Gayle Anderson reports Autotrader.com celebrates Volvo’s 70th USA Anniversary! Volvo began producing cars at its Gothenburg, Sweden, factory in 1927. That endeavor grew into the Volvo Group, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of commercial vehicles, selling trucks under Volvo, Renault Trucks, Mack Trucks, Volvo Penta, Prevost, and other brands. The group has production sites in 20 countries and sales offices in 190 countries.
Volvo showed a prototype vehicle at the California State Fair in 1947. The first export for sale in the U.S., a PV444, arrived at the Port of Los Angeles in 1955. 2025 marks the 70th year Volvo has been selling passenger cars in the U.S.
Volvo’s safety features alone are reason to buy. Volvo invented or pioneered various safety features such as 3-point seat belts, rear-facing child seats, and booster seats.
The modern three-point safety belt was perfected by Volvo engineer Nils Bohlin in 1959. Its patent given for free to the world. The invention has been credited with saving at least a million lives worldwide.
In 1990, Volvo was the first automaker to integrate a booster into a vehicle’s rear seat. Volvo was also the first to add a side airbag in 1991, and, in 1998, was the first to offer a side curtain airbag system for both front and rear passengers. That tradition continues with blind-spot monitoring, rollover prevention, pedestrian detection, drowsy or distracted driver monitoring, and cloud-based vehicle-to-vehicle safety warnings for road conditions ahead.
To learn more about this incredible automaker, take a look at Autotrader.com.
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Gayle Anderson reports for the KTLA 5 Morning News June 10, 2025.