Go, Go Little Volvo!

Hello again, dear readers! At Cocomats, we focus on a lot of different vehicle brands, but one that I don’t think really gets enough love is Volvo. Traditionally, Volvo is seen as the workhorse station wagon that is incredibly safe and will run forever, and this is mostly true, though modern iterations have veered into the crossover and SUV categories. However, the carmaker also has a distinct performance lineage that often gets overlooked in favor of its more pedestrian image.

Much of the focus on European cars is geared towards Germany, Italy, and England, but Scandinavia has a proud automotive tradition out of Gothenburg, Sweden. Volvo Cars was founded in 1927 with the creation of the Volvo ÖV4, and the brand has extended its reach to become the world’s second-largest manufacturer of heavy-duty trucks - Volvo owns the Mack truck brand in addition to its own proprietary trucks - as well as a strong racing lineage.

Some of the coolest and most notable entries in the Volvo livery are the 1950s-era P1800, the 1971 1800ES, which could hit 120mph (quite fast for the time), and the more modern racing S60s. The company has also competed at the Group A level with a few incredibly fast turbo-diesel engines that rival the modern Audi output.

Over the next couple of weeks, we will explore Volvo a bit more in-depth in their family cars and their sports cars to see what has made this brand so endearing and enduring over the decades. Thanks again for checking in, dear readers, and we look forward to our next adventure into the near-bulletproof Volvo's of the last half-century.

-Trey Fennell