Along with ABBA and Ikea, Volvo cars are probably Sweden’s most popular export, and earlier this month the manufacturer officially celebrated its 89th anniversary.
Predating even everybody’s favourite flat-pack furniture company by nearly 20 years, Volvo has for the best part of nine decades built itself a reputation for safe and solid cars.
But just because Volvos have always been known as the, err, sensible choice, doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have a fun side. Here are a few little-known facts about Sweden’s premier car maker that might surprise you.
1. If there was an award for friendliest manufacturer, Volvo would win it
Whether it’s BMW versus Mercedes or Camaro versus Mustang, automotive history has been marked by some of the greatest all-time rivalries between manufacturers as well as models.
Not so for Volvo, which in typically Swedish fashion got on extremely well with its closest neighbour and nearest rival, Saab. Less of a rivalry and more of a beautiful friendship, Volvo and Saab’s headquarters were located only about an hour away from each other in Sweden.
Volvo helped Saab built engines for its military jets, and even though Saab’s automotive wing is now defunct, if you own a Saab car or have had one in the last six months, Volvo will offer you the same loyalty bonus towards a new car as it does to its own current owners.
2. It popularised the CVT, but doesn’t take the credit
After purchasing the automotive side of lorry manufacturer DAF Trucks in the 1970s, Volvo was responsible for the first mainstream application of the continuously variable transmission (CVT).
Taking the DAF 66, slapping a Volvo-style body on it and rebadging it as the Volvo 66, the car featured a CVT and around 106,000 of them were built in the five years they were made.
Despite this, after selling off DAF Volvo has never seemed all that bothered about the CVT. It doesn’t lay claim to making it a hit, nor does it currently use one in any of its cars or commercial vehicles.
3. North America’s first foreign car factory was a Volvo plant
Volvo can also claim that it was the first foreign car manufacturer to open a production facility in North America, when it arrived in the US during the early 1960s.
American drivers had developed a taste for the Swedish carmaker in the late 1950s, and the company took advantage of a pact which allowed it to eliminate taxes on cars built and exported between the US and Canada.
Unfortunately, by late 1998 Volvo decided that its facility was no longer viable compared to its larger factories in Europe, but its cars are still popular among Americans.
4. It can’t do without a serious coffee fix
Did you know that the Swedes drink more coffee than virtually anybody else in the world, with the Swedish mid-afternoon coffee break as essential to daily life as the Spanish siesta?
Volvo in particular is so dedicated to getting its caffeine fix that it takes a personal entourage of Da Matteo baristas whenever it goes to international auto shows, who pass out coffees to employees and members of the press.
Ask even the most bleary-eyed and jaded of motor show attendees who brews the best cup of joe, and the answer will probably always be Volvo.
5. You can thank Volvo for letting your kids travel safely in cars
For almost as long as it’s made cars, Volvo has marketed itself as the last word in automotive safety, being the first manufacturer to introduce three-point seatbelts, side-curtain airbags and blind-spot monitoring systems.
All of these are features which are commonplace in cars today, but did you know that Volvo was also responsible for the invention of the rear-facing child seat? The manufacturer worked with a local university researcher in Sweden, who was inspired by the rear-facing seats used by astronauts.
The first rearwards child seat was introduced with the Volvo Amazon in 1967, and the company later refined the product with built-in booster seats for larger children, a feature which it continues to offer on many of its cars today.