The vehicle was commissioned by the Swedish Army in 1961 as a modern IFV-design which could replace the recently developed pbv 301 IFV, a placeholder design based on an obsolete tank chassis which did not meet the Swedish Army's future operational requirements.

Production ran from 1966 to 1971, and the vehicles were upgraded and renovated multiple times throughout their service life.

Armament was a modified 20 mm Hispano HS-804 cannon (Swedish: 20 mm akan m/47D) in a one man turret, and internal racks for weapons of the mechanized infantry (Swedish: pansarskytte), such as their service weapons, a ksp 58 squad machine gun and a Carl Gustaf 8.4 cm recoilless rifle, along with ammunition.

Later variants were updated with racks for AT4s and some vehicles even received a Bofors BILL man-portable anti-tank missile system.

It has exceptionally good off-road mobility, and the low ground pressure enables it to operate over summer bog and winter snow.