15 millionth Volvo rolls off the line

Volvo's 15 millionth vehicle rolled off the production line today. The 15th million vehicle was a C70 convertible, which left the Volvo factory after the first Volvo was built more than 81 years ago on April 14, 1927. In 1927, the first production vehicle was the ÖV4, a 4 cylinder 'open car'. In Volvo's first year, just 297 cars were built and it took Volvo until 1950 to build 100,000 cars. Interestingly, more than 1 out of 7 of the 15 million Volvo's built is a 200 Series, which is the company's best selling model ever.

Throughout its history Volvo has been associated with safety and this is demonstrated by the fact that Volvo was the first car manufacturer to fit three-point seat belts as far back as 1959.

Despite years of experience in the auto industry, even Volvo (a subsidiary of Ford's PAG) failed to make a profit last year which was surprising considering more vehicles were sold in 2007 than in 2006. Volvo is hoping this will change with the introduction of new models, such as the C30 and the XC60, the sister-car to the wildly popular and capable XC90. With a bold new design direction and a shift in focus to appeal to the car-buying public's heart rather than their heads Volvo is trying to change their image from boring and functional to bold and exciting.

Last year, following Volvo's sales figures being released, Ford down valued Volvo by $2.4B, although it has denied that this is any step towards plans to sell Volvo. Ford's sale of its other Premier Automotive Group brands such as Jaguar and Land Rover demonstrate that this outcome would not be incongruent with Ford's future plans to streamline the business although there has not been any official word about the situation.