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Volvo Amazon Production Data With a modest production start the first series produced Volvo Amazon rolls off the Lundby factory assembly line on October 24th 1956. It carries chassis number 1 and is followed by chassis number 2 on November 8th and by chassis number 3 on December 7th the same year (it says July 12th in the delivery books but this is most likely wrong as the three cars were manufactured between August 27th and September 1st 1956; July 12th is written 12/7 in Swedish while December 7th is written 7/12). The first cars are officially intended as show room cars, although this seems like a poor explanation (given the founders' profit interest and the way they have run the company so far) to cover up poor sales. It isn't until more than half a year later that the first car is delivered to a paying customer. But then it quickly becomes a success - also abroad, including the so important North American market. Seen from a historic perspective, the car is one of the biggest successes to Volvo, who's continued expansion would not have been possible without the Amazon.
Volvo Amazon is during the first years only available with the four door body (P 120). In October 1961 the by many percieved as the sportier two door version (P 130) is introduced, and at the Stockholm Motor Show in February 1962 also the Estate (P 220). The different bodies have their own series of chassis numbers, which is illustrated by the table below. This includes the two prototypes X1 and X2. From the same table it is obvious when parts of the production assets are relocated to the 140-series in 1966. The last Amazon rolls off the production line at the Torslanda plant in Gothenburg on Friday July 3rd, 1970 and has chassis number 359726 (a dark blue P 130). It was saved and can be seen at the Volvo Museum in Arendal. The remaining 192 units are shipped as CKDs (completely knocked down units) to the assembly plant in Durban, South Africa. Volvo does not have production data broken down per edition. In other words, it is difficult to answer questions like how many 123 GTs were produced, how many 122 S were exported as CKDs to Canada, how many red Amazon Sport were sold in Sweden in 1959, etc. Generally, the split between 121 and 122 S was 80/20. That is, approximately 20% of the customers chose to pay extra for a Volvo 122 S over a Volvo 121. Series production is preceded by two prototypes. Read more about them in the section on history. The first prototype, called X1, had chassis number 1 and was registered for traffic in Sweden on April 10th, 1956. It was scrapped by Volvo already on December 1st the same year. The second prototype, called X2, had chassis number 2 and was registered for traffic in Sweden on June 11th, 1956, was eventually sold to a private person and not scrapped until November 13th, 1967. |
| Period | Model year | P 120 | P 130 | P 220 | Totals | ||||
| Ch.-no. |
Number |
Ch.-no. |
Number |
Ch.-no. |
Number |
Number |
Accumulated |
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| Spring 1956 | 1956* | X1 - X2 | |||||||
| August 1956 - spring 1958 | 1957 | 1 - 5272 | 5,184 | 5,184 | 5,184 | ||||
| February 1958 - November** 1958 | 1958 | 4436 - 14999 | 9,815 | 9,815 | 14,999 | ||||
| November** 1958 - October** 1959 | 1959 | 15000 - 32999 | 18,000 | 18,000 | 32,999 | ||||
| October** 1959 - July 1960 | 1960 | 33000 - 54399 | 21,400 | 21,400 | 54,399 | ||||
| August 1960 - July 1961 | 1961 | 54400 - 84299 | 29,900 | 29,900 | 84,299 | ||||
| August 1961 - July 1962 | 1962 | 84300 - 112799 | 28,500 | 1 - 10499 | 10499 | 1 - 1399 | 1,399 | 40,398 | 124,697 |
| August 1962 - July 1963 | 1963 | 112800 - 139999 | 27,500 | 10500 - 39999 | 29,500 | 1400 - 8274 | 6,875 | 63,575 | 188,272 |
| August 1963 - July 1964 | 1964 | 140000 - 166399 | 26,400 | 40000 - 84599 | 44,600 | 8275 - 17949 | 9,675 | 80,675 | 268,947 |
| August 1964 - July 1965 | 1965 | 166400 - 193799 | 27,400 | 84600 - 144399 | 59,800 | 17950 - 29399 | 11,450 | 98,650 | 367,597 |
| August 1965 - July 1966 | 1966 | 193800 - 225049 | 31,250 | 144400 - 216949 | 72,550 | 29400 - 44599 | 15,200 | 119,000 | 486,597 |
| August 1966 - July 1967 | 1967 | 225050 - 234653*** | 9,604*** | 216950 - 279899 | 62,950 | 44600 - 61799 | 17,200 | 89,754 | 576,351 |
| August 1967 - July 1968 | 1968 | 279900 - 312499 | 32,600 | 61800 - 70299 | 8,500 | 41,100 | 617,451 | ||
| August 1968 - July 1969 | 1969 | 312500 - 339999 | 27,500 | 70300 - 73220*** | 2,921*** | 30,421 | 647,872 | ||
| August 1969 - July 1970 | 1970 | 340000 - 359918 | 19,919 | 19,919 | 667,791 | ||||
Total |
234,653 |
359,918 |
73,220 |
667,791 |
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* Concerns the two prototypes X1 and X2 which had chassis numbers 1 and 2 respectively in their own chassis number series. Both were registered for traffic in Sweden and therefore included here. Click here for a printer friendly version of the table above. From the table above it is obvious that the whole model year concept, as we know it today, is at best fuzzy for Volvo during the first years of Volvo Amazon production. Most changes are introduced at certain chassisnumbers rather than in between two model years. In March 1958 Volvo issue a service message regarding the introduction of the new gearbox M4, and eventually also stated what chassis numbers belongs to what model year based on the gearbox (H6 means 1957 and M4 means 1958).
