It started quietly in 1955, when American hardware wholesaler Leo Hirsh went to Sweden to buy nails. Impressed by Volvo taxis, he arranged for a Volvo distributorship back home in California.
In 1956, Volvo established its own importing company in the United States. Car sales totaled just 1,605 that first year. In 1957, sales grew to 7,062, and they doubled to 14,002 in 1958. The rest, as they say, is history.
From 1956 to the mid-1960s, domestic cars in North America got longer, lower, wider and more powerful. Volvos in contrast were small and funky. In fact, most Americans thought the Volvo PV444 looked like a shrunken 1948 Ford.
But beneath their homely exterior lurked a surprise. The little Volvos blew the doors off the competition in speed, endurance and economy. Early ad campaigns alluded to Volvo's split personality as sporty/family cars, and the cars chalked up rally victories all over North America.
By the 1960s, the 120 series had entered the market, and 'Drive it like you hate it' had became both an ad campaign and a nickname for the gutsy cars from Gothenburg.
Volvo set up operations in Canada in 1961. In 1963, Volvo became the first European car manufacturer to open a North American assembly plant in the postwar era. It was in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. During the 1996 model year, the successor to that plant, now located in Halifax, Nova Scotia, will produce approximately 8,000 cars, many of them destined for sale in the United States.
With the introduction of the Volvo 140 series in the late 1960s, the rounded contours of its predecessors gave way to roomier, more expensive and distinctly angular cars.
The 145 wagons established Volvo's strong North American reputation for building 'family workhorses.' That perception and that marketing niche have remained a stronghold for Volvo wagons right into the 1990s.
The Volvo image again shifted subtly when the 164 entered the picture in 1969. Ads of that period introduced previously unmentionable words like 'plush' and 'elegant' into Volvo's North American lexicon.
Volvo's move into a more upscale family niche became firmly established with the introduction of the 240 series in 1975. The following year, the U.S. government purchased 24 Volvos for crash testing. Volvo says those tests led to the establishment of stricter government safety standards for all cars sold in the United States.
Volvo's tag line became 'The car for people who think,' and references to Volvo's safety innovations appeared in ads that teased: 'It shouldn't take an act of Congress to make cars safe.'
During the same period, the car industry and clean-air advocates were locked in a heated debate. California's stringent emissions standards for 1977 models were tougher than the federal standards for that year, but were less stringent than proposed federal standards for future years. During congressional hearings, a Big*3 representative declared that his company would 'close down rather than flout the law.' Volvo ended the debate abruptly. The company's 1977 series 240 models equipped with the Lambda sond emissions control system not only met California's standards, they exceeded them.
In the 1970s, the Volvo Group expanded beyond marketing only cars in North America. It began laying the groundwork for selling trucks and hydraulic pumps and motors and buses. The company even made a brief foray into the sporting goods business.
Meanwhile, Volvo's car business continued to grow. From 1955-95, dozens of European brands entered the North American market, shone briefly and disappeared. Volvo's U.S. retail sales hit their high-water mark in 1986 at 113,267. The U.S. new-car market reached its zenith the same year at 11,408,920. That was also the year Acura entered the market, and the Japanese luxury-car assault began.
When the U.S. stock market crashed in 1987, many carmakers - including Volvo -*suffered a massive sales meltdown that continued into the early 1990s. Several factors contributed to the depression of the North American car market during that period. Tax deductions for the interest on installment credit contracts and income tax deductions for retail sales taxes were eliminated. The federal luxury-car tax was instituted, and unfavorable exchange rates drove European car prices up.
Upscale Japanese products took the market by storm. Acura sold 52,869 cars its first year and doubled its sales the next year. Acura's success was followed by the entry of Lexus and Infiniti.
Sales plunged during the late 1980s for Volvo Cars of North America, but the company is rebuilding its volume, thanks to the success of the sporty 850 sedan, Volvo's first front-wheel-drive car in North America. Although Volvo's volume in Canada tends to be one-tenth of that in the United States, the 850 has been an even more dramatic success north of the border. In 1994, the 850 represented almost 70 percent of Volvo's total retail volume in Canada.
Rounding out the current model mix, the 're-engineered' Volvo 960 has brought Volvo into North America's 'near-luxury' segment.
Today, the Volvo brand name continues to be strong in the world's most competitive automotive marketplace. Volvo in North America is a reflection of both its dramatically changing market and its parent company's new emphasis on consolidation. Volvo Group companies in North America now include cars, buses, trucks and marine engines.
Volvo Cars of North America Inc. of Rockleigh, N.J., is the North American importer and wholesaler of new Volvo automobiles, parts and accessories. The company and its subsidiaries are owned by Volvo Car Corp. of Gothenburg, Sweden.
Volvos are sold by 375 U.S. dealers. Ports of entry are Hueneme, Calif.; Newark, N.J.; Jacksonville, Fla.; and Halifax, Nova Scotia. The cars entering North America are manufactured or assembled in Torslanda, Sweden; Ghent, Belgium; and Halifax. Parts and ac-cessory distribution centers are in Ruther-ford, N.J.; Suwanee, Ga.; and Carson, Calif.
In October 1993, Volvo Cars North America restructured its field and headquarters staffs. Marketing resources and broader decision-making authority were transferred from Rockleigh to four new regions. They are: the Southern region in Suwanee, Ga., which covers all or part of 11 states; the Central region, in Herndon, Va., 20 states and the District of Columbia; the Northeast region, in Rockleigh, nine states; and the Western region, in Irvine, Calif., 13 states.
Volvo Canada Ltd. in North York, Ontario, serves 50 dealers. The plant in Halifax assembles the 850 series, and Halifax is the port of entry.
A parts and accessory distribution center located in the North York headquarters complex serves the entire country.
