Volvo to roll out its 15 millionth car

19 February 2008

Mumbai: 20 February 2008 will be historic day for Volvo, when an open car will be once again under the spotlights. Car number 15,000,000, an attractive convertible Volvo C70, will leave the factory in Uddevalla in Sweden. (View Volvo C70 video)

The very first Volvo car left the factory on 14 April, 1927. It was called the ÖV4 because the letters ÖV are Swedish for "Open Car", and 4 denoted the number of cylinders powering the new Swedish car.
 
During the first year, production proceeded at a modest pace with 297 cars being sold in 1927. Emerging from the shadows of the global economic depression and the Second World War, it took Volvo 23 years to build the first 100,000 cars.

Today, that figure corresponds to about three months of production.

Volvo, however, has never really been a high-volume manufacturer. Early on in the company's history, it was decided that the brand name should signify quality and safety. From the early 1970s onwards, environmental issues too have come to the forefront of the company's corporate agenda.

Volvo was first off the blocks with the world's single most important safety invention, the 3-point safety belt that was fitted as standard to Volvo cars as far back as 1959, and with one of the world's foremost innovations in the environmental sphere, the 3-way catalytic converter with Lambdasond was introduced in 1976.

The best-selling Volvo model ever is the classic 200 Series. Between 1974 and 1993, around 2,862,573 were built.  Probably the best-known of all Volvo models is the P1800 sports coupe that was built during the 1960s. It was also the car that Roger Moore drove in the highly popular TV series "The Saint".