Swedish cars!

We have three car manufacturers in Sweden; Volvo Cars, Saab Automobile and supercar maker Koenigsegg. We also have two of the biggest truck and bus manufacturers in the world; Volvo Group and Scania.

Volvo Cars/Group was founded in 1927 in Gothenburg by Assar Gabrielsson and Gustaf Larsson. The first models were the ÖV4 and the PV4. ÖV stood for “öppen vagn” (open vehicle) and PV for “personvagn” (personal vehicle). Later Volvo introduced the PV650 series and in 1933 Volvo delivered its ten thousandth vehicle; 3800 cars and 6200 trucks had been sold. The 650 series continued throughout the 30s with several luxury and sports variants.

A more modern look was attempted with the PV36 Carioca and the PV50 series intended for ordinary people in contrast to the PV650 which was quite expensive. This change was necessary because of the war and the only expensive car Volvo had was the PV36. Production of the PV51 started 1936 and the last model PV57 ended production in 1945.

After the war Volvo introduced the PV444 – an enormous success – and the high-priced PV60. Now a major international company, Volvo launched the Amazon, the 544 and later the sports car Volvo P1900, which sold so badly that by the 60s it was replaced by the P1800. This new sports car turned out a winner, starring on the TV series “The Saint” driven by Simon Templar, played by Roger Moore.

In the 60s Volvo introduced the 140, a new family car, and the 164, a luxury car. In the 70s they updated the 140 to 240 and Volvo bought the Dutch carmaker DAF and developed the Volvo 300 in Holland. The 240 and 300 were quite bad cars and sales went down.

In the 80s Volvo released the 740 and the more expensive 760. The 300 was replaced by the 400 and now sales upped again.

It was in the 90s that Volvo got back the status they had held in the 50s and 60s. The 850 came on the scene, the new 940, the luxury 960 and the S40. Towards the end of the 90s the S60, S80 and V70 were released. But in 1999 Volvo Group AB insisted on selling the car division to Ford because they lacked funds for developing new cars.

Volvo Cars were now in Ford´s hands and Ford placed Volvo in its own luxury group with Lincoln, Aston Martin, Jaguar and Land Rover. Volvo developed new cars such as the giant luxury SUV XC90, the new S40/V50/C70 and the small C30. They also released the new luxury S80 and V70 in 2006 and two years later the smaller SUV XC60.

Ford had problems in the financial crisis a couple of years ago and sold its European luxury car division. The Chinese car maker Geely bought Volvo Cars in 2010. Volvo today builds cars in Sweden and Belgium but Geely wants Volvo to expand and sell 200,000 cars in China and therefore they plan to invest over 8 billion euros and build three new factories in China!
Volvo XC60 in the film "Twilight: New Moon"

Volvo S80

Cool Volvo advertises:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DflS8QKj3j4 - Volvo V60 "The Sexy"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTg8TH_QNt4 - Volvo S80
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FML7JPLdDJ8 - Volvo V60
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7nKrvddaVo - Volvo S60
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIJ8MseO2R8 - Volvo Twilight
Old Volvo cars:
http://www.volvocars.com/intl/top/community/heritage/pages/models.aspx

Saab Automobile was founded in 1947 by Svenska Aeroplan Aktiebolag (Saab AB) which makes jet fighters, such as the JAS 39 Gripen. The cars are made in Trollhättan outside Gothenburg. The first model, Saab 92, was quite different from other cars at that time. The design was aerodynamic and jet inspired. In 1956 Saab introduced two new cars, the 93 and the sports car Sonett.

In 1960 Saab introduced the 96 and this car was a huge success in the Monte Carlo Rally and in the RAC Rally during the 60s and the 70s. Sales went down in the middle of the 60s and it was time to replace the old engines. They bought a V4 engine from Ford and success in the rallies continued with the 96 V4. In 1967 the model 99 was introduced and in 1969 Saab merged with truck maker Scania and the company changed name to Saab-Scania.

Saab was the first car company to mount a turbo into a family car, the 99 in 1978. Sales escalated. Saab collaborated with Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Lancia and introduced the Saab 9000, the Fiat Croma, the Alfa Romeo 164 and the Lancia Thema in the middle of the 80s. Saab imported the Lancia Delta to Sweden, but it had huge problems with rust. It couldn’t stand up to the Swedish climate.

Car sales dropped again and Saab-Scania now decided to sell Saab Automobile to General Motors and the Swedish company Investor. The Saab 9-5 was released in 1997 and a year later the estate version. In 2000 Saab Automobile was completely owned by GM whose plan was for Saab to compete with Audi and BMW. In 2002 they introduced the new 9-3 and later the 9-3 convertible and the 9-3 estate.

In 2008 General Motors’ sales declined due to a financial crisis. Several Saab models were delayed such as the new Saab 9-5 and the 9-4x. GM struggled almost two years to sell Saab until car maker Spyker came and bought it. However Spyker were so deeply in debt that they were forced to sell its own cars to Russian billionaire Antonov. The odds of surviving are against Saab, but we hope they still will be making cars in the future.
Saab 9-5
Saab 9-4x

Cool Saab advertises:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIHFr1UnNC8 - Saab 9-3, JAS 39 Griffin
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpbF3CHozfU - Saab BioPower
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dglwkIvuEmo - Saab 9-5 SportCombi
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PprsGsboX_0 - Saab 9-5, JAS 39 Griffin
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDr0A9ai6Vo - Saab 9-3 SportCombi
Old Saab cars:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Saab_vehicles

Koenigsegg Automotive is a car manufacturer based in Ängelholm, in the south of Sweden. The company was founded 1994 by Christian von Koenigsegg, with the intention of producing a world-class supercar. After many years of development and prototyping, the Koenigsegg CC8S was delivered to customers in 2002. At the time, it was the fastest street-legal car in production, with a top speed of 389 km/h. It was followed by the Koenigsegg CCR, and later the Koenigsegg CCX. Other current models are the Koenigsegg CCXR and the Koenigsegg Agera. Koenigsegg also produced a special edition car called Koenigsegg Trevita, which translates into “three whites” in Swedish. The Koenigsegg CCR held the Guinness world record for the fastest production car in the world from February 28th to September in 2005 before Bugatti came. A Koenigsegg today is five times more expensive than a Ferrari. Koenigsegg Agera R