page_title: Automotive industry in Sweden
section_title: Up to 1918
hierarchical_section_title: Automotive industry in Sweden / History / Up to 1918
caption_attribution_description: English: Early automobile, constructed by the brothers Jöns and Anders Cederholm in Ystad, Sweden, in 1893. It was run by a steam engine with two cylinders. The wheels are ordinary wagon wheels. Svenska: En tidig automobil, konstruerad av bröderna Jöns och Anders Cederholm i Ystad 1893. Den drevs av en tvåcylindrig ångmaskin; hjulen var vanliga vagnshjul.
context_page_description: The automotive industry in Sweden is mainly associated with passenger car manufacturers Volvo Cars and Saab Automobile but Sweden is also home of two of the largest truck manufacturers in the world: Volvo AB and Scania AB. The automotive industry is heavily dependent on export as some 85 percent of the passenger cars and 95 percent of the heavy vehicles are sold outside of Sweden. The automotive industry and its sub-contractors is a major part of Swedish industry. In 2011 around 110,000 people were employed and the export income of 150 billion SEK accounted for 12 per cent of Sweden's export income. During 2009 128,738 passenger cars and 27,698 heavy vehicles were built in Sweden.
context_section_description: The first Swedish automobile was a steam car built in 1891-92 by brothers Jöns and Anders Cederholm. They planned to use it for transportation between their home in Ystad and their summer house outside town. Unfortunately the automobile was destroyed in Sweden's first automobile accident but the Cederholm brothers soon built a second, improved version of their steam car reusing many parts from the first one. The car is preserved in a museum in Skurup.
  In 1898 Gustaf Erikson at Surahammars Bruk built an automobile with an internal combustion engine for Vabis in Södertälje. Erikson continuously improved his car until Vabis was satisfied, and started production of automobiles and trucks in 1902.
  Harald Håkansson built the first electric car in Sweden on behalf of AB Atlas in 1900. Unfortunately the project never went beyond this single prototype.
  The bicycle manufacturer Maskinfabriks-aktiebolaget Scania in Malmö started producing automobiles and trucks in 1902. The company amalgamated with Vabis in 1911, creating Scania-Vabis. The new company concentrated their production of automobiles and light trucks to Södertälje while the Malmö plant built heavy trucks.
  In 1903, Tidaholms Bruk built a truck called Tor. After a second Tor prototype the company started production on a larger scale under the name Tidaholm. Tidaholm built a small number of automobiles but their main products were heavy trucks and buses.
  Åtvidabergs Vagnfabrik used an American high wheeler as model for their automobile in 1910. This vehicle was so outdated Åtvidaberg did not manage to sell more than 12 of them. The rest of the cars were turned into draisines for railroad inspection.
caption: Cederholm #2, built in 1894.
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