The Volvo 300 series consisted of the Volvo 340 (initially badged 345 and 343) and Volvo 360
The Volvo 340 is a rear wheel drive hatchback and from the mid-1980s onwards saloon developed in The Netherlands shortly after Volvo took over the DAF car company. Volvo purchased a share in the DAF company so that they could expand their range without the large (for a small car company) development costs of a new model. The Netherlands were also within the forerunner of the European Union which meant that Volvo could access EU markets more easily if the car was manufactured in the Netherlands.
First 3 door cvt tranmission models were produced in 1976 with a 1397cc engine shared with Renault Over the years the range expanded with five door verions available and a choice of manual as well as automatic transmission, 1721cc engines (also sourced from Renault and a saloon 4 door version. The last models were produced in 1991.
The Volvo 340 was available in Deluxe (DL), Grande Luxe (GL) and Grand Luxe Executive (GLE) versions as well as towards the end of its life a version with no suffix. Other European countries had a diesel engined version. The UK was the cars biggest export market. Initially the cars were introduced as the 343 and 345 to denote whether they had 3 or 5 doors but from 1983 onwards they were all called the Volvo 340.
Like other Volvos the 340 contained many ground breaking safety features which are now standard on all cars. It was a popular car in the UK throughout the 1980s regularly coming in the top 10 sales tables for each year as it seemed to offer a bit more luxury, safety and quality than similarly priced Ford Escorts, Austin Maestros and Vauxhall Astras.
Volvo 340s tended to have a slight image problm as they were never very fast and tended to be bought by middle aged and older people who wanted something safe.
Volvo 340s were very well built and are still widely found in the UK 15 years after production ceased, it is not unusal to see cars with 150,000+ miles on the clock.
The Volvo 360 shared the same body as the 340 but had a 2 litre engines and various generally more luxurious trim levels.
The Volvo 440 was introduced from 1987 onwards and gradually replaced the Volvo 340, which remained in production until 1991.
