20 Scandinavian car makers

Scandi phwoar

There’s a lot more to Scandinavia than Saab and Volvo when it comes to car makers.

In fact, there have been many car producers across the Scandinavian region, by which we mean Norway, Denmark and Sweden, some small and others more successful.

A few still survive to this day alongside the giant that is Volvo.

So let’s celebrate some of Scandinavia’s notable and notorious, and sadly in many cases forgotten, car companies, arranged in alphabetical order.

1. Anglo-Dane (Denmark)

The ‘Anglo’ part of this Danish firm’s name came about because it started building bicycles with some English-sourced parts.

However, its cars made from 1902 to 1917 were wholly from Denmark, including the air-cooled twin-cylinder engine.

HC Fredericksen was the driving force behind the Anglo-Dane company and the cars used an unusual double-friction-disc design of transmission, which gave 12 forward speeds.

Around 80 vehicles were produced by Anglo-Dane before it was merged with Jan and Thrige to concentrate on building trucks.

2. Bjering (Norway)

Following the fashion for cyclecars, Hans Christian Bjering introduced his eponymous car in 1920.

It used an air-cooled V4 engine with a capacity of 2 litres, which gave it considerably brisker performance than most other narrow-bodied cyclecars.

As well as front wheels on the Bjering, it could be fitted with skis to cope with Norway’s harsh winter weather, and the car was trialled by the Norwegian military, with limited success.

In total, only around six Bjerings are thought to have been built between 1920 and 1925.

3. Brems (Denmark)

Clearly inspired by their time working for Wartburg, brothers Aage and Jacob Brems set up their own car company in Viborg, Denmark, in 1899.

Production of their 3.8hp machine ran from 1900 to 1907, yet they built only eight cars in total.

The first and last cars built used a twin-cylinder engine, but the intervening six machines were fitted with a single-cylinder motor. There was a two-speed friction transmission, but it did without a reverse gear.

4. Caresto (Sweden)

Despite making many cars that appear to come from the 1930s, Caresto was founded in 1996 as a hot rod and restoration business by Leif Tufvesson.

The quality of his work soon brought him to the attention of other Scandinavian makers, such as Koenigsegg and Volvo.

Using classic Volvos as an inspiration, Caresto has gone on to make award-winning hot rods. These use Volvo V8 and twin-turbo six-cylinder engines, keeping with the Swedish theme of their design and build.

The company also offers a ’31 Ford hot rod model called the SportsRod with modern suspension that can be fitted with a traditional V8 or high-performance ’bike engine.

5. CityEl (Denmark)

The CityEl began life as a battery-powered urban runaround from Danish firm El Trans.

It was launched in 1987 to a muted response, not helped by its single-seat design that limited its practicality and appeal even to more environmentally aware buyers at the time.

Similar to a Bond Bug, the whole upper canopy hinged forwards to give access to the cabin, and CityEl offered hardtop and convertible versions.

A 2.5kWh motor meant a top speed of 25mph, while the batteries gave a driving range of up to 43 miles. Production of the CityEl later moved to Germany.

6. Dansk (Denmark)

Like many early car manufacturers, HC Christiansen’s Dansk company started out building bicycles and expanded into cars.

The first Dansk was shown in 1902 and the marque sold early models to Copenhagen’s emerging taxi trade.

However, the cars proved too noisy for passengers, so the company switched to Oldsmobile engines from the original Cudell motors.

More models were added to the range in 1904, and the company also sold its cars under the Christiansen brand and as Dansk Fabrikat-badged cars. However, production came to an end in 1908.

7. Fram King Fulda (Sweden)

Built under licence from Fulda, the Fram King had an unusual production process in Sweden.

The glassfibre bodies were made on the island of Ven in the Øresund, before they were sent to the town of Helsingborg where Fram King had its factory.

Around 400 Fram King Fuldas were produced. It proved a popular car for its economy, but a fire at the Ven glassfibre works put an end to this three-wheeler, two-seater microcar that used a 200cc single-cylinder engine.

8. Jösse Car (Sweden)

Jösse Car took the Austin-Healey 3000 as the inspiration for its Indigo 3000, but this was a thoroughly modern interpretation.

A spaceframe chassis provided the base for this open two-seater sports car, while the Swedish maker looked within its own borders for the engine in the shape of a 3-litre straight-six from Volvo.

With 204bhp, the Indigo had a claimed top speed of 155mph and it went on sale in 1994 with a UK price of £21,500. That pitched it against the TVR Chimaera and there were few takers for the Swede.

The company ceased trading in 1999 after just 43 Indigos were made.

9. Kalmar KVD440 (Sweden)

Based on the DAF 44 from The Netherlands, the Kalmar was a Swedish small car that found favour with that country’s post office.

Its sliding side doors, right-hand drive and compact size proved ideal for delivering the mail, while the Variomatic transmission from DAF made it very easy to drive.

The Kalmar earned the nickname ‘Tjorven’ due to its unusual looks, because this was the name of a popular Swedish television character of the same period.

Around 2000 Kalmars were built between 1969 and 1971, with plenty surviving thanks to the car’s glassfibre body.

10. Kewet (Denmark)

The Kewet has a strong Scandinavian history, because it started out as a small electric city car designed and built in Denmark.

Launched in 1991 with lead-acid batteries, a 13kW motor and driving range of up to 62 miles, it could also seat three people. A top speed of 56mph felt much quicker in the tiny Kewet.

