Volvo Group

Volvo Group is a Swedish-based, multinational public company, which manufactures trucks, buses, construction equipment, marine, and industrial engines, and military equipment for the Swedish, French, and American military. Volvo is a direct target for boycotts for its involvement in the demolition of Palestinian homes and construction of illegal settlements, with equipment supplied via its Israeli distributor.

Involvement in Illegal Settlements

Volvo Group provides heavy machinery used for the demolition of Palestinian houses in the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem, and equipment for the construction of illegal Israeli settlements, and of the Separation Wall.

Family members and neighbors watch Volvo excavators leaving the site after demolishing their house | Tzur Baher, East Jerusalem | Mar 2007 | Photographed by Activestills
A Volvo wheel loader during demolitions | Umm el Hair , South Hebron Hills | Jan 2012 | Photographed by Ta’ayush

According to Who Profits Volvo Buses, a subsidiary of the Volvo Group, owns 26.5% of Merkavim Transportation Technologies, a private Israeli company that manufactures armored buses used in bus routes to settlements in the occupied West Bank. Merkavim’s remaining shares are held by Mayer's Cars and Trucks, which is the exclusive distributor of Volvo in Israel.

Merkavim’s armored bus, the Mars Defender, was developed in collaboration with the Israeli military. Israel Military Industries (IMI), formerly a state-owned company and now part of Elbit Systems, developed the armor in a joint project with the Israeli Transportation Ministry, Israel Police and Egged.

Merkavim also provides services to the Nachshon Unit, the operational arm of IPS that is responsible, among other things, for the transport of prisoners.

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