AB Volvo

This article is about Volvo Group - AB Volvo; Volvo Cars is the passenger vehicle maker using the Volvo trademark, owned by Zhejiang Geely Holding Group.

AB Volvo

Type	Publicly traded
Founded	1927 by SKF
Headquarters	Gothenburg, Sweden
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Louis Schweitzer (Chairman), Leif Johansson (President and CEO)
Industry	Commercial vehicles
Products	Trucks, buses, construction equipment, marine and industrial power systems, aerospace components, financial services
Revenue (turnover)	SEK 264.75 billion (2010)
Operating income	SEK 18.00 billion (2010)
Profit	SEK 10.87 billion (2010)
Total assets	SEK 318.01 billion (end 2010)
Total equity	SEK 74.12 billion (end 2010)
Employees	105,260 (end 2010)
Subsidiaries	Mack Trucks, Renault Trucks, UD Trucks, Volvo Construction Equipment, Volvo Buses, Volvo Trucks
Website	www.volvogroup.com

AB Volvo is a Swedish builder of commercial vehicles, including trucks, buses and construction equipment. Volvo also supplies marine and industrial drive systems, aerospace components and financial services. Although Volvo was incorporated in 1915 as a subsidiary of AB SKF, a Swedish ball bearing manufacturer, the auto manufacturer considers itself officially founded on 14 April 1927, when the first car, the Volvo ÖV 4 series, affectionately known as "Jakob", rolled out of the factory in Hisingen, Gothenburg.

Volvo means "I roll" in Latin, conjugated from "volvere", in relation to ball bearing. The name Volvo was originally registered in May 1911 as a separate company within SKF AB and as a registered trademark with the intention to be used for a special series of ball bearing, but this idea was only used for a short period of time and SKF decided to use "SKF" as the trademark for all its bearing products.

In 1924, Assar Gabrielsson, a SKF Sales Manager, and Engineer Gustav Larson, the two founders, decided to start construction of a Swedish car. Their vision was to build cars that could withstand the rigors of Sweden's rough roads and cold temperatures. This has become a feature of Volvo products ever since.

The company AB Volvo had no activities until 10 August 1926, after one year of preparations involving the production of ten prototypes, was set up to carry out the car-manufacturing business within the SKF group. AB Volvo was introduced at the Stockholm stock exchange in 1935 and SKF then decided to sell its shares in the company. Volvo was delisted from NASDAQ in June 2007, but remains listed on the Stockholm exchange.

In 1999, Volvo sold its car division Volvo Cars to Ford Motor Company for $6.45 billion. The Volvo trademark was shared between Volvo AB, where it is used on heavy vehicles, and the unit of Ford, where it was used on cars. In 2008, Ford decided to sell its interest in Volvo Cars; in 2010, Ford sold the brand to the parent of Chinese motor manufacturer Geely Automobile for $1.8 billion.

History

The Volvo Group has its origin in 1927 when the first Volvo car rolled off the production line at the factory in Gothenburg. Only 280 cars were built that year. The first truck, the "Series 1", debuted in January 1928, as an immediate success and attracted attention outside the country. In 1930, Volvo sold 639 cars, and the export of trucks to Europe started soon after; the cars did not become well-known outside Sweden until after World War II.

Marine engines have been part of the Group almost as long as trucks. Pentaverken, founded in 1907, was acquired in 1935. As early as 1929, however, the U-21 outboard engine was introduced. Manufacturing continued until 1962.

The first bus, named B1, was launched in 1934, and aircraft engines were added to the growing range of products at the beginning of the 1940s.

On 28 January 1999 Volvo Group sold its business area Volvo Car Corporation to the Ford Motor Company for US$6.45 billion, with the resulting group largely set on commercial vehicles. Volvo Cars was then sold to China's Zhejiang Geely Holding Group in 2010. On 2 January 2001, Renault Véhicules Industriels (which included Mack Trucks, but not Renault's stake in Irisbus) was sold to Volvo, which renamed it Renault Trucks in 2002. As a result, former mother company Renault is AB Volvo's biggest shareholder with a 20% stake (in shares and voting rights).

The last ten years the company has undergone rapid growth in the service area with, for example, financial solutions supporting the sales of the manufacturing business units. In 2006, AB Volvo acquired from Nissan Motor Co Ltd, 13% of the shares in the Japanese truck manufacturer UD Trucks former Nissan Diesel, and became major shareholder. In 2007 the Volvo Group took complete ownership of Nissan Diesel to extend its expansion in the Asian pacific market.

