Volvo Cars

Volvo is a car manufacturer born in Sweden, and it has long been a leader in safety research and development, with the crash test numbers to prove it. Today, the Volvo brand offers cars that are equal parts performance, safety and style.

In Swedish, "Volvo" means "I roll", and the first Volvo car rolled off the assembly line in 1927 in Gothenburg. The founders of Volvo, Gustaf Larsson and Assar Gabrielsson, focused on safety, a tradition that holds true today. The first Volvo model, named the Jakob, was joined by the PV651 6-cylinder in 1929, and by the beginning of 1931, more than ten thousand were built.

After World War II, Volvo had one of its largest successes, the PV444. That car's small size and stylish appearance helped Volvo make its name, and the decade after the war also saw the car maker expand on its reputation for safety. Volvo was the first car maker to build a vehicle with a 3-point seat belt.

The Sixties saw the debut of Volvo's first sports car, the P1800. The car's appearance helped it attain star status, as it made regular appearances on "The Saint", a long-running TV series. Volvo's safety record developed during this time, as the company offered things like energy-absorbing "crush zones" and padded dashboards on its vehicles.

Volvo set itself apart as the inventor of several new technologies during the 1970s, features like collapsing steering columns, childproof locks, and rearfacing child safety seats. Like Saabs and BMWs, the Volvo was seen as a "yuppie" car during the 1980s, and the company took this time to prove that it could focus on performance as much as it does safety.

In the beginning of the 1990s, Volvo debuted the 850, which was its first front-wheel driven executive model; the car united performance with the company's long tradition of safety. The 90s saw Volvo launch new models like the C70 and S40, and these cars helped the company shed its boxy image. At the end of the decade, the company was bought by Ford Motors. Today, their lineup is comprised of coupes, SUVs and sedans, and Volvo is still known for its safety as well as its style.