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The Motor Authority says the the flying Wallenbergs have joined a consortium in the hunt for ownership of Volvo. The Swedish family already control an investment group that owns an 11 percent stake of Scania, the truck-maker. In his book "The Rise of the Wallenbergs," author David Bartol claims the W's are serious players, controlling most of Sweden’s top companies. “In no other Western country, does a single family enjoy the same degree of influence or authority." There is some irony here. Henry Ford was one of the world's most notorious anti-Semites. Raoul Wallenberg was famous for saving tens of thousands of Hungarian Jews from the Nazi slaughter.
Ford has actually done a very good job with Volvo. I still think that Lincoln and Mercury should be left on the vine while Ford invests in the Volvo marque.
One other thing… most of Volvo’s best models don’t make it stateside. It’s a shame because they would actually make Volvo a lot more marketable for the young generations in the US.
Steven, all Volvo models are currently due in the USA, the only thing we will not get is the wide variety of engine options in Europe.
I bet ford wont sell volvo on the cheap…
Just please let them be people that focus on making good product rather than just profits. Luckily most old money family run empires have a better view of long term business decisions than say, stockholders.
Or anyone at ford.
Lang: WHAT? What model are you referring to that volvo does not export to the US?
Because I sure cant find any. The only thing volvo doesn’t bring over here are diesels. The c30 will be here in a few months or less, that’s the only vehicle I can even guess that you are referring to.
I don’t know much about the Wallenbergs, but I’m inclined to support anyone who’ll rescue such a promising brand from Ford’s sinking ship.
“There is some irony here. Henry Ford was one of the world’s most notorious anti-Semites. Raoul Wallenberg was famous for saving tens of thousands of Hungarian Jews from the Nazi slaughter.”
Yes, but Raoul’s 2 uncles who ran the family bank were said to have been instrumental in funding the Nazi war machine, also helping Hitler’s regime launder money and hide assets offshore. The real irony is that although Raoul saved many lives, his family’s contributions greatly assisted a regime who sent millions of Jews to their deaths, and most of the prominent family members at the time were Nazi sympathizers.
You know, most of the Wealthy in the USA were Nazi sympathizers until our entry into WWII.
Fascism is very appealing when you’re going to be one of the people in charge.
In the British Newspaper The Sunday Telegraph for Sunday July 15th it says that Volvo is being sold, maybe to BMW or Magna, interesting times eh!
“Fascism is very appealing when you’re going to be one of the people in charge.”
Thats true about a lot of things
You’ve hit both marks…
The C30 has been a strictly Euro model and our version won’t be seeing a 2.4i engine or the 2.0 diesel. Without those engines it’s meerely yet another competitor to the Honda Civic Si and Mini Cooper (and a far heavier one at that.)
It could become a Jetta killer with either of the European engines mentioned. Or it could possibly leapfrog the Rabbit, Corolla, and mainstream Civics if Volvo North America saw fit to at least include the 2.4i engine.
But of course, Volvo of North America has to prtect it’s sterling reputation of building high-end cars. Therefore you won’t see any European engine other than the single one that’s designed to maximize the MSRP.
This is not the first time Volvo of North America has blown it. In fact, they have a long history of making extremely bad choices when it comes to determining what engines SHOULD be given for our market. Let’s take the S80 for instance.
The S80 would have been one of the best cars in the US for the frequent driver (those who drive 25k miles a year and up) if the diesel option had been available. With that engine, the S80 would return highway mileage in the mid-40’s.
Then of course, we could have also bought the two 2.4 five-cylinders of 140 and 170bhp, the 2.0 Turbo (180bhp), or even a 2.5 Turbo with 210 horsepower.
Instead, we ended up with one exceedingly underwhelming dog of an engine in the 2.9L that becomes expensive and unreliable (and $7k more expensive) with two low pressure turbos attached to it.
Why does this happen? Because Volvo of North America knows what the market wants. Never mind the continually falling J.D. Power scores for customer retention or the inability to market their vehicles to anyone under 30. All is well in their world of blandness and limited choice.
In short, if the C30 doesn’t come with the same engine choices… it ceases being the ‘same’ car.