Volvo Group has partnered with Volvo Cars in opening World of Volvo, a showcase of the two companies’ combined histories and their futures.

The five-storey, 236,000 sq.-ft. facility situated in downtown Gothenburg, Sweden, is open to the public for free and meant to be a welcoming space for visitors. Paying guests can enter the exhibition area and enjoy an immersive experience, playing video games meant to educate them on the dangers of distracted driving, dining at a high-end restaurant, attending concerts and speaking engagements, or just enjoying the static vehicle displays.

The Volvo Museum in Gothenburg has been closed, but the vehicles it housed have been safely stored away and will rotate through the new World of Volvo so there are constantly new vehicles to see there.

“We would like this to be a place tourists will treat as a destination they must see and where employees feel at home,” said Magnus Wrahme, CEO of World of Volvo, which will operate as a shared independent subsidiary of Volvo Group and Volvo Cars.

Asked what the new facility means to Volvo Trucks, president Roger Alm said “Here we can really present and show what Volvo is all about; our brand, safety, quality and care for the environment. We can look what we have done in the past and what we intend to do in the future for sustainability.”

While the museum looks back at Volvo’s history, World of Volvo is meant to not only celebrate the brand’s past, but also where it is going in the future. Many of the displays focus on futuristic technologies that will shape the future of transportation.

“The old museum was looking back,” said Wrahme. “We want to look at the future.”

Martin Stenberg Ringner was architect and designer. He chose sustainable building materials – mostly wood – and built in flexible, open spaces that maintain a connection with the outside world.

Alm said Volvo Trucks will bring customers to the facility, host product launches there, and will even use the facility to hand off trucks to customers.