In its own history, Volvo is a Swedish world leading manufacturer of commercial vehicles, buses, and construction equipment, drive systems for marine and industrial applications, aerospace components and service, and this group also provides complete solutions for financing and service. Volvo Cars, however, which is the manufacturer of automobiles that we know at present, has since been owned by the Ford Motor Company starting the year 1999. The name Volvo is a Latin word that means "I roll". This name surely fits well as a description of their products - vehicles - that the company crafts. However, originally, it is a name for a ball bearing that was being developed by the company which, at that time, provided funding to a small number of employees for them to be able to set up the car manufacturing business. Today, the Volvo Group has been manufacturing vehicles in twenty five countries with its sales in more than 185 markets around the globe. Some of the reasons why Volvo had took the initiative to sell the automobile manufacturing was because of the increasing development costs for new car models, added up with the fact that at that time it was a relatively small producer of such. Its strategy was then to grow as a truck manufacturer where it had a stronger market position. Now, Volvo the line of vehicles is included and part of the Ford Motor Company's line up. The list of Volvo models could look seemingly endless with new models coming up out in the market regularly. A part of the list includes the Volvo 140 which consists of the models Volvo 142, which is a two door vehicle, the Volvo 144, which has four doors, and the Volvo 145, which is an estate wagon. This model was first introduced in 1967. The Volvo 140 series was the start of using a three number system for their crafts. It is some sort of acronym for the first number indicates the series, the second number displays the number of series, and the third number shows the number of doors. The very first Volvo to feature the classic boxy look is the Volvo 140. This provided a lot of interior space, as compared to the Volvo Amazon. It also bore a radical new design with the only similar features to the Amazon being the split grill and some parts of the interior. The basic shape of the Volvo 140 lived into the 1990s with the 200 series. It used the same 85 hp engine, and then later was changed to the B20 engine. A 115 hp engine was also made available. Going back to 1966, the Volvo 140 had been awarded and had been named as the Car of the Year for that year by the Swedish magazine Teknikens Varld. |