Alongside its Buddy successor made in Norway, the Kewet went on to make up a fifth of all electric cars on Norway’s roads in 2007.

11. Koenigsegg (Sweden)

The brainchild of Christian von Koenigsegg, this Swedish supercar manufacturer began life in 1994 before the first prototype was tested in 1996. It took the fledgling company until 2000 for the production-ready CC8S to be seen.

Unlike many small supercar firms, Koenigsegg committed to building its own engines from the very start.

The supercharged V8 was uprated for the CCR model, which made this the most powerful production car in the world at the time.

It was also the quickest thanks to a top speed of 241mph that just pipped the McLaren F1.

12. Logicar (Denmark)

Designer Jacob Jensen wanted to create a Danish car that would be all things to all drivers, and the Logicar was what he came up with.

Based on an air-cooled Volkswagen platform, the Logicar could convert from a large two-door estate car into a pick-up by sliding the rear pillars and tailgate forwards. The side windows were then tucked away.

The idea gained support from Denmark’s government and VW expressed an interest in building the Logicar in Mexico.

However, when the boss of VW died, so did support for the project and only a small number of prototypes were ever made.

13. OBC (Sweden)

There was no shortage of ambition with the design of the Mantorp from OBC, which stood for Ottmar Beckmann Cars.

It came with a glassfibre body and chassis tub, and a mid-mounted BMW engine attached to a Porsche gearbox.

Early indications were the prototype went very well, and the company planned to produce five cars per week from a factory employing 100 staff.

However, ambition outstripped financial ability and OBC sank having built just the one prototype Mantorp, which took its name from Mantorp Park race circuit, near Mantorp in Mjölby Municipality, Sweden.

14. Reva (Sweden)

Reva offered Swedish buyers a similar proposition to the one Ginetta provided in the UK in the 1960s.

A lightweight coupé body with simple, commonly sourced mechanical components at a keen price was the recipe.

However, Reva used the Volkswagen Beetle as its base rather than the Ginetta G15’s Hillman Imp donor.

The GT lasted through three series, each offering progressively more power, and improved suspension and brakes.

By 1968, Reva even offered a Buick 3.5-litre V8-powered version, but Sweden changed its regulations surrounding component car builds that killed off the GT when 20 cars had been sold.

15. Saab (Sweden)

One of Sweden’s two prominent car makers, Saab enjoyed a reputation for unconventional, clever engineering.

Its experience with aircraft influenced the shape of its early cars, making them more aerodynamic than many contemporaries and able to get the most out of modest two-stroke engines.

In the 1970s, more than any other mainstream car manufacturer, Saab championed turbocharging and showed its huge potential with the 99 turbo.

In an instant, the Swedish firm had a comfortable executive saloon or hatch combined with sports-car performance.

16. Stranden (Norway)

Einar Stranden was no ordinary 18-year-old. At that age, he designed and built an entirely original car that became known as the Stranden Scorpione.

He saved himself some trouble by using a Volkswagen floorpan complete with rear-mounted engine and all of the suspension attached.

However, Stranden approached the project as a new car concept, with all of the drawings and technical details catalogued.

When the car was finished, it gained huge press interest and was touted for production, though this came to nothing.

Volkswagen even asked Stranden to bring the car to Wolfsburg for inspection, and gifted him a brand-new engine and gearbox for the car.

17. SVJ (Denmark)

Taking the dumpy Auto Union 1000S as a starting point, Steen Volmer Jensen got rid of the body and replaced it with his own design of two-door coupé.

The resulting SVJ 1000 GT was a very pretty car and Jensen had plans to put it into production.

Performance of a production version would have been improved with the addition of a 120bhp rotary engine from NSU.

These plans amount to nothing and the SVJ remained a one-off, but Jensen did go on to produce the CityEl electric car.

18. Troll (Norway)

The Troll could very easily have been a keen rival to the Porsche 356 when it was launched in 1956.

It was the idea of coffee entrepreneur Per Kohl-Larsen, who latched on to the idea of glassfibre for the body to make it lighter and easier to create the car’s curves. All up, the Troll weighed 700kg (1543lb).

Power came from a two-cylinder 700cc two-stroke engine produced by Gutbrod-Werke, but it was unreliable and Troll considered using Saab’s two-stroke engine instead.

However, it was the Norwegian government that sank the project after only five cars were made. It wouldn’t grant an export licence to Kohl-Larsen and he closed the company facing financial ruin in 1958.

19. Södertälje Verkstäder (Sweden)

Progressing from building railway vehicles, Södertälje Verkstäder launched its first motor car in 1902.

The Helios used a German-made engine from the Kühlstein company and the design provided four seats, with two benches facing each other. The driver sat on the rear bench to face forwards and had tiller steering.

Södertälje Verkstäder also imported the Northern make of car from the US, which it rebranded Nordern for the Swedish market.

Neither this nor the Helios proved successful, and the firm gave up car manufacture and returned its focus to railway vehicles.

20. Volvo (Sweden)

Volvo started out in 1927 in Gothenburg when the company launched its OV 4.

Its reputation for making solid, reliable cars was cemented in the post-war period with the PV444, which found a willing market in the US.

By then, safety was a core theme of Volvo design and the company patented Nils Bohlin’s three-point seatbelt in 1959.

It hasn’t just been about safety, though, because Volvo showed it could create desirable coupés, too, with the P1800.

It was also an early adopter of the sports estate with the P1800ES, and it won a whole new customer base when it introduced the turbocharged 850 T5 in 1993, followed by the T5-R wild child in 1994.