Automotive industry in Sweden

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Sweden’s automotive industry centers on Volvo Cars and Saab Automobile, with AB Volvo and Scania AB among the world’s largest truck makers. Most Swedish cars and heavy vehicles are sold abroad: about 85% of passenger cars and 95% of heavy vehicles are exported. The sector is a major part of Swedish industry, employing around 110,000 people in 2011 and generating about 150 billion SEK in exports, roughly 12% of Sweden’s total export income. In 2009 Sweden produced about 128,700 passenger cars and 27,700 heavy vehicles.

Key moments in Sweden’s automotive history:
- 1891-92: The first Swedish automobile, a steam car built by Jöns and Anders Cederholm, made for travel between home and a summer house; a second improved steam car is now preserved in Skurup.
- 1898: Gustaf Erikson builds an internal combustion car for Vabis in Södertälje; production begins in 1902.
- 1900: Harald Håkansson creates Sweden’s first electric car prototype for AB Atlas; it did not go beyond the prototype.
- 1902: Maskinfabriks-aktiebolaget Scania in Malmö starts making cars and trucks; in 1911 it merges with Vabis to form Scania-Vabis.
- Early 1900s: Small manufacturers appear, such as Tidaholms Bruk (Tor truck), Åtvidabergs Vagnfabrik, and AB Thulinverken.
- 1920s-1930s: Ford and General Motors open assembly plants in Sweden; Volvo begins passenger car and light truck production in Gothenburg in 1927, with trucks helping the company stay profitable.
- 1949: Saab AB starts producing passenger cars in Trollhättan.
- 1950s-1960s: Volvo and Saab expand exports, including to the United States and the United Kingdom.
- 1969: Saab merges with Scania-Vabis to form Saab-Scania (later just Scania for trucks).
- 1970s-1980s: Volvo’s mid-range and premium models help growth; Saab expands with the larger 9000 in the 1980s.
- 1989: General Motors takes Saab under its control; 1993: Volvo considers merging with Renault and ends up with Renault’s truck business while Renault takes a stake in Volvo.
- 1994: Koenigsegg is founded; 1999: Volvo Cars sells to Ford; 2001: GM gains control of Saab Automobile; Volvo later sells its Scania stake to Volkswagen.
- 2002: Koenigsegg delivers its first production car; the company remains a rare Swedish specialty maker.
- 2008-2010: The global auto industry crisis hits hard; in 2009 Volvo Cars is sold to Chinese Geely; Saab changes hands multiple times and eventually goes bankrupt (Spyker briefly owned it in 2010–2011; NEVS buys the remains in 2012).
- 2013: Volvo AB announces a heavy-truck joint venture with Dongfeng in China, aiming to become the world’s largest heavy-truck producer.
- 2016: Uniti Sweden raises funds to develop a lightweight electric city car in Sweden, planning to produce about 50,000 cars per year with a range around 300 km and top speed about 120 km/h, powered by biocomposite and carbon-fiber construction.