Volvo

In 1957 Volvo started a project to create a sports car, despite the fact that their previous attempt, the P1900, had failed to take off with only 68 cars sold. Design work was done by Pelle Petterson under the tutelage of Italian auto stylist Pietro Frua at the prestigious carrozzeria Ghia. Volvo hoped to outsource production at Karmann in Osnabrück, but Karmann's most important customer Volkswagen, forbade the company to take on the job. They feared that the P1800 would compete with the sales of their own Karmann Ghia and threatened to cancel all their contracts with Karmann if they took on this car. Volvo then turned to Jensen Motors, whose production lines were under-utilised, and they agreed on a contract for 10,000 cars. The Linwood body plant of manufacturer Pressed Steel was in turn sub-contracted by Jensen to create the unibody shells, which were then taken by rail to be assembled at Jensen in West Bromwich, England. In September 1960, the first production P1800 left Jensen. 

Since Volvo was not satisfied with the quality delivered by the Jensen factory, the contract was ended early after 6,000 cars had been built. In 1963 production moved to Volvo's Lundby Plant in Gothenburg and the car's name was changed to 1800 S. For 1970 numerous changes came with the fuel-injected 1800 E, which had the B20E engine with Bosch D-Jetronic fuel injection and a revised camshaft. In addition, it was the first 1800 with four-wheel disc brakes.

Volvo introduced its final P 1800 variant, the 1800 ES, in 1972 as a two-door shooting brake with a frameless, all-glass tailgate. The final design was chosen after two prototypes had been built by Sergio Coggiola and Pietro Frua. Both Italian prototypes were considered too futuristic and instead, in-house designer Jan Wilsgaard's proposal was accepted. Only 8,077 units of the ES were built in its two model years. Nevertheless, the design proved to be very popular with future Volvo-designers. It was a major influence on the Volvo 480, on multiple concept cars and on the Volvo C30.