Ford sells Volvo Cars to Zhejiang Geely Holding Group

[YF19pilot]

This day, December 23, 2009; is a day that will forever live in infamy.

I just hope someone else is making the replacement parts for the older Volvos. I really hate the idea that my 740, being one of the most reliable pieces of machinery on the road, could become less reliable than an Alfa thanks to Chinese built replacement parts.

 

[Spectre]

Hey, all you Volvo fans that laughed when Ford sold Jaguar to the Indians?

Guess what - here's where you get it thrown right back at you. At least the Indians can make quality parts.

 

[argatoga]

Jagover is probably a bit safer as both those brands are a bit too niche to serve as break ins. Whereas I can see Geely looking at Volvo as a stepping stone into Europe and the US.

 

[Dsemaj]

And they're planning a factory in China... well, there goes all hope of letting them do what they should be. Cue ugly, poorly made dodgy Chinese Geevos in 3, 2, 1...

 

[Mitlov]

And they're planning a factory in China... well, there goes all hope of letting them do what they should be. Cue ugly, poorly made dodgy Chinese Geevos in 3, 2, 1...

Don't BMW and Audi already have factories in China? And nobody says those brands are ruined. EDIT: BMW has had a plant in Shenyang since 2004 and is planning another. Audi has one in Changchun, and I think it has another older plant in China, though I can't find the location.

China's now the world's second-largest car market. If you're going to sell cars there, it makes sense to build cars there too. Hard to make a profit assembling a car in Sweden and then shipping it to China.

 

[Dsemaj]

Don't BMW and Audi already have factories in China? And nobody says those brands are ruined. EDIT: BMW has had a plant in Shenyang since 2004 and is planning another. Audi has one in Changchun, and I think it has another older plant in China, though I can't find the location.

China's now the world's second-largest car market. If you're going to sell cars there, it makes sense to build cars there too. Hard to make a profit assembling a car in Sweden and then shipping it to China.

What worries me is there's a difference between Volvo and BMW/Audi - the Chinese own Volvo, so the act seems somewhat more worrying. If Tata started a Jaguar/Land Rover factory in India, it would be worrying. Besides, I think the only Audi that makes its way to the Western world is the Q5. The rest are for the Chinese market, and being that the big, respected companies are overseeing these factories, there is less to worry about. With Geely in charge... I'm sceptical.

While everyone's saying the Chinese are going to become the new Koreans or Japanese, there seems to be a big difference with the Chinese. Instead of making facsimiles, they're mostly making blatant copies, which really worries me when they buy iconic brands.

 

[argatoga]

While everyone's saying the Chinese are going to become the new Koreans or Japanese, there seems to be a big difference with the Chinese. Instead of making facsimiles, they're mostly making blatant copies, which really worries me when they buy iconic brands.

 

[Dsemaj]

Yeah, but the Japanese never copied a design to the extent that the doors from the original fitted right onto the copy.

Japanese cars were facsimiles. Sure they stole the ideas, but they had the decency to only be inspired by the original's styling. Rather than stealing it.

http://www.chinacarforums.com/china_cars_reports.html

Japanese car companies never had intellectual property suites filed against them, either did the Koreans as far as I'm aware. Yet we're seeing lawsuits for copies of the Fiat Panda, BMW X5, Smart ForTwo and Honda CRV. It's just this cultural desire for Western products. That's why Buick sells like hotcakes over there. I can almost forgive them for copying Western ideas, when all their original ideas are just hideously ugly or bland...

It all reminds me of a fake iPhone ripoff that my friend got from overseas. Looks pretty much exactly the same, does pretty much everything the iPhone does, but it has this feeling of cheapness and unoriginality. It was really amusing, they even went to the extent to imitate the iPhone's interface, even with the sliding menus. But it didn't really work that well... I was just left thinking that if they put as much effort into imitating the original, maybe they could have come up with something original - or atleast put their own twist on it.

 

[Mitlov]

That's why Buick sells like hotcakes over there. I can almost forgive them for copying Western ideas, when all their original ideas are just hideously ugly or bland...

Or more to the point, let's compare what happens when Chinese designers design a LaCrosse:

...and when Americans do:

Not everything from China is bad.

 

[Dsemaj]

If I'm not mistaken, the new LaCrosse is American designed. But there were some very awesome Chinese Buick concepts.

 

[AiR]

Volvo have been building their cars for the Chinese domestic market in China for ages so that's not really an issue, the problem would be if Geely would come in and make bad decisions for Volvo. As long as Geely allow Volvo production, research and development to continue as normal, everything is dandy.

 

[2Billion]

I wonder how much of China's ripoff parade is due to the sheer cost of producing bespoke trim. A lot of the time they seem to be ripping off several cars at once, in frequently bizarre ways - see Huanghai Faster, a Lexus RXTorrent.

I'm beginning to wonder if they just have a scatter shot of suppliers and tooling and do what they can with them.

Geely's not nearly as bad as Great Wall or BYD at least - though their Panda is quite similar to the Aygo - so that's a good sign.

 

[Ladamaha]

Don't understand what's with the worry over Chinese ownership. There is a possiblity of screwups as in any sort of business, but they've bought a strong brand with reputation of exotic Swedish safety and screwing it up would be bad business.

What they do on Chinese domestic market and the Volvo brand is another question though. Cheap Chinese deathtraps badged as Swedish Volvos when they still have brand image over there?



mmmmm....profit

 

[Dr_Grip]

If I'm not mistaken, the new LaCrosse's grille is American designed. But there were some very awesome Chinese Buick concepts.

