Volvo Group is a major Swedish multinational that manufactures heavy machinery, trucks, buses, marine engines, and industrial systems. Through its Israeli distribution partner Mayer Cars & Trucks, Volvo equipment has been extensively used by the Israeli military and Civil Administration in the demolition of Palestinian homes, infrastructure, agricultural structures, and water systems across the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Negev (Naqab), including recent documented demolitions in Masafer Yatta, Silwan, and Umm al‑Khair.
Volvo Group also holds a 27% stake in Merkavim, an Israeli bus manufacturer that provides armored buses used to transport Palestinian political prisoners to Israeli prisons. Some of these vehicles serve as mobile interrogation units for the Israeli General Security Service (Shin Bet).
Despite Volvo’s public statements denying control over its equipment’s use, the company continues to profit from and enable occupation infrastructure, even after facing criticism from the BDS Movement and human rights advocates.
Volvo Group is rated High Impact because it is directly integrated into the machinery of occupation. Its heavy equipment is regularly deployed by Israeli authorities to uproot Palestinian homes, demolish essential services, and clear land for illegal settlement expansion. By co-owning Merkavim, Volvo further profits from the targeted incarceration and interrogation of Palestinian political prisoners. These actions are documented, ongoing, and embedded in the operational apparatus of apartheid. Volvo’s products physically facilitate state violence. Its stake in prison transport infrastructure compounds its systemic role in oppression. Unlike consumer brands where impact is indirect, Volvo’s exposure is concrete and undeniable. Boycotting Volvo undercuts this structural corporate complicity and challenges one of the economic pillars that underwrites forced displacement and settler-colonial expansion.