The History of Volvo car maker & VIN decoder

The birthday of VOLVO is considered to be April 14, 1927 - the day when the first car called 'Jacob' left the plant in Gothenburg. But the real history of the Concern's development began several years later.

The 20s are characterized by the beginning of the real development of the automobile industry simultaneously in the USA and Europe. In Sweden, they became really interested in cars in 1923 after an exhibition in Gothenburg. In the early 20s, 12 thousand cars were imported into the country. In 1925 their number reached 14.5 thousand. On the international market, manufacturers, in the pursuit of increasing their volume, not always selective to the components, so the quality of the final product often left much to be desired, and as a consequence, many of these manufacturers quickly went bankrupt. For the founders of VOLVO the question of quality was of paramount importance. Therefore their main task was to make the right choice of the suppliers. In addition, after the assembly tests were always carried out. To this day VOLVO follows this principle.

Assar Gabrielsson and Gustaf Larson are the founders of VOLVO. Assar Gabrielsson The son of Gabriel Gabrielsson, office manager, and Anna Larsson, was born on August 13, 1891 in Kosberg, Skaraborg County. He graduated from the Norr High Latin School in Stockholm in 1909. He received a Bachelor's Degree in Economics and Business from the Stockholm School of Economics in 1911. After working as an official and stenographer in the Lower House of the Swedish Parliament, Gabrielsson became a sales manager at SKF in 1916 Founded VOLVO and served as President until 1956.

The machines were assembled at Galco's Stockholm plant, attracting the interest of SKF, which had a capital stake of 200,000 Swedish kronor in VOLVO. SKF also made VOLVO a controlled but capable of growth automobile company.

All work was moved to Gothenburg and nearby Hissingen and SKF equipment was eventually moved to VOLVO's manufacturing facility. Assar Gabrielsson singled out 4 basic criteria for the successful development of a Swedish car company: Sweden was a developed industrial country; low wages in Sweden; Swedish steel had a solid reputation around the world; and there was a clear need for passenger cars on Swedish roads. Gabrielsson and Larson's decision to start producing passenger cars in Sweden was clear and based on several business concepts: - VOLVO passenger car production. 'VOLVO will be responsible for both car design and assembly work, while materials and components will be purchased from other companies; - strategically provide the main subcontractors'. VOLVO must find reliable support and, if necessary, partners in the field of rail transport. - concentration on exports. The export sales began one year after the start of assembly line production. - focus on quality. Neither effort nor expense should be spared in the process of creating a car. It is cheaper to get production going in the right direction at the beginning than to allow mistakes and correct them at the end. That's one of Assar Gabrielsson's main reporters. If Assar Gabrielsson was shrewd in business, the brilliant financier and salesman Gustaf Larson was a mechanical engineering genius. Together Gabrielsson and Larson controlled the two main areas of VOLVO - economics and mechanical engineering. The efforts of the two men were based on determination and discipline, two qualities which were often the key to business success in industry during the first half of the 20th century. This was their common approach which laid the foundation for VOLVO's first and most important value - quality. SKF was a serious guarantor of the production of the first thousand cars: 500 with a convertible top and 500 with a rigid top. Since one of the main activities of 'SKF' is the production of bearings, the name 'VOLVO', which means 'I roll' in Latin, was suggested for the cars. Thus, the year 1927 was the birth year of VOLVO.

It needed a symbol to characterize its child. Steel and the Swedish heavy industry became it, since cars began to be made of Swedish steel. 'The symbol of iron' or 'the symbol of Mars,' as it was called after the Roman god of war, was placed in the center of the grille on the first VOLVO passenger car and later on all VOLVO trucks. 'The sign of Mars' was tightly attached to the radiator by the simplest method: a steel rim was attached diagonally across the radiator grille. As a result, the diagonal stripe became a reliable and well-known symbol of VOLVO and its products, in fact one of the strongest brands in the automotive industry. Do not forget to use Volvo VIN decoder in order to avoid potential problems when buying a used car.

VIN Examples