A Swedish manufacturer of cars, trucks, buses, construction equipment, and industrial engines. Its equipment has been used in the demolition of Palestinian homes and the construction of illegal settlements and of the separation wall in the occupied West Bank. Its buses are serving settlements and transport political prisoners.
A Swedish-based, multinational public company, which manufactures trucks, buses, construction equipment and marine and industrial engines.
The Volvo Group provides heavy machinery used for the demolition of Palestinian houses in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, construction of Israeli settlements and construction of the Separation Wall.
In the South Hebron Hills area, Volvo wheel loaders were used to demolish houses in the Palestinian village of Umm al-Khayr and to block roads.
Volvo track excavators and wheel loaders were also used for house demolitions in the Palestinian neighborhoods of Tzur Baher, Silwan, Wadi Qaddum, Sheikh Jarrah, Beit Hanina and Issawiya in East Jerusalem.
The company's equipment was used for the construction of the Har Gilo settlement and the Barkan Industrial Zone. Volvo trucks were used for the construction of the Huwwara checkpoint, Route 443 (a West Bank road for Israelis only) and the Separation Wall near the Palestinian village of Al-Walaja.
Volvo Group excavators and loaders were also used for the demolition of houses of Palestinian citizens of Israel inside the Green Line. Volvo heavy machinery was used in multiple demolitions in the city of Lod. In addition, the company's wheel loaders were used in numerous attempts to evict the Bedouin community of Al-Araqib from its land in the Negev desert.
Volvo Buses, a subsidiary of the Volvo Group, owns 26.5% of Merkavim, which supplies armored buses for Egged lines in the occupied Palestinian territories. The rest of Merkavim is owned by Mayer's Cars and Trucks, which is the exclusive distributor of Volvo in Israel. Volvo Group buses are also used by the Central Company for the Development of Samaria and the Company for the Development of the Binyamin Council in the West Bank, for transportation services to the settlements. The Samaria Regional Council also owns and operates a Volvo licensed garage.
Two additional Volvo certified garages operate in the occupied Palestinian territories, in the industrial zones of Mishor Adumim and Atarot.
In response to a freedom of information request by Who Profits, the Israel Prison Service confirmed that the Volvo Group and its subsidiary Merkavim provide services to the Israel Prison Service, including buses for the transportation of prisoners.
In addition, the Volvo Group supplied maintenance trucks to the Jerusalem Light Rail project, which connects settlements in the Jerusalem area with the city center.
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On March 9, 2016, Palestinian activists led by Bassem Al-Tamimi filed a $34.5 billion civil lawsuit in D.C. against individuals and companies that have been "funding violent settlement activities in occupied Palestine." The lawsuit names several defendants, including G4S, RE/MAX, Africa Israel Investments, Motorola, Volvo, Ahava Dead Sea Laboratories, Oracle Corp., and Hewlett Packard Enterprise.
- On March 15, 2015, the Student's Society of McGill University passed a resolution divesting from companies that profit from the "Illegal Occupation in Palestinian Territories," including Volvo.