AB Volvo (or Aktiebolaget Volvo) is a world-leading Swedish manufacturer of commercial vehicles, trucks, buses and construction equipment, drive systems for marine and industrial applications, aerospace components and financial services. The automaker was founded August 10, 1926 in the city of Gothenburg, as a spin-off from roller ball bearing maker SKF (Svenska Kullagerfabriken AB). Volvo Cars, the automobile manufacturer, has been owned by the Ford Motor Company since 1999.
Volvo is Latin for "I roll" or "I turn." The name Volvo was originally registered in May 1911 as a separate company within SKF AB and as a registered trademark with the intention to be used for a special series of ball bearing, but this idea was only used for a short period of time and SKF decided to use "SKF" as the trademark for all its bearing products. The company Volvo AB had no activities until the 10 August 1926 when the SKF Sales Manager Assar Gabrielsson and Engineer Gustav Larson, after one year of preparations involving the production of 10 prototypes, set up the car-manufacturing business Volvo AB within SKF group. Volvo AB was introduced at the Stockholm stock exchange in 1935 and SKF then decided to sell its shares in the company.
The first series produced Volvo automobile, called 'ÖV4' (Öppen vagn (Open wagon)-4 cylinders) left the factory on 14 April 1927. Just 996 cars were produced between 1927-1929. 'ÖV4' was replaced by model PV651 in April 1929. Volvo's first success in the automobile production came with the PV444 that was introduced in september 1944.
The Volvo Group today has more than 81,000 employees, with manufacturing in 25 countries and sales in more than 185 markets. The group provides complete solutions for financing and service. The Volvo Group's net sales 2004 amounted to €22 billion. Renault owns 20% of the Volvo Group.
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The Smart Forfour was introduced in 2004 and, unlike its "little brothers", is a more conventional 5-door hatchback supermini with a roomy interior, available as a four or five seater.
Smart Forfour
The car was produced at the NedCar factory in the Netherlands in conjunction with Mitsubishi Motors. This is the same factory that produced Volvo 340 cars in 1970s and 1980s and the Volvo v40's in the 1990s. To save production costs, the Smart Forfour shares most of its components with the 2003 Mitsubishi Colt. This includes the chassis, suspension and a new generation of MIVEC petrol engines, ranging from the three cylinder 1.1 to to the four cylinder 1.3 and 1.5 L with power up to 80 kW (109 PS). The 1.5 L cdi diesel engine, on the contrary, is a three-cylinder Mercedes-Benz engine derived from the four-cylinder of the Mercedes-Benz A-Class, and is available with either 68 PS or 95 PS.
A Brabus-prepared sports version has been available since 2005. It is powered by a turbocharged Mitsubishi 4G15 engine, developing 130 kW (177 PS), 27 PS more than its "brother", the Mitsubishi Colt CZT. It can reach a maximum speed of 221 km/h (137 mph) and accelerate up to 100 Km/h (60 mph) in 6.9 seconds. The Forfour was to be sold in the United States along with the revived Smart Formore vehicle.[1]. However, due to slow sales, the Forfour has been phased out from production [2].
The brochures say the interior "is designed around the concept of a lounge", to test this out Top Gear presenters memorably spent 24 hours inside the ForFour. They said it was a nice place to be in but they would not buy the car. Richard Hammond memorably urinated in it.
參考: wiki,my car knowledge