Geeley Buys Volvo - New York Times

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, China's largest private-run car maker, agreed on Sunday to buy Ford Motor's Volvo car unit, the country's biggest overseas auto purchase.

Details of the deal will be provided at a news conference later on Sunday, Volvo's spokesman Per-Ake Froberg said.

The takeover underscores China's arrival as a major force in the global auto industry and ends nearly two years of talks with Geely over the sale of Volvo -- the last sale from Ford's former premier group, which also included Aston Martin, Jaguar and Land Rover.

The deal, which both sides aim to close in the coming months, will free up cash for the number two U.S. automaker and enable it to focus on its core Ford brand.

Geely, parent of Geely Automobile Holdings, was named by Ford as the preferred bidder for its loss-making Swedish unit in October 2009.

It plans to keep the brand and operations -- including Volvo's headquarters, production facility and research center -- in Sweden.

Geely chairman Li Shufu is already planning a factory in Beijing which will make 300,000 Volvo branded cars, or as many Volvos for China as are now made abroad for foreigners.

China raced past the United States to become the world's top auto market last year, with sales surging 46 percent to a record 13.6 million units. It is keen to move into Western markets but has so far lacked the technology and brand recognition to do so.

The Volvo deal should help the Chinese carmaker to get around some of those obstacles more quickly.

Reply to
John von Colditz
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Hmmm. "Major force?" How many Volvos were sold last year?

Reply to
Tim McNamara

I think they are referring to the fact that China now makes more cars than the US.

I can bet this will mean alot more Chinese components.

-- Tony

Reply to
Tony

Indeed, RIP Volvo...

Reply to
James Sweet

goodbye to Volvo cars -- back in1998. Volvo AG is still happy & healthy. it is prehaps also forward thinking. cars aren't as much fun as they once were. i am showing one nephew how to work on cars. "you read the diagnostic code. look it up. purchase a new module. plug it in." i once rebuilt a Weber 4 barrel. now that was fun.

Reply to
Richard W Langbauer

Newer cars aren't any less interesting, they're just different. I built a modern ECU (Megasquirt) for my 240 from scratch and have repaired quite a few Bosch ECUs and relays for mostly Volvos and VWs. Multimeter, oscilloscope, and a soldering iron instead of screwdrivers and oily rags but it can still be done. The mechanical bits haven't changed much either, there's just more stuff jammed in there. I do prefer the 200 and

700 series cars, but I've done newer stuff too and it's not bad.

I cringe at the thought of Chinese parts in cars, I hate to generalize against a whole country but I have seen *so* many examples of horrid quality control, some parts excellent and some completely unacceptable, you can bet I would never willingly step onto an aircraft made with critical parts from China.

Reply to
James Sweet

My feeling exactly. I was fully intending to buy one of the 2010 diesel xc70ies, but I think that plan has just been scuttled - simply because I fear that Chinese components will find their way into them, and on to the spare parts shelves. Guess I'll be looking for a new marque to try.

Too bad, I've loved all my Volvos, they're such a joy to drive. If somebody wants to go and shoot a few Ford execs for this deed, I'll happily pay for the bullets.

-P.

Reply to
Peter Huebner

Well if you think about it, the success of the brand is not in Ford's best interest once it is no longer theirs, it's just a competitor. It's just unfortunate that Volvo sold out in the first place, I would have thought Sweden would have done something about what is essentially their entire auto industry, Volvo and Saab, being sold to foreign companies who pretty much ran them into the ground.

Reply to
James Sweet

It's probably as safe to buy a Volvo now as it was last week. The cars (and presumably parts) for the West will still be made in Sweden - for now. I wouldn't consider one in five years, however...

Reply to
Leftie

James Sweet wrote: > just unfortunate that Volvo sold out in the first place, I would have

Gov't bailouts are always wrong, just look at the banks, we still have the same people and the same problems. Although I agree Volvo were adding good value, it didn't fit in our capitalist system and they were doing something wrong, not enough lying on advertising or something.

Gov't should only protect citizens and not companies, the latter must evolve in a Darwinian way.

-- Tony

Reply to
Tony

I didn't say anything about government. I was hoping the other portions of Volvo might reacquire them, or at least another Swedish company or a group of entrepreneurs, I think they could have had a future, so long as they were content to remain a relatively small and marginally profitable maker.

If they didn't make enough money on their own, and didn't make enough money for Ford, something is gonna give in order to boost the profit. I suspect Geeley will pillage them of technology, and essentially run what was Volvo into the ground and start slapping the name on all sorts of crap cars.

Reply to
James Sweet

I have worked in a good quality business, but been made redundant several times, and experienced several busts. I have not decided if its actually sustainable, one reason I think is people do not have the information and are easily swayed by advertising lies.

On thing is key, you have to build your brand and stay small, don't get greedy and don't believe the saying 'expand or die', markets are not limitless, its an impossible dream. To many small quality/niche companies get attracted by big volumes in cost competition markets, end up selling themselves short or speculating on volume to get the sales and buying power, managers end up believing their own BS. I am an Engineer and have done business qualifications as well as general industrial management training. So much of what I was taught in the last 2 or 3 decades I now consider to be wrong. Of course business is still practising this, especially the Chinese. (I'm only talking about business, not engineering).

Probably, but I can't help think that somebody somewhere knows what is coming and they are giving the Chinese a rope to hang themselves with, unfortunately all the ropes are connected.

-- Tony

Reply to
Tony

Aston Martin? Ferrari? Bugatti? Lamborghini? Even Volkswagen is only

2% of the US market and they are comparatively huge in this company.
Reply to
Tim McNamara

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