The Volvo Group is a Swedish supplier of commercial vehicles such as trucks, buses and construction equipment, drive systems for marine and industrial applications, aerospace components and financial services. The then auto manufacturer was founded on April 14, 1927 in the city of Gothenburg, as a spin-off from the roller ball bearing maker SKF. Volvo delisted from NASDAQ in June, 2007, but remains listed on the Stockholm exchange.

The company AB Volvo had no activities until 10 August, 1926 when the SKF Sales Manager Assar Gabrielsson and Engineer Gustav Larson, after one year of preparations involving the production of ten prototypes, set up the car-manufacturing business Volvo AB within SKF group. Volvo AB was introduced at the Stockholm stock exchange in 1935 and SKF then decided to sell its shares in the company.

The first series produced Volvo automobile, the Volvo ÖV 4, left the factory on 14 April, 1927 which became the official date for the founding of Volvo.

In 1999 Volvo sold its car division to Ford. Repeated reports in the media about Ford selling off its Volvo brand have been refuted by the company.

Volvo Group's history

The Volvo Group has its origin in 1927 when the first Volvo car rolled off the production line at the factory in Göteborg. Only 297 cars were built that year.Georgano, G. N. Cars: Early and Vintage, 1886-1930. (London: Grange-Universal, 1985) The first truck, the Series 1, debuted in January 1928. 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 Two.

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

On January 28, 1999 Volvo Group sold its business area Volvo Car Corporation to Ford Motor Company for US$6.45 billion, with the resulting group now largely set on commercial vehicles. On 2 January 2001, Renault V. I. (including Mack Trucks, but not Renault S. A.'s stake in Irisbus) was sold to Volvo, which renamed it Renault Trucks in 2002. As a result, the mother company Renault S. A. is AB Volvo's biggest shareholder, with a 20% stake, shares and voting rights.