Business areas

Volvo Group's businesses are conducted in several companies - among them these subsidiaries:

• Volvo Trucks (midsize-duty trucks for regional transportation and heavy-duty trucks for long distance transportation, as well as heavy-duty trucks for the construction work segment)
• Mack Trucks (light-duty trucks for close distribution and heavy-duty trucks for long distance transportation)
• Renault Trucks (heavy-duty trucks for regional transportations and heavy-duty trucks for the construction work segment)
• UD Trucks (midsize-duty trucks)
• Volvo Construction Equipment (construction machines) (previously Volvo BM, see also AB Bolinder-Munktell)
• Volvo Buses (complete buses and bus chassis for city traffic, line traffic and tourist traffic)
• Volvo Penta (marine engine systems for leisure boats and commercial shipping, diesel engines and drive systems for industrial applications)
• Volvo Aero (high-tech components for aircraft and rocket engines as well as services for the aircraft industry)
• Volvo Financial Services (customer financing, inter-group banking, as real estate administration)

Beside this the group consists of several business units:

• Volvo Parts (Spare parts, maintain services for support to the after-market within Volvo Group's companies)
• Volvo Information Technology (IT services, develop new technology and business solutions for Volvo Group's companies)
• Volvo Powertrain (Responsible to Volvo Group's development of diesel engines, transmissions, and axles)
• Volvo 3P (Responsible for product planning, product development, and for purchasing to all Volvo Group's truck businesses)
• Volvo Technology (Centre of research and innovation, drives technology agenda for the future and secures synergies, commonality and operational excellence for Volvo Group companies.)
• Volvo Logistics (Plans and hands logistic solutions for the metal and air-related industry worldwide)
• Volvo Technology Transfer (Develop and support new businesses with relevance for Volvo Group's companies)
• Volvo Business Services (Maintain cost effective and high quality services within financial administration for Volvo Group's companies)
• Volvo Treasury (Manage Volvo's cash flow)
• Volvo Event Management, which coordinates sponsorship activities including the Volvo Ocean Race

Previously Volvo Group consisted of also of these businesses subsidiaries:

• Volvo Leisure (Leisure group) (mainly Jofa sports products and Ryds boats)
• Provendor (Food and beverages group)
• Volvo Energy (Energy group) (mainly STC Scandinavian Trading Company)
• Wilh. Sonesson (Engineering group)

Volvo Group also had several associated companies from 1981 to 1997, which themselves were corporate groups:

• Kebo AB (Pharmaceutical group)
• SvedaKemi AB (Chemical group)
• AB Wilh. Becker (Paint group)
• AB LEO (Pharmaceutical group)
• AB Gambro (Medical dialysis group)
• AB Nils Dacke] (Engineering group)
• rocordia AB (Food and Beverages group)
• BCP Branded Consumer Products AB (Food and Beverages group)
• Pharmacia AB (Pharmaceutical group)
• Alfred Berg Holding AB (Financial services group)
• Falcon Holding AB (Brewing group)
• Swedish Match AB (Matches and lighters group)

Trademark

Volvo Trademark

Volvo Trademark Holding AB is equally owned by AB Volvo and Volvo Car Corporation.

The main activity of the company is to own, maintain, protect and preserve the Volvo trademarks (including Volvo, the Volvo device marks (grille slash & iron mark) Volvo Aero and Volvo Penta) on behalf of its owners and to license these rights to its owners. The day-to-day work is focused upon maintaining the global portfolio of trademark registrations and to extend sufficiently the scope of the registered protection for the Volvo trademarks.

The main business is also to act against unauthorised registration and use (including counterfeiting) of trademarks identical or similar to the Volvo trademarks on a global basis.

The Volvo brand

The S80, one of the best-selling cars under the Volvo brand

The Volvo B7RLE in Chennai. Many of these buses are extensively used in public transportation systems.

The brand's promotional strategies include the sailing race Volvo Ocean Race, formerly known as the Whitbread Around the World Race. Volvo likes to encourage its affluent image by sponsoring golf tournaments all over the world including major championship events called the Volvo Masters and Volvo China Open.

Volvo sponsored the Volvo Ocean Race, the world's leading round-the-world yacht race for the first time in 2001–2002. Volvo has also had a long-standing commitment to the ISAF and is involved in the Volvo/ISAF World Youth Sailing Championships since 1997.

Volvo Group also sponsored the Show Jumping World Cup from its inception in 1979 until 1999. The company also sponsors culture, e g The Göteborg Opera and The Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra.

See also

• Volvo Cars
• Ainax - ownership of Scania shares acquired by Volvo

External links

• Volvo Group
• volvo.com - official site for Volvo-branded companies
• Volvo