Gustaf Larson

Erik Gustaf Larson was a Swedish automotive engineer and co-founder of Volvo, with a master's degree in mechanical engineering from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. In 1924 he met his friend Assar Gabrielsson, who planned to establish manufacture of a new Swedish car, and the two agreed to the project; a written contract followed in December 1925 under which Larson would do the engineering work for a new car and an investment plan for a complete new factory. Ten pre-series cars were designed and assembled in Stockholm under his supervision, and he was responsible for the technical design of the first Volvo model, the ÖV 4, which left the new factory on Hisingen in Gothenburg on 14 April 1927. Larson became vice president and technical manager of AB Volvo at the start of 1927 and stayed with the company until his death in 1968. Sources spell his surname both Larson and Larsson.