Volvo XC70

Assar Gabrielsson and Gustaf Larson co-founded Volvo AB in 1927 as a subsidiary of a Swedish ball-bearing manufacturer, with its first car – the ÖV4 – rolling off the line the same year. The 1947 PV444 became Sweden’s version of the “people’s car” and was built for nearly 20 years. Volvo has been continuously linked with road vehicle safety since inventing the three-point seatbelt in 1959, with later developments including the first rear-facing child seat (1967) and child booster seat (1978), and side impact intrusion protection (1991). The popularity of Volvo’s first sporty car, the 1961 P1800, was aided by TV fame in the hands of Roger Moore in The Saint. Volvos became associated with boxy designs through the ’60s to ’90s, with well-known model series such as the 140, 240 and 850. Volvo moved into the SUV segment from 2002 with the vastly popular XC90, and has continued to position itself as a rival to the German luxury brands – especially since Volvo Cars (but not Volvo Group involved in trucks, buses, marine engines and more) was acquired by Chinese automotive company Geely in 2010.