In an interview to Just Auto [sub], Swedish Industry Dept.’s state secretary Jöran Hägglund declared that Volvo will have new owners by the beginning of that most magical of years, 2010. “Ford has a lower pace than GM-Saab, but we believe a deal should be closed come this year’s ending.” says Hägglund. Last week ago, Swedish newspaper Industry Daily reported that Volvo will be parted-out to Chinese automaker Geely, Ford (maintaining a minority stake to protect access to safety technology and prevent China syndrome) and a mystery Swedish investor. Quoting “inside sources,” Auto Motor & Sport identifies Volvo AB as the Swedish part of the proposal. Volvo AB is the divested truck/buses etc. division of “old Volvo;” they’re supposedly buying a piece of ye olde mothership to control the carmaker’s Swedish genes. Profits? Jovisst. Industry Daily’s source says Ford will put the devil in the details by the end of August. According to AM&S’s information, this is a done deal.
Volvo did a good job with Volvo before, so this looks like a good thing. Very smart of Ford to keep a piece as Volvo safety technology has improved the Ford line since the acquisition.
Oh please oh please oh please let this be true.
Will this mean the return of the 240 wagon?
As long as Geely remains in the mix I can still say that both Volvo owners and Volvo’s owners are communists :-)
The Volvo acquisition is probably the only recent auto acquisition that made sense.
Volvo wanted to get out of the unprofitable, hypercompetitive car business, and Ford desperately needed the modern large platform that Volvo had, and that every large unibody Ford and Lincoln is now based on.
The Nordic countries generally have very low corruption and high transparency, but I can’t see why Volvo (the company, not the brand) would want to get back into the car business other than government pressure.
Brian E:
There are conservatives driving Volvos and Priuses, I’ve actually seen some rather far right bumper stickers on Priuses recently. Saabs are a different story, they are usually owned by the extremist strawmen that the right uses to mischaracterize the center-left.
I can almost imagine it…
Brick enthusiasts at junkyards throughout this country are hoisting wiring harness and ABS modules in the air, yelling at the top of their lungs, Braveheart style.
Old professors at liberal arts college throughout this great land are checking their bank accounts in pursuit of that one final new car purchase before their pension.
Saabs are a different story, they are usually owned by the extremist strawmen that the right uses to mischaracterize the center-left.
Hey, I resemble that remark!
Interesting photo – the car has a Danish license plate of the type that was in use when it was new…most likely a contemporary photo.
BTW, the 50th anniversary of the three-point seatbelt is this week, introduced on regular production cars by Volvo. They are understandably proud of that; there is a video I saw on Autoblog that’s worth checking out.
“the beginning of that most magical of years, 2010.”
2010 is not the far distant future anymore. It is now next winter. 2010 models will be rolled out next month.
Remember when Harley bought Harley?
I’ve been waiting for this announcement for ages. Once the decision to sell Volvo came to light having Volvo AB involved only makes sense. They still have a ton of IP and other assets in Volvo and I couldn’t see them allowing Ford just to let that go for 6 beans and a flagen.
I’ll be very happy for Volvo (the car corp and AB) if they pull this off. I sold my little Volvo store (and exited the car business) shortly before the Ford takeover. I don’t have a crystal ball and didn’t know it was coming–although there’d been rumours for years that Volvo was “in talks” with this or that major manufacturer–but I still considered myself lucky to get out when I did. Ever since I’ve felt that Volvo’s best chance for long term survival is to do it on their own terms … the way they did somewhat successfully for 72 years before Ford.
Back in the 90s the Swedes were freaking out over the high cost of new model development (after spending billions on their new front drive platform). They convinced themselves they’d never again achieve the requisite economies of scale to develop a new series on their own. But times are different now and I think that in today’s global OEM landscape Volvo could find lots of willing partners (and capable suppliers) with whom they could share development costs of future technologies and even platforms on a case by case basis. They don’t need to marry a major, when they can be “friends with benefits” with several of them.
Cool. Maybe Volvo AB will license Geely to revive the 240 in China.
I drive a 240 but I’m more libertarian than anything else. I think people who buy hybrids are, generally, misguided dupes. Oh hell, I think people who buy any new car need their heads examined, but they let us cheap bastards buy them after a few years for a 50%+ discount.