Volvo History 4WD military History Also see auto history |
1924: Assar Gabrielsson and Gustaf Larson decide to start Volvo.
1927 April 14: The Volvo OV4, first Volvo car, produced.
1935: PV36 ("Carioca") launched; only 500 were built and sold (--V.).
1944: PV 444 presented at Royal Tennis Hall(!) in Stockholm.
- 1953: Duett station wagon.
PV445 / Duett, 1953+
1955 First sxports to the U.S..
1956: The P120 ("Amazon").
- 1958: Gunnar Andersson won the European rally championship
in a
PV 544. 
a 1960 PV 544
1959: Volvo made a three-point safety belt standard - a first for a series-manufactured car.
- Volvo on 1800 models:
P1800 - cars produced from the start in 1961 to February 1963. P1800S - cars produced from February 1963 until July 1963. 1800S - cars produced from July 1963 until November 1969. 1800E - cars (coupes) produced from November 1969 until June 1972. 1800ES - cars (sportswagons) produced from 1971 until June 1973.
1961: The first Volvos, 120s and 1800s, were imported into Australia.
The Saint, Simon Templar (Roger Moore),
drove a Volvo P1800 in the British TV series (1962-1969)
based on the hero of a series of books by Leslie Charteris;
P220 / Amazon, 1962+
1966: Launch of the Volvo 144.
a 1969 1800S
1974: Volvo 240 presented. It remained on sale until 1993 by which time 2.8 million 240s had been produced.
1976: The Volvo 343 was based on the Dutsch `DAF' with continuously variable transmission (CVT).
1976: First car producer to have a catalytic converter and Lambda sensor.
1982: Volvo 760.
1985: Volvo 480 ES coupe from the Netherlands, the first front wheel drive Volve.
1990: 960 and 940.
1991: Volvo 850.
1995: Volvo S40 and V40 (introduced in Australia in 1997).
1996: Volvo C70 Coupe.
1997: Volvo V70 Cross Country introduced.
1998: Volvo S80.
1999: Volvo Cars (not trucks) bought by the Ford Motor Company for us$6.45billion.
2000: V70 revised, new Volvo Cross Country introduced.
2000: Volvo S60.
2002: Volvo XC90 Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV) presented in Detroit.
2009: Ford began moves to sell Volvo which was loosing $billions.
2010, March 28: Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co. (.cn) signed to buy Volvo Cars from Ford for us$1.8billion.
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