Divolvo

The Volvo 122S is the only passenger car model from Volvo's Chilean production.

Divolvo S.A. (translated "from Volvo") is the name of a former car and motor vehicle manufacturer. It was headquartered in Arica, Chile. The company was founded in 1960 as a joint venture between the Swedish vehicle manufacturer Volvo Personvagnar and Det Norske Veritas. Until the overtake by military administration in 1977, Divolvo was an important company of the Northern Chilean economy.

Divolvo started the production of the Volvo 122S in summer 1965 two years after the construction of Volvo's first plant in Halifax, Canada.[1][2] Approximately 3,000 units of the model were produced until the production ended in 1967. After that, Divolvo had manufactured engines which were supplied to any Volvo assembly plants. At this time, the Arica plant had the only training center for Volvo in Latin America. Furthermore, the service of the imported models P1800, PV544 and the local manufactured 122S was maintained.

In 1975, the plant was converted again, and was now destined for the production of buses, tractors and trucks. After completion of the conversion, the plant was operating under the name Comercial Automotriz Divolvo S.A. Divolvo remained as the only South American training center and production base until the start-up of the Brazilian Volvo do Brasil Veículos Ltda. two years later, which was also intended for the production of trucks for the Latin American market. As the Brazilian branch steadily grew, Divolvo was mainly inhibited by the economic situation during the period of dictatorship under Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte. In the early nineties, the plant was renovated. The sales rose against the expectation of the group slowly, so that Volvo at the beginning of the new millennium had decided to close the plant. During the year 2001, after the consumption of all inventories, the closure was completed.

In late 2003 Volvo returned to the Chilean market with an subsidiary. It is named Volvo Chile Ltda. and located in Santiago de Chile.

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