FTFY

The LaCrosse is virtually identical to the Opel Insignia.

 

[Mitlov]

If I'm not mistaken, the new LaCrosse is American designed. But there were some very awesome Chinese Buick concepts.

The production Lacrosse is "American-designed," but it's nearly identical to the Invicta concept, penned by two teams working together--one in Michigan and one in Shanghai. And since the production version is almost identical to the concept, the concept's designers should get the lion's share of the credit IMO.

And it seems that Buick's new design language was started by Chinese concept cars, even if some of the production models are designed in the USA.

FTFY

The LaCrosse is virtually identical to the Opel Insignia.

The Regal is identical to the Insignia. The LaCrosse uses the Insignia platform but is a much bigger car.

 

[LeMans GTR]

Well this could go well if they just take what they need and let Volvo do their thing while pumping money in; but if they start cutting costs in important places then it's bye bye Volvo.

Hey, all you Volvo fans that laughed when Ford sold Jaguar to the Indians?

Guess what - here's where you get it thrown right back at you. At least the Indians can make quality parts.

I'm glad that worked out; Tata is just a continuous supply of money since they haven't touched Jaguar at all and Indian money is good as anyone else's.

Don't BMW and Audi already have factories in China? And nobody says those brands are ruined. EDIT: BMW has had a plant in Shenyang since 2004 and is planning another. Audi has one in Changchun, and I think it has another older plant in China, though I can't find the location.

China's now the world's second-largest car market. If you're going to sell cars there, it makes sense to build cars there too. Hard to make a profit assembling a car in Sweden and then shipping it to China.

Yeah except none of those export out since China is LHD, the Americans have their own plants and everyone else can get their cars direct from Europe.

 

[Mitlov]

Yeah except none of those export out since China is LHD, the Americans have their own plants and everyone else can get their cars direct from Europe.

The 650cc engines in BMW motorcycles' US lineup are made in China, so some Chinese-made BMW products are exported and sold here. I haven't heard any reports about diving quality since BMW moved the 650cc engine production from Austria to China.

 

[Dsemaj]

Volvo have been building their cars for the Chinese domestic market in China for ages so that's not really an issue, the problem would be if Geely would come in and make bad decisions for Volvo. As long as Geely allow Volvo production, research and development to continue as normal, everything is dandy.

That pretty much sums up what I was trying to get at. Starting up a factory in China just somehow seems worrying. Hopefully Geely will be smart enough to leave them alone.

FTFY

The LaCrosse is virtually identical to the Opel Insignia.

If you want to get into that, you could say that the Chevorlet Colbat is exactly the same as the Opel Astra, because the platform was originally designed by Opel Regal, however is just an Opel Insignia, which is what I think you were referring to.

Don't get into a game of GM platform and rebadging with me
@Mitlov Fair point. It'd be interested to see who had the majority of creative control there.

 

[tone76]

This is still going, and some say that Geely may need to spend up to USD$1.4bn in addition to the USD$2bn purchase price agreed late last year.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aaqTFwr7DgFM&pos=7

 

[Karoug]

And it's done;

Volvo sold to China's Geely

Published: 28 Mar 10 14:56 CET
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/25784/20100328/


Chinese car maker Zhejiang Geely Holding has signed a deal to buy Sweden's Volvo Cars from US auto maker Ford.

* Volvo unions on board as deal looms (28 Mar 10)
* Chinese VP to Stockholm for Geely-Volvo deal (27 Mar 10)
* Geely closes in on Volvo takeover (24 Mar 10)

"I can confirm that a final agreement on the sale of Volvo to Geely was signed at 2:40 pm," Volvo Cars spokesman Per-?ke Fr?berg told AFP ahead of a news conference due around 3.30pm.

The deal was signed at Volvo headquarters in Gothenburg by Ford's financial director Lewis Booth and Geely's president Li Shufu, Froeberg said.

Booth confirmed that the sale was for $1.8 billion, less than a third of the $6.4 billion Ford paid for Volvo Cars in 1999.

Volvo has 22,000 employees worldwide, including 16,000 in Sweden.

Ford Motor Company announced in December that it had agreed on the main terms of the sale of its loss-making Swedish subsidiary Volvo Cars to Geely, one of China's largest private automakers.

The deal will bring to an end Ford's decade-long association with the premium Swedish brand, known for its sturdy, family-friendly cars.

Volvo unions had earlier voiced opposition to the deal on grounds that it was vague on expansion plans and possible layoffs.

Three Volvo unions this week pressed for details "on the capital that will finance Volvo's daily activities, investment on future projects and the production target of 600,000 vehicles by 2015."

But on Saturday they pronounced themselves satisfied.

Ford had said it anticipated "a definitive sale agreement will be signed in the first quarter of 2010, subject to appropriate regulatory approvals".

Geely reportedly secured the financing needed for the purchase earlier this month, which the Financial Times valued at about $1.8 billion.

The newspaper said more than a billion would be loaned by the European Investment Bank and the Swedish and Belgian governments.

The Swedish media had questioned the ability of Geely, a relatively young player, to finance the takeover.

The deal was a "leap in the dark," said the Dagens Nyheter newspaper, the day after the accord was announced.

But Svenska Dagbladet said on Saturday that Geely's chairman had given guarantees that all research and development activities would remain in Sweden and that production would first be assured by plants in Sweden.

Geely chairman Li Shufu has previously told Chinese news agency Xinhua that nothing will change for Volvo, except the boss turns him.

"Volvo and Geely will be two independently-managed brands," he said.