Owned by Ford Motor Company, and now led by ex-Ford man Steve Odell (the first non-Swede in history to lead the company), Volvo makes well-engineered, moderately interesting cars. There has rarely been a Volvo that could be accused of lacking integrity; indeed, substance - and attention to detail - sums Volvo up rather well.

Yet that sort of thing does not always play well in magazine reviews. "Volvo says safety is not the most important thing; it's everything... so what they're saying is that performance, economy, value, durability, style, comfort, handling, spaciousness and sexiness don't matter at all," muses BBC Top Gear presenter and The Sunday Times correspondent Jeremy Clarkson.

While some would take exception to Clarkson's inclusion of "durability" and "spaciousness" among a list of values that are mutually exclusive to Volvo's, they might well grudgingly agree with the rest.

"Nobody bought the Volvo 265 GLE for its performance... and nobody bought this car for its looks or the sumptuousness of its seating.

"This, then, was a car for people who weren't interested in cars or driving; they bought it because they knew they were going to crash" ('Mmm, fabulous console, chaps... shame about the rest of the car,' Jeremy Clarkson, The Sunday Times, April 11^th, 2004).

For Clarkson, buying a car because of its attention to detail is "akin to going to see a play because the theater's lavatories are ever so clean."

Volvo is profitable, and is a true global brand; just 15% of Volvos stay in Sweden. Moreover, the brand is viewed pretty much the same way all over the world as a purveyor of Swedish-built cars that are sensible, adhering to conservative, lasting values, safety and comfort in particular.

And Volvo is hoping that its imminent sale to Geely will give it more reach in China, boosting production at its main Torslanda plant in Sweden. As of February 2010, the plant is running at just 50% capacity.


The deal, which is expected to be closed by late June 2010, is seen as crucial to Volvo's survival. The brand shed 10,000 jobs between 2005 and 2009, a year in which it lost $32 million.

Key to any deal will be increasing Volvo's modest 30,000 annual sales in China (2009).

Geely reportedly has no plans to merge its brands with Volvo. Early on in the negotiations, Li Shufu, Geely's chairman and founder, presented Volvo's union leaders with a letter of intent pledging to maintain Volvo's manufacturing and R&D capacity in Europe, and its status as an independent company. Volvo is, however, expected to source more parts in China.


At Chicago 2010, Volvo showed off the industry's first Internet connected rear-seat entertainment system, with Windows XP; WiFi, and a 500 GB hard drive. Expected to be available as of Summer 2010 (on U.S. XC60 and XC70 models), the system gives passengers a fully-functional computer.


Volvo will overhaul its naming system in the coming years, removing some of the uncertainty over odd numbers in the same range (such as S40 and V50). CEO Stephen Odell also wants the badges to be easier to read.

The S, V, C, and XC letters will continue.


At Frankfurt 2009, Volvo director of electrification strategy, Paul Gustavsson, announces (but does not show) the company's first plug-in hybrid, based on the C30 and dubbed C30 BEV (Battery Electric Vehicle).

The zero-emissions runabout is, Volvo says, good for a 92-mile range and an 80 mph top speed, and is capable of sprinting from rest to 62 mph in less than 11 seconds.

Under the hood is a 24kWh lithium-ion battery which can, via household power supply (230V, 16A), be fully charged in just 8 hours.

Volvo has (of course) crash tested several prototypes, with positive results.

The C30 BEV is expected to launch in 2012 - but not in the United States. Instead, in a decision driven by EU regulations, the lithium-ion-powered vehicle will only be sold in the European Union.

Drafted EU regulations require automakers to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 25% by 2012, and the rules tighten even further down the road. Volvo plans to meet the pending regulations with both electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles, rolling out 50 electric cars in Sweden over a 2-year period, and delivering 1,000 cars per year once production ramps up.

Volvo's move is not a consumer-driven initiative; instead, the automaker is solely trying to satisfy future CO₂ emissions-related mandates. Although consumers have been receptive to gasoline-electric hybrids, Volvo has no plans to compete in this arena. Thus type of powertrain, the company says, adds technology and weight, but does not reduce CO₂ by much.


In the Fall of 2007, Volvo chages its slogan to, "Life is better lived together." The company's new ad agency, Arnold Worldwide, explains that Volvo owners identify themselves as friendly and generous; that they travel in company, and that they are "users, not havers" (i.e: they like to share). Six lifestyle television spots are produced to showcase Volvo owners as we people, as opposed to me people.

Two years later, Peter Horbury, who has returned as the company's Vice President of Design, explains, "Volvo tends to keep people in mind when we design cars - inside and out.

"This is important. Look at the shift in American values since President Obama took over. We are well placed to fit in with people's shifting values: the increasing importance of safety, environmental issues, and design in general. That's Volvo through and through" (CAR, February 4^th, 2010).

In 1999, Swedish truckmaker Volvo AB sells its Volvo car division to Ford for $6.5 billion, roughly the amount of Ford's operating earnings for 1998.

The peak sales year for Volvo comes in 2004, with 450,000 cars sold. One must give former (and, as of May 2009, current) Vice President of Design Peter Horbury credit for the upturn in Volvo sales.

Sales remain static for the following few years, although Volvo openly admits targeting 600,000. "That's the number we need to make our plans work well," Head of Product Strategy Lex Kerssemakers tells Autocar ('It's hip to be square,' Autocar, May 30^th, 2007).

Volvo's performance-oriented R series models have not sold and are cancelled. Volvo also tables MPV development on a Ford donor platform, despite that its family image might lend itself to such a project.

Yet, in the mid-90s, Volvo begins shying away from estates as it chases performance with a BMW-baiting R range. A decade later, it changes course again - yet the 2008 Volvo V70 offers less carrying capacity than did the much-loved 245.


Peter Horbury pioneered Volvo's modern look in his stint as design boss from 1991 to 2002. Following five-and-a-half years spent in charge of Ford's North American design studio, Horbury was asked by Volvo CEO Stephen Odell, in May 2009, to return to the top job in Gothenburg.

Post Horbury, the A pillars of Volvo estates incline into a roofline that is set more inward than models of the past. The front end is aggressive, but the camber of front windows decreases as one moves around to the tail. The side glass pivots out from A; through B; C, and D pillars.

The Volvo shoulder line visually represents the side-impact protection system (SIPS).

"My job is to take bigger steps this time," Horbury says.

"In the 1990s, we had to change people's perception of Volvo because some thought we built just boxy, safe, tank-like cars. So a lot changed in the 1990s. But I'd say you'll see as much change again in this new decade as you did then" (CAR, February 4^th, 2010).

In April 2007, Volvo announces that it is canceling its high-performance R-badged models after the '07 model year due to poor sales. In its place, an R-Line sports package will be offered to Volvo buyers, featuring visual enhancements; interior upgrades, and some non-engine-related mechanical tweaks.


Volvo's 444 of the '40s boasted perhaps the strongest unitized body of the day. The Volvo 544 was the first mass-produced car to come with 3-point seat belts as standard equipment, and all Volvos followed suit in 1959.

Today, despite its brief dabbling with performance, safety remains a cornerstone of Volvo's brand positioning. "An on-board computer won't allow the hands-free phone to ring if you're braking hard or steering violently - it will first wait for calm," notes Jeremy Clarkson of the Volvo V50 ('Volvo V50 2.4', Jeremy Clarkson, The Sunday Times, February 2^nd, 2008).