Ford Has Said That Geely Is The Favourite For The Volvo Brand

Miscellaneous | Dean | October 28, 2009 at 19:56

Ford has confirmed that Geely will be the preferred bidder for the Volvo brand. This means that the Chinese company will most likely be the company which takes the Volvo brand from Ford.

“Ford’s objective in our discussions with Geely is to secure an agreement that is in the best interests of all the parties,” said Lewis Booth, Ford Motor Company executive vice president and chief financial officer. “Any prospective sale would have to ensure that Volvo has the resources, including the capital investment, necessary to further strengthen the business and build its global franchise, while enabling Ford to continue to focus on and implement our core ONE Ford strategy.”

“Ford believes Geely has the potential to be a responsible future owner of Volvo and to take the business forward while preserving its core values and the independence of the Swedish brand. But there is much work that needs to be completed in the more substantive discussions that are agreed to take place. We have no specific timeline to conclude the discussions.”

Ford did reveal that if Geely does manage to complete the take over, Ford will not stay involved with the company.

“Ford fully understands the iconic Swedish nature of the Volvo brand and the responsibility we have as Volvo’s custodian to its employees, local communities and other key stakeholders,” John Fleming, chairman of Ford of Europe and Volvo Cars, said. “Any sale also would need to take into account the significant connections between Ford and Volvo in terms of continuing component supply, engineering and manufacturing.”

“Volvo’s management team welcomes today’s announcement as a positive step forward,” Volvo CEO Stephen Odell said. “At Volvo, we are continuing to keep our attention firmly fixed on engineering and building great Volvo cars, to reduce our cost base and to return the business to sustainable profitability at the earliest possible opportunity.”