In the year before this, SKF Company had realized the huge market potential brought by automobile manufacturing industry to bearing manufacturers, and set out to set up a subsidiary specializing in providing parts for automobile manufacturers. At that time, SKF had become a world-famous developer and manufacturer of industrial bearings, because its founder Sven Wingquist invented a unique spherical bearing.
The name Volvo (all in capital letters) was invented by some members of the company's management who are quick-thinking and good at writing and language. The application for registration was submitted by SKF Company to the Royal Swedish Patent Registration Office through the AB Delmar Patent Office in Stockholm on February 20th, 2005. In Latin, "Volvere" is the infinitive of the verb "roll". For example, a pistol with wheels is called a revolver. When using the singular form of the first person, the verb "volvo" becomes "Volvo" and "I roll" means "I go forward bravely".
The name is concise, full of wisdom and strong symbolic meaning, which reminds people of the business field of the whole company. In addition, there is no letter R or S in the pinyin of this name, so it is easy to be pronounced by people in most parts of the world, and there are few spelling mistakes. At that time, SKF was already a large export enterprise, so it was fully aware of the value of an excellent brand.
A year or two before that, when Hysmans, an American entrepreneur and camera manufacturer, invented photographic film, he also adopted the same idea and chose a simple brand name for his product, without the letters R or S.
In order to have the greatest freedom to use this new brand name, SKF company made full use of this opportunity when describing the company's business scope in the registration application, so that the product scope covered completely different but interrelated fields. Some of these products have been produced by the company at that time, some may be produced in the future, and some have never been produced at all. These products include: "ball bearings, roller bearings, machinery, transmission devices, automobiles, bicycles, railway materials, transportation equipment, various means of transportation and spare parts and auxiliary devices for the above products."
Bicycle and railway materials have not yet started production. However, in the following years, Volvo did make some cars and other means of transportation. Other products with Volvo brand names are very fragmentary, such as gas stoves, trailers loaded with camping equipment, office chairs and so on.
After five years of silence, I began to move at full speed.
The first world war broke out soon after Volvo was founded, and the automobile industry stopped there. The efforts to find potential customers for bearings have to shift from the automobile industry to other industries needed for heavy vehicle manufacturing and war. After struggling for five years, Aktiebolaget Volvo Company closed its business on 1920. SKF decided to sell all products under its original brand in the future.
AB Volvo's name was shelved until August 1926. After a long period of persuasion, SKF's board of directors finally agreed to provide financial support for the idea of establishing an automobile manufacturing enterprise. For many years, a company employee named Arthur Gibrison has been brewing such an idea in his mind.
Arthur Grbrison and his engineer friend Gustav Larsen encouraged SKF to make their own cars in Sweden. SKF finally approved the project, provided the necessary funds, and the documents to create AB Volvo were rediscovered. The legal name of the company is also used to name the cars it produces. In the initial stage of prototype manufacturing, the product was named after Larson.
A brand symbol with a long history
At the same time, the company decided to adopt a new brand logo, which is an ancient chemical symbol of iron-a circle with an arrow in it, and the arrow obliquely points to the upper right corner. In western civilization, this is the oldest and most common trademark. It originated in the Roman Empire and is a symbol of three different concepts: Mars, Roman God of War and masculinity, thus reflecting the original origin between Mars and iron used to make most weapons at that time.
Because of this, this symbol has long been regarded as a symbol of the steel industry by countries all over the world, including Sweden. The reason why the brand logo representing iron is used in cars is to remind people of the Swedish steel industry with a glorious tradition, which is as powerful as steel. The brand logo on the car also includes Volvo written in the company's unique font. On the first car successfully manufactured by 1927, all the company's signs were completely displayed, including a diagonal ribbon on the radiator that tilted from top left to bottom right. This ribbon was originally set for fixing the chrome-plated car emblem for technical reasons, and then gradually evolved into a decorative symbol. Today, this ribbon can still be found on the radiator grille of every Volvo car produced. In addition, the symbol representing iron can still be found in the center of the steering wheel.
The company is still moving forward.
1999, Volvo Car Company was transferred to Ford Motor Company by its owner AB Volvo Company. However, there is a reservation in the transfer agreement: Volvo Car Company and other companies under the Volvo Group can still use this brand name in the future. Therefore, this brand name becomes the property of Volvo Trademark Holding Company, which is jointly owned by Volvo Group and Ford Motor Company and has the right to decide where to use the brand name. At present, the management organization of the holding company consists of Ralph Johnson, President and CEO of Volvo Car Company, and Bill Ford, Chairman and CEO of Ford Motor Company.
So far, the total number of cars produced by Volvo has reached about 654.38+03.5 million, in addition to millions of trucks, large cars and construction machinery, as well as millions of marine engines, aviation engines and industrial engines. Among the cars produced, there are still 8 million cars driving around the world. At that time, Alfred Delmar, a patent affairs engineer who signed the trademark application as the representative of SKF, could hardly imagine that he would play an important role in the process of creating an important company, which was still familiar and respected by people all over the world after 90 years and attracted the attention of the global industry.
(turning)