AB Volvo is a world-leading Swedish manufacturer of commercial vehicles, trucks, buses and construction equipment, drive systems for marine and industrial applications, aerospace components and financial services. But it did start out as a car manufacturer, founded by Assar Gabrielsson and Gustaf Larsson. The main purpose of the company was to produce the safest cars possible, following the death of Assar's wife in a car crash. The automaker was founded April 14, 1927 in the city of Gothenburg, as a spin-off from roller ball bearing maker SKF (Svenska Kullagerfabriken AB).
The name Volvo was originally registered in May 1915 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. Volvo AB began to function on the 10th of August 1926 when the SKF Sales Manager Assar Gabrielsson and Engineer Gustav Larson, started production of 10 prototypes and 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. |
