Volvo Car Corporation, or Volvo Personvagnar AB, is a Swedish automobile manufacturer founded in 1927, in Gothenburg, Sweden. Volvo was originally formed as a subsidiary company to the ball bearing maker SKF. At the same time, the ancient chemical symbol for iron, a circle with an arrow pointing diagonally upwards to the right, was adopted. This is one of the oldest and most common ideograms in the Western culture and originally stood for the planet Mars in the Roman Empire. Because it also symbolised the Roman god of warfare, Mars, and the masculine gender, an early relationship was established between the Mars symbol and the metal of which most weapons were made at the time, iron. As such, the ideogram has long been the symbol of the iron industry, not least in Sweden. Volvo Cars was owned by AB Volvo until 1999, when it was acquired by the Ford Motor Company as part of its Premier Automotive Group. Zhejiang Geely Holding Group then acquired Volvo from Ford in 2010. Volvo produces models ranging from SUVs, estates, and saloons, to compact executive sedans and coupes. With approximately 2,300 local dealers from around 100 national sales companies worldwide, the US is Volvo Cars' largest market, followed by Sweden, the United Kingdom, China and Germany. In 2010, Volvo recorded global sales of 373,525 cars, an increase of 11.2% compared to 2009. OVL Group Ltd have secured some of the best car leasing deals for Volvo.