The first Volvo car rolled off the Gothenburg production line in Sweden in 1927. Since then, Volvo Car Group has been a world-leader in safety technology and innovation. Today, Volvo is one of the most well-known and respected car brands in the world with sales in about 100 countries.

Volvo Car Group (Volvo Cars) is owned by Zhejiang Geely Holding (Geely Holding) of China. Volvo Cars formed part of the Swedish Volvo Group until 1999, when the company was bought by Ford Motor Company. In 2010, Volvo Cars was acquired by Geely Holding.

The ‘Volvo’ name is owned by Volvo Trademark Holding AB, which is jointly owned by Volvo Cars and Volvo Group.

The company’s corporate and brand strategy ‘Designed Around You’ puts people at the centre and is a foundation and a guide for the business, the products and the corporate culture.

Volvo cars are marketed and sold by regional market companies and national sales companies through approximately 2,300 local dealers in about 100 countries. Most of the dealerships are independent companies. As of December 2017, Volvo Cars had around 38,000 full-time employees around the globe.

Volvo Cars produces premium-segment car models in three versions: sedans (S60, S90), versatile estates (V40, V60, V90) and SUV vehicles (XC40, XC60, XC90).

In 2017, Volvo Cars sold 571,577 cars, the company's fourth consecutive year of record sales. Relative to the strength of the brand, Volvo Cars is a small producer, with a global market share of 1-2 per cent. The largest market, China, represented some 20 per cent of the total sales volume in 2017, followed by the United States (14%), Sweden (13%), the United Kingdom (8%) and Germany (7%).

For the 2017 financial year, Volvo Car Group recorded an operating profit of 14,061 MSEK (11,014 MSEK in 2016). Revenue over the period amounted to 210,912 MSEK (180,902 MSEK).

Volvo Cars head office, product development, marketing and administration functions are mainly located in Gothenburg, Sweden. Since 2011, Volvo Cars has offices in Shanghai and Chengdu, China. The Volvo Cars China headquarters in Shanghai includes a Technology Centre and functions such as sales and marketing, manufacturing, purchasing, product development and all other supporting functions.

Apart from the main car production plants in Gothenburg (Sweden) and Ghent (Belgium), Volvo Cars has since the 1930s manufactured engines in Skövde (Sweden). Production of body components has been located in Olofström (Sweden) since 1969. The company furthermore operates an assembly plant in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) and research and development centres in Copenhagen (Denmark) and Silicon Valley (USA). Volvo Cars also has design centres in Gothenburg (Sweden), Camarillo (USA) and Shanghai (China).

In 2013, Volvo Cars started production at its manufacturing plant in Chengdu, China. This plant produces Volvo cars for the Chinese and US markets. A second manufacturing plant in Daqing, China started production in 2014, while Volvo Cars also has an engine factory in Zhangjiakou, China. In the US, Volvo Cars is building a manufacturing facility in Berkeley County, South Carolina, which opens in 2018.