In total 5,184 produced 1957s, 9,815 1958s, 18,000 1959s, 21,400 1960s and 29,900 1961s. 
The table below presents the last planned chassis number per calendar year. The figures are listed in this document and have for the model years1961 to 1967 been verified with VADIS (Volvo Aftersales Diagnostic and Information System). According to Volvo, these are the only data available on the Volvo Amazon in VADIS. During 1966 or 1967, Volvo starts using computers to keep track of production and the figures are from then on kept per model year instead of, as before, per calendar year which is why figures on last planned chassis numbers are missing for model years 1968 to 1970.
* Calculated point in time based on available chassis number data and the assumption of an even distribution of produced cars during the period. The Lundby Factory In the beginning (1956 - 1963), all production takes place at the Lundby factory on Hisingen outside Gothenburg. The pictures below are taken outside the Lundby factory, where finished cars are lined up waiting for delivery (many are to be transported to Gothenburg's Skandia port for export). With time, the Lundby factory is outgrown and already in 1959 plans are made for a new and more modern production site at Torslanda further out on Hisingen (which at the time is little more than farm land). Production of cars continued in the Lundby plant with Volvo PV 544 and P 1800 also after the Amazon production was relocated to Torslanda and ended with 1800 ES in 1973. Today, the Lundby factory is owned by Volvo AB and hosts Volvo Trucks, Volvo 3P and Volvo Penta.
The third picture above is of the 100,000 exported Volvo car, a midnight blue Amazon with grey beige roof. The picture is taken in the Skandia port with the car placed in front of the Swedish Orient Line's freight liner M/S Timmerland. The year is 1958 and the man in the middle, with the hat on edge, is Volvo's CEO Gunnar Engellau. The text painted on the car reveals that the receiving country is Greece. The Torslanda Plant The sales success with Volvo Amazon during the years 1957 to 1963 enables Volvo to invest in, among other things, a new and for the purpose built production plant. This is located to Torslanda in the Sörred valley on Hisingen outside Gothenburg, some 4 miles west of the Lundby plant, where Volvo purchase 1,000 acres of land in November 1959 and starts preparing access roads. Construction proceeds according to plan and by the fall of 1961 the body factory (called TA) can deliver the first Amazon bodies to the Lundby factory. The paint factory (called TB) is ready in 1962 and the Torslanda plant is inaugurated by King Gustav VI Adolf on April 24, 1964. The King is driven around the site in a ÖV 4 that Volvo rented from a private person (Volvo didn't have any of their own), and is hosted by Gustaf Larson (Assar Gabrielsson passed away two years earlier). Volvo's investments in the Torslanda plant amounted to some 240 million SEK. The plant is already from the start dimensioned for a two-shift schedule and has a capacity of 200,000 cars per year. The first produced car at Torslanda is a Volvo Amazon, which is presented to King Gustav VI Adolf upon inauguration. The Torslanda plant is today one of northern Europe's biggest work sites. The picture gallery below contains promotional pictures from the brand new Torslanda plant taken during manufacturing of cars of model year 1964. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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In 1964, 8,040 Volvo cars (other models included) left Gothenburg as CKDs (completely knocked down) units for foreign assembly. With 118,464 produced vehicles this year, this corresponds to 7% of the production. With the assembly plant in Ghent yet to open, the trend is increasing. While the term CKD is often used, the units that Volvo shipped from Gothenburg for foreign assembly were not particularly knocked down. The obvious parts such windows, tires, batteries, etc. were not shipped but instead purchased from local suppliers by the assembly plant. Conclusions can be made from for instance reseller brochures that the tires on Canadian cars were of different make than that of the cars that left the Torslanda plant and from the type designation plates (that were practically empty) on the cars to South Africa it is easy to assume that they were delivered there unpainted and without upholstery. The reasons for assembling cars abroad were often tax driven; by imposing lower import duties on unassembled cars the governments of different countries could create jobs locally. For manufacturers, like Volvo, who's import to such countries would reach a certain annual volume it would be more profitable to assemble the cars locally. Below is a list of countries in which it is known and verfied that assembly of Volvo Amazon took place. The information on production and even on these sites is often very scarce. In 1960 Volvo co-founds the company DiVolvo S.A. in Chile together with Det Norske Veritas and starts the construction of an assembly plant in the coastal town of Arica, located in the norhern parts of the country. The plant is ready by the summer of 1962 and during the years 1962 - 1967 some 3,000 