Volvo was funded in part by a Swedish ball-bearing company (the name
is Latin for "I roll") before becoming independent in 1935.
The company favored automobiles of sturdy construction that could
withstand the Scandinavian winters, and it pioneered numerous safety
features, like side airbags, rear-window brake lights, and the three-
point harness -- creating a reputation that led the National Highway
Traffic Safety Administration in 1976 to buy a fleet of Volvos that it
used to set national safety standards in the U.S.
Volvo engineers generally overlooked matters of style in their quest
for safety -- except in the case of the P1800, a snazzy design that
was adopted as the car of choice on the TV series The Saint, which
featured Roger Moore playing the polyglot thief Simon Templar.
In 1999, the company was bought by Ford, where it evolved into more of
a luxury brand, competing with the likes of Audi and BMW. Recently, at
least two Chinese manufacturers -- state-run Beijing Auto Group and
privately held Geely Automobile Holdings -- have expressed interest in
buying Volvo from Ford. The current price is rumored to be $3 billion,
$3.5 billion less than Ford paid for the company.
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