volvo M47 transmission
  • Volvo M50 transmission
  • Volvo M51 transmission
  • Volvo M56 transmission
  • Volvo M58 transmission
  • Volvo M59 transmission
  • Volvo M90 transmission
  • Volvo ZF4HP22 transmission

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