Volvo 122 S (all P 120 bodies) are shipped to Arica. Immediately following that the plant focused on assemblying Volvo engines and became an engine supplier for other Volvo assembly plants. The PV 544 and the P 1800 were also assembled in Arica. Volvo 122 S were sold in Chile also prior to 1962, but then imported from Sweden. In addition to operating an assembly plant, DiVolvo also supplied reseller and maintenance services and functioned as a training facility for Volvo in South America. From 1975 the business was focused on trucks and buses only. During 1960 Volvo starts planning an assembly plant in Canada, where strictly imposed import laws would make it less expensive (7.2 %) for Volvo to finish the cars locally compared to importing them from Sweden (as was done in for instance the USA). The plans become real on June 11th, 1963 when H R H Prince Bertil inaugurates Volvo's assembly plant in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. This is Volvo's second foreign production plant for cars and the only plant Volvo has ever had in North America. Volvo becomes the first European car manufacturer with production in North America. The cars assembled here are intended for the domestic Canadian market where they are marketed as Volvo Canadian. In addition to the Volvo Canadian (122 S), also the Volvo Canadian Station Wagon (P 220) and (later) the Volvo Canadian GT (123 GT) are assembled here. The plant is housed in an old converted sugar refinery in which Volvo later also assembles the PV 544 and the 140-series. In 1966, capacity has reached 3,700 cars annually or about 15 per day. In 1967, the plant is relocated a few miles to new and larger facilities in Halifax known as the Bayer's Lake plant, still in Nova Scotia. Capacity at the Bayer's Lake plant is initially just over 8,000 cars per year or about 35 per day. In 1969 one of the cargo ships carrying CKDs from Gothenburg to Halifax took in water during a storm and 22* of the cars incurred severe damage. They were dumped - with permission - in the Bedford Basin where they can be found at a depth of 200 ft. Rumor has it they are still well preserved... The plant was closed in 1998 when the import laws that justified its operation were changed. In total, the plant produced some 350,000 cars for the Canadian market between 1963 and 1998. The first European car to be manufactured in North America, a black 1963 four door Volvo 122 S, was saved and can be seen at the Nova Scotia Museum of Industry in Stellarton, Nova Scotia.
* The figures 20, 22, 25 and 32 circulate but 22 is the only one that occurs more than once. Also, it's not verified what kind of Volvos. On November 3rd, 1965 Volvo inaugurates its third assembly plant outside Sweden in Ghent, Belgium. It is officially called Volvo Europe N.V. and is called VENV internally (and in some litterature). "The Motor Prince" H R H Prince Bertil inaugurates also this assembly plant. The location provides Volvo with production inside the then European Economic Community (now European Union), for the second time improving the company's import strategy (Sweden did not join the European Union until 1995). The plant is dimensioned for an anual production of 14,000 cars and employs approximately 600 people. Until 1972, VENV is a pure assembly plant and full scale production of Volvo Amazon has never taken place there. In 1972, a welding factory and a paint shop are added to the final assembly line allowing full scale car production. The first car to be assembled at VENV is a Volvo Amazon, and a total of 26,310 Amazons leave VENV during 1965 - 1969. The Ghent factory is today Volvo's second largest production site for cars.
Volvo Amazon is also assembled at an assembly plant in Wentworth outside Durban in South Africa between 1966 and 1970, as is parts of the 140-series. The plant was built already in 1947 and was owned by two leading South African motor organizations: McCarthy Roadway Ltd and Atkinson Oats. The company behind the plant was called Motor Assemblies Limited and the Volvo Amazon cars that were assembled here have a plate riveted on the torpedo wall in the engine compartment (above the type designation plate) on which it says "Built by Motor Assemblies LTD, Durban South Africa". This is where the very last Volvo Amazons are shipped for assembly and sales during the fall of 1970. As far as Volvo is concerned, the assembly in Durban stopped in 1976 when Toyota takes control over Motor Assemblies Ltd. Volvo had no involvement in the company, which from its foundation in 1947 up to 1976 assembled cars from 34 different brands, mainly American and British. The plant was later relocated to Prospecton. In 1968, Volvo inagurates an assembly plant in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The plant is owned together with the local Volvo importer in a joint venture under the name Swedish Motor Assemblies Ltd and is located in Batu Tiga, Kuala Lumpur. The initial capacity of some 1,300 cars annually is soon increased to 2,500 cars per year. Swedish Motor Assemblies is fully owned by Volvo since 1999 and assembly of cars shipped from Sweden still takes place there. The plant employs some 200 people. |
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