Will you buy a Chinese Volvo?
Ford Motor Co. agreed to sell its Volvo Cars unit to a Chinese automaker group on 28th March, marking the most significant push by a car company in China to tap overseas markets.China’s Zhejiang Geely Holding Group will pay the U.S. auto giant $1.8 billion for the Swedish car brand, which will give the company cachet in the domestic market and a foothold in Europe.China surpassed the United States last year as the top auto market, but its domestic car manufacturers faced an uphill battle acquiring brand awareness and technology overseas.
All people are not confident of Chinese vehicle brands. But last year there were two attractive businesses in global vehicle market. China’s company Tengzhong wanted to buy Hummer, and Geely wanted to buy Volvo.The latter was overwhelmingly supported but the former got many critics. As the report says, Volvo purchase is good for China’s domestic car technology and market. And Volvo is much better than Hummer iron.But those who like Volvo the brand very much may be worried that whether the brand can keep its reputation under Geely. They may doubt the quality of Volvo cars made in China.
The privately owned Geely was ranked 11th in total sales last year in China and will benefit from Volvo’s research center and reputation for high safety standards.The Chinese company will allow Volvo to operate largely independently. Volvo will keep open its manufacturing plants in Sweden and Belgium while looking to open facilities in China.
“China, the largest car market in the world, will become Volvo’s second home market. Volvo will be uniquely positioned as a world-leading premium brand, tapping into the opportunities in the fast-growing China market,” said Li Yizhong, China’s minister of industry and information technology, who attended the signing ceremony at Volvo’s headquarters in Goteborg, Sweden.
Volvo was sold to Ford in 1999 for $6.45 billion. But the American automaker struggled to guide the brand toward profitability as the larger U.S. auto industry fell into decline.Ford began shopping Volvo in 2008. By October 2009, Geely was named the preferred bidder, and the two sides had been negotiating since.Geely, which largely builds compact cars, will be taking its first stab at mass-producing high-end vehicles.
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11 Responses to “Will you buy a Chinese Volvo?”
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I do really hope that this Chinese company can avail itself of this great opportunity to acquire advanced science and technology to accelerate the development of Chinese motor vehicle market. But i suppose it still has a long way to go. Good luck to it.
The Chinese have mastered automotive production to US/Euro/Japanese standards.This is the reality of today…
well I can tell you one thing, a communist owned Volvo will suck not only for the fools that buy their Chinese made trash, but for current owners who will suddenly find Volvo’s generous attitude towards iffy warranty repairs revoked. I’ve heard too many happy stories about Volvo covering major bills that were just outside of warranty. You can kiss those happy stories goodbye.
And the amount of chinese knockoffs who will steal Volvo’s IP via Geely will be atrocious. That country has ZERO respect for IP rights……again a reflection of their communist mentality.
The reason we don’t have Geelys in developed countries right now is because they CAN’T currently manufacture a vehicle that meets safety standards. I won’t speculate why. More importantly, the Chinese business culture is not at all aligned with US/European/Japanese standards and expectations (e.g., corruption, customer satisfaction, laws, etc.) and none of us knows how that will drive the quality of cars/components, treatment of warranty claims, etc.
I think that Geely will keep the Swedish roots of Volvo safely in Sweden.
I’m not seeing any Jags currently built in India afterall.
Personally I would prefer to see Volvo in Sweden and owned by Swedish, but if this is what it takes for Volvo to survive, so be it. And I think Volvo’s will continued to be built in Europe and designed there (at least for the European and North American market).
Nobody enjoy seeing it being sold to a Chinese company. What’s this going to do to current Volvo resale values?
A lot of Range Rover owners wondered what would happen when an Indian manufacturer of some pretty basic cars became the parent company. But now they are happy to see TATA is doing a great job.
Geely has already made it public they will not change Volvo’s business plan. If Geely is smart they will allow Volvo to remain Volvo and be a financial voice more than anything.
Ultimately people will do what they want, but I find it baseless to throw Volvo out the window as a consideration because of its parent company.
Nooo wayyy!!
My last three vehicles have been Volvo’s and I currently drive a 2010 Volvo, but I will be switching when I turn my XC60 in. There is no way in this planet I am going to spend upwards of 45,000 to buy a car made in a country where they export lead laden toys, toxic dog food, pollution, and every other sort of cheap immitation product we can think of… VOLVO, its been nice while it lasted.