The Official Volvo Enthusiasts Club | The Club for all Classic Volvo Owners

“It was in 1924 that economist Assar Gabrielsson and engineer Gustaf Larson first discussed the idea of setting up a company to manufacture cars. In Sweden at that time only 15,000 cars were sold a year and, of those, only one in 20 was sourced from outside America, so it made sense to produce a car that was rugged enough to survive Sweden’s poorly surfaced roads and severe winters. The person commissioned to design the first models was a landscape and portrait artist with a passion for cars. An engineer and a coachbuilder were recruited, a small manufacturing team was set up, and on 14 April 1927 the first car was driven off the production line of Volvo’s Lundby factory. Apart from the fact that the car set off in reverse because the rear axle had been assembled incorrectly, all had gone according to plan!

From the outset the fledgling company believed in quality. A guiding principle for Larson was that it was cheaper to do the job properly the first time rather than skimp on design or manufacture and then have to do it again. This perfectionist attitude won Volvo respect throughout the motor industry. For the public, the company’s emphasis on safety has also always appealed. Volvo saw the big picture. It was not only ahead of its time in pioneering work on seat belts, crash resistance and child seats, but also led the way on environmental awareness, realising – way before this became fashionable – that protecting the environment was an important issue in all areas of manufacturing.”

Reproduced with the kind permission of Richard Dredge – Author

“VOLVO – Safety with Style” : 2003

Volvo History