Assar Gabrielsson, Volvo's president and founder, got the idea for the car when he saw a Chevrolet Corvette in the United States and wanted to make something similar.

He asked Bill Tritt of Glasspar, an American boatbuilder in Santa Ana, California, to design and tool a fibreglass/reinforced polyester body, which was later produced in Sweden.

The car was built on a tubular-steel chassis and used the Volvo PV444's 1414 cc engine producing 70 hp (52 kW)[clarification needed].

[1] Gunnar Engellau, who replaced Gabrielsson as president in 1956, took one for a drive on a holiday weekend and was dissatisfied enough that on returning to his office the following week cancelled the remaining production.

The development of the P1900 led to the tuning of the B-16 engine however, which was later put into the PV 444 series, making this car powerful enough to enter the US market.