Things did quiet down since March after Geely signed the contract to buy Volvo from Ford. A lot of people think Geely already owns Volvo. Geely doesn’t own Volvo until the deal is closed. But Geely might own Volvo as early as next week.
China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) approved the deal, if Bloomberg is not mistaken. Reuters says the deal could close as soon as next week. Not so fast, says Tradingmarkets. They reached an official at MOFCOM’s publicity department, who confirmed the approval. Tradingmarkets also reached a Geely spokesman who said that “the acquisition is expected to be completed in the third quarter this year.”
Deal closed or not closed, Geely has already announced who will be in charge. Geely’s chairman Li Shufu will become chairman of Volvo Cars after the acquisition. Hans Olov Olsson, former Volvo president will be appointed its vice chairman, said a recent Geely statement cited by the Wall Street Journal and others. According to Chinese customs, the #2 guy makes the important day-to-day decisions, while the #1 guy looks good and shakes hands at the all-important group shots.
This must be the reason why my 84 Volvo decided to blow it’s headgasket this morning (amongst other reasons). Good thing I had my 93 Cannondale on the roof.
At least they come from a time when they were made in their respective home countries.
So in the hierarchy of a Chinese motor company, where does Jacoby, the incoming CEO who jumped ship from VWOA, fit in, relative to the vice chairman?
I’m in no way a car news junky, but I do like coming to this site fairly often. Is there any chance that Ford might decide to back out and keep Volvo and perhaps put some money into it?
I never have seen any indication of that possibility. All parties have treated the sale as a virtual certainty for some time now.
I think that Ford is making a giant mistake by letting Volvo go.
Besides the Ford brand itself, Volvo is the only brand in Ford’s stable that has any international following and cache. How many years do you think that it will take to make Lincoln a “global” luxury brand, as Mullaly has insinuated? Will upwardly-mobile Europeans or Asians ever consider a tarted-up Ford over a BMW, Audi, Lexus, etc.? Doubtful.
The rationale solution is to ditch Mercury and Lincoln in North America and just be Ford – Volvo. Push Volvo upmarket in Europe. Partner up with a Chinese company to produce Fords and Volvos for Asia.
Well, they couldn’t and didn’t want to bet on Volvo big enough to make it truly competitive with the German luxury brands, which to me seems the only option to make it profitable.
With some newly acquired home team advantage and protection in the Chinese market, Volvo may actually be doing better in the future.
I suspect that if Ford had seen a chance to get rid of Lincoln, too, they would have done so. However, no one is going to buy it, so they are stuck with the brand and its dealers.
As a former Volvo owner, I wish Ford had kept Volvo, but I reject the idea that Volvo should even try to play in the BMW/MB/Audi sandbox. That was Ford’s mistake. Volvo should make nice, affordable European designed cars, like VW does (and Volvo did). They should cost just a tiny bit more than a similar Ford branded car, and they could build them here if needed. An S60 should carry a slight premium over a well equipped Fusion for example, but cost much less than the big 3 Germans. Buick is going after that space right now with the Opel based cars (which I think GM could sell scads of stateside if it badged them as Opels instead of Buicks).
I agree that the place for Volvo is not as a competitor to BMW/Audi.
I believe that the Chinese will be selling (many) of the S60 in years to come at Accord and Camry prices.
If they could make a living by selling cars in the VW price and appointment bracket, yes, but evidently they could not. The VW brand itself struggles to turn a profit, it is mostly Audi that carries the company. I suspect that any money the VW brand makes accrues from production outside Germany.
Volvo as a Ford subsidiary had reached a dead end. The sale to Geely may be a risky move, but it does open new opportunities. If the Chinese government has any brains, they will make sure that the first acquisition of a major western brand does not end in failure.
> “Buick is going after that space right now with the Opel based cars (which I think GM could sell scads of stateside if it badged them as Opels instead of Buicks).”
GM has been selling Opels stateside for years as Saabs, and boy did they screw that one up.
Ummm…no. They sold SAABs as SAABs here in America. GM did attempt to sell several Opels as either a Cadillac (the Cetera…great car in Germany, but watered down here in the States), a Saturn (the Astra…which I love, but it died on the vine) and is now selling one as a Buick (Regal…which I’m hoping will be successful). Granted, SAAB and Opel shared a ton of components, but SAABs weren’t badge-swapped Opels…
Ford by selling Volvo and others too, no wonder they are making big money, good for Ford but bad for people who enjoyed Volvo when it was a Swedish Car but when Ford took over the Car part of Volvo, things went down hill fast and no Ford will not take Volvo back or any of the other Cars they bought on a whim like Jaguar and Land Rover, time to move on!