Ford Motor Company acquired Volvo Cars in 1999, gaining the Volvo Cars brand.
The purchase was part of Ford’s expansion of its Premier Automotive Group, a portfolio that included several European luxury and performance marques. Volvo brought a strong reputation for safety engineering, practical family vehicles, and Scandinavian design to Ford’s international automotive operations.
Volvo Cars remained under Ford ownership until 2010, when Ford sold it to Geely, a Chinese automotive group. Volvo Cars and Volvo Group are related historically but are separate companies: Volvo Cars makes passenger vehicles, while Volvo Group focuses mainly on trucks, buses, construction equipment, and related products.
A common mix-up is identifying the acquisition as Volvo Group. Ford bought the passenger-car business, Volvo Cars, not the entire modern Volvo Group. The transaction therefore concerns the car brand and company specifically.