Volvo sold for parts to Chinese

v0n · 23 Dec 2009 at 13:11

Apparently Ford has reached agreement with Chinese manufacturer Geely to "rover" the Volvo over to the cut and shut makers of this knock off mercitroens and alfaudis in the next three months:

[TW]Fox · 23 Dec 2009 at 13:13

This is a hugely bad thing, IMHO.

Ricochet J · 23 Dec 2009 at 13:35

Does the sale also include Volvo diggers, trucks and commercial equipment. Or is that a seperate branch?

I thought Volvo were quite successful tbh.

Burnsy2023 · 23 Dec 2009 at 13:35

Gutted. Volvo looks like it's going to get bastardised

Burnsy2023 · 23 Dec 2009 at 13:36

Ricochet J said:
Does the sale also include Volvo trucks and commercial equipment. Or is that a seperate branch?

Separate. Volvo truck and bus has been a separate entity since the car side was sold to Ford.

Hxc · 23 Dec 2009 at 13:36

Volvo

MarkDavis · 23 Dec 2009 at 13:36

I wouldnt touch a Chinese built car with a 500 mile long bargepole, not least because the crash worthiness of their cars is appalling.

sigma · 23 Dec 2009 at 13:46

RIP Ovlov

K1LLSW1TCH · 23 Dec 2009 at 13:47

Those are two truly shocking looking cars there.

Wizardskills · 23 Dec 2009 at 13:53

Argh this is not good.

jamoor · 23 Dec 2009 at 14:00

genuine

from me.

FreeStream · 23 Dec 2009 at 14:01

Nooooooooooooooo

Lets hope they don't mess things up!

markweatherill · 23 Dec 2009 at 14:16

I doubt Volvo cars will suddenly be made in China once the deal is completed.
After all, they don't seem to have any factories in the US despite being owned by Ford up till now.
I expect any platform or component sharing will work in one direction - from Volvo's range to Geely's.

Dogbreath · 23 Dec 2009 at 14:28

MarkDavis said:
I would touch a Chinese built car with a 500 mile long bargepole, not least because the crash worthiness of their cars is appalling.

They would no doubt make them get acceptable results for Euro NCAP if they are going to sell them here.

MarkDavis · 23 Dec 2009 at 14:46

I doubt it, given the additional costs associated with engineering in crash worthiness. Let's not forget that Chinese cars have come out with horrendous crash safety results already.

The unscrupulous Chinese companies (who only seem to be interested in market penetration and profits) would simply sell the cars cheaper than the comeptition, make them look like Mercs, and take advantage of the fact that unsuspecting buyers (many of whom don't probably don't buy cars based on Ncap) would snap them up.

More deaths on the roads. No thanks. The Chinese manufacturers can keep their crap cars to themselves.

Zip · 23 Dec 2009 at 14:53

What the hell went wrong in Sweden in the first place to have volvo and saab have all these troubles?

Did the Parent companys just not want them anymore and kicked them out the nest?

Shimmyhill · 23 Dec 2009 at 14:54

MarkDavis said:
I doubt it, given the additional costs associated with engineering in crash worthiness. Let's not forget that Chinese cars have come out with horrendous crash safety results already.

The unscrupulous Chinese companies (who only seem to be interested in market penetration and profits) would simply sell the cars cheaper than the comeptition, make them look like Mercs, and take advantage of the fact that unsuspecting buyers (many of whom don't probably don't buy cars based on Ncap) would snap them up.

More deaths on the roads. No thanks. The Chinese manufacturers can keep their crap cars to themselves.

What a bizarre thing to say, do you work for the Daily Mail by any chance ?

Dr Who · 23 Dec 2009 at 15:02

Does that mean the prenunciation of the name will change to wolwo?

v0n · 23 Dec 2009 at 15:05

markweatherill said:
I doubt Volvo cars will suddenly be made in China once the deal is completed.

I'm going to say same thing as I said when everyone was raving about Chinese "saving" Rover. There has never been, a takeover deal in Europe with Chinese manufacturer, where the said deal wouldn't end with them acquiring technologies, dismantling factories, equipment and production lines and disappearing behind iron curtain of legal system that doesn't recognize copyrights, licensing and cannot be touched by western lawyers. Chinese are not interested in jumping around import taxes, legislation, strict safety requirements and compliance testing just to sell you few thousand cars a year in Europe. Not when they have several billion customers on their own doorstep. They are not interested in keeping expensive factories in Western countries. They don't deal with unions and government demands. Minimum wages and obligatory days off. It's not part of their business motto. What they want is technology and rights acquisition.

It is quite easy to see that once sold, Volvo will never, ever, resurface on this side of Great Wall again. Once it's gone it is gone. The brand will not be advanced to new models. Chinese do not develop to meet demands of fractional foreign markets. They don't improve at all cost just to meet standards of next Focus or Golf. Chinese do not jump hoops to pass NCAPs and other malarky. They do not modernize if it's not cost effective. The current lineup of cars, as they are, will be enough for Chinese market which is at the moment still milking "no expiry" rights to old Fiats, Citroen ZX and ancient Isuzus. It will last them for decades. Volvo will be gone from European market forever, if not in first year, then within 5 years.

mrk · 23 Dec 2009 at 15:31

It's going to turn