The Vilvo Museum moved to new location
After the city walks, it was time to pay homage to one of Sweden’s greatest icons, so we headed to the Volvo Museum. The museum is located about 15 kilometers west of the city center, in an industrial area called Arendal, right on the beach.
Although Gothenburg’s public transportation is brilliant, this trip held some surprises. We set off by bus, and at one point we were supposed to change to a connecting bus, but nothing came at the posted time. We waited, looked at the schedule, and thought we were at the wrong stop. Finally, we found a dispatcher’s phone number and called the bus company. That’s when we were shocked. They said that the bus would only run on that section if we “ordered” the driver by phone at least an hour before the trip! We had never encountered such a solution on any of our trips, and we were completely amazed by this flexible but unusual system.
Since we didn’t want to wait another hour at the bus stop, we instead ordered an Uber, which was there within minutes and took us to the museum.
The museum itself exceeded all our expectations. It’s incredible to see the development from the very first model in 1927 (the ÖV4) to the futuristic concept cars. What impressed us the most was the condition of the cars: they all looked as if they had just rolled off the assembly line, they were so beautifully shiny. We saw not only passenger cars, but also huge trucks, buses, and even Volvo aircraft engines.
Of course, we couldn’t leave empty-handed, we bought great gifts for our friends’ children in the souvenir shop – everything from small model cars to plush reindeers was “Volvo”.
Having learned our lesson, we were wiser on the way back. We asked the museum receptionist to kindly call us the bus. Luckily, there was a bus that arrived in the area in a few minutes, so we finally glided back to the city in style on the “on-demand” bus, enriched by another strange Swedish experience.
There is a very recent and spectacular change regarding the Volvo Museum. The big change has just taken place, which has taken the presentation of the brand to a whole new level.
The move was officially completed on April 14, 2024, when the new center opened its doors to the public. This date is also symbolic, since Volvo presented its first car, the ÖV4, on this exact day in 1927.
For decades the Volvo Museum was located in Arendal, in the harbor district of Gothenburg. Although the collection was impressive, the location was a bit out of the city center, but the new location (World of Volvo) is no longer just a museum, but a huge experience center in the heart of Gothenburg, right next to the Liseberg amusement park and Universum. The building itself is an architectural masterpiece: a huge, circular, wooden structure that evokes the Scandinavian landscape and nature.
The two are very different experiences. While the old location was more of a hangar filled with classic cars, the new World of Volvo center focuses on interactive exhibits, sustainability, and future technologies, along with vintage favorites. If you’re visiting, the new location is much easier to access and architecturally a lasting experience.
