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Ford Motor is set to announce further progress in the next few days on talks to sell its Swedish Volvo brand to China's Zhejiang Geely Holding Group.
Ford said yesterday that "both sides are working together in hopes of reaching an agreement". Ford named Geely in October as its preferred bidder for Volvo.
It's better to be sold as a complete company, than to share the fate of Saab... some Saab technologies are now getting sold piecemeal to China while the rest of the company is still, kind of, on sale. Also remember that some Volvo models (S40, S80) are already manufactured in China for the local market, which is growing at a scary rate. Though they're built at Chang'an Motors, not Geely. Volvo is also a much healthier unit to sell than Saab. It still has its own development, while the Saabs have mostly been rebadged Opels lately. Although the new Volvos share platforms with Ford models (Focus, Mondeo) the main components are still mostly Volvo-designed, and the engines and gearboxes are mostly still made in Skövde, Sweden, because that site (Volvo Powertrain AB) was never part of the sale to Ford.
It remains to be seen, though, what all this means to the classic parts availability in the long term.
Imagine sticking that in yer 360 3 seconds of StarWars Hyperspace-esque acceleration, followed by complete and total drivetrain expiry (shortly before total driver expiry I imagine )
Imagine sticking that in yer 360 3 seconds of StarWars Hyperspace-esque acceleration, followed by complete and total drivetrain expiry (shortly before total driver expiry I imagine )
Be a good 3 seconds though!
Bet you it could outrun an imperial star destroyer/do the Kessel run in a small amount of parsecs.
nomead wrote:It's better to be sold as a complete company, than to share the fate of Saab... some Saab technologies are now getting sold piecemeal to China while the rest of the company is still, kind of, on sale. Also remember that some Volvo models (S40, S80) are already manufactured in China for the local market, which is growing at a scary rate. Though they're built at Chang'an Motors, not Geely. Volvo is also a much healthier unit to sell than Saab. It still has its own development, while the Saabs have mostly been rebadged Opels lately. Although the new Volvos share platforms with Ford models (Focus, Mondeo) the main components are still mostly Volvo-designed, and the engines and gearboxes are mostly still made in Skövde, Sweden, because that site (Volvo Powertrain AB) was never part of the sale to Ford.
It remains to be seen, though, what all this means to the classic parts availability in the long term.
Someone in a German forum posted "So what? We buried Volvo in 1999, what do I care if they move the coffin to another grave"
I did a quick self-searching over this and this might not be such a bad thing after all.
Maybe we see more aggressive models and designs than before.
After all china is where the money's going besides 12 russian oligarks.
Chinese aren't too interested in eco-friendly stuff either.
Main market probably will lean towards american markets more than today.
We'll see what this means. At least Volvo's still a living brand.
This with RWD and ton of V12 turboed HP, roaring exhaust, please. Well it would be much better than what comes out from line now, with small additional changes it would look quite nice, smaller badge, doors more inward, getting rid of stupid windshieldroof combo and such, car when looked from above must look like hourglass or like shape of woman body, that is rule which cannot be broken if designing hot car
88 Volvo 340DL Diesel
3 seconds of StarWars Hyperspace-esque acceleration, followed by complete and total drivetrain expiry (shortly before total driver expiry I imagine 
