Ford Jellymoulds Posted August 2, 2010 Share Posted August 2, 2010 BEIJING, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- Chinese car maker Geely Holdings Group Co. Ltd. said Monday it has completed its 1.8 billion U.S. dollar-buyout of Ford Motor Co.'s Volvo unit, in a landmark foreign acquisition by a Chinese company. At a handover ceremony held in London, Ford delivered all of its Volvo assets to Geely Holdings Group, after the deal won approval from regulators in China, the United States and the European Union. In a telephone interview with Xinhua, Li Shufu, Chairman of Geely Group and Volvo Car Corporation, said he hopes to restore Volvo to a leading position in the global luxury auto market. "After the takeover, Geely remains Geely and Volvo is still Volvo. The relationship between the two companies is brotherhood and not a parent-and-child relationship," Li told Xinhua. "Volvo should enjoy a much better position in the global market given its quality, technology, research and development abilities and its brand value," he added. He said Volvo will remain headquartered in Gothenburg, Sweden, with management having autonomy to execute its own business plan. As part of its business plans, Li said, Volvo will strengthen its presence in Europe and North America while also taking advantage of growth opportunities in China. Geely has also announced the appointment of six members to the Volvo board, including Stefan Jacoby, President and Chief Executive of the new Volvo Car Corporation. Li Shufu has been appointed chairman of the new board and Hans-Olov Olsson has been appointed vice chairman. Shares of Hong Kong-listed Geely Automobile rose 1.38 percent to 2.94 HK dollars (38 U.S. cents) Monday morning. Dong Yang, Executive Vice President of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, said Geely's successful takeover of Volvo is "just the company's first step in expanding." Keeping Volvo's high-end brand value and product quality will be a difficult task, Dong said, adding that raising Volvo's market share in China and adapting the European brand to China will not be easy, either. "All of these things should be realized step by step through hard work," he added. LINK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpd80 Posted August 2, 2010 Share Posted August 2, 2010 Good, now Ford is insulated from any losses with Volvo but can now look forward to lucrative power trains and supply tech support contracts. Ford speeding its way to profit on profit, even in these indifferent times. Well done Ford. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FordBuyer Posted August 2, 2010 Share Posted August 2, 2010 "The total purchase price for Volvo and related assets set forth in the agreement signed in March 2010 was $1.8 billion, including a $200 million note and the balance in cash, with the cash portion subject to customary purchase price adjustments at closing. Pursuant to the terms of the agreement, Geely today issued the note and paid $1.3 billion in cash to complete the sale. The estimated purchase price adjustments used at closing are expected to be finalized and settled following final true-up of the purchase price adjustments later this year. The final true-up is expected to result in additional proceeds to Ford. "Volvo is an excellent brand with a strong product line, and it has returned to profits after a successful restructuring. We are confident Volvo has a solid future under Geely's ownership," said Alan Mulally, Ford's president and CEO. "At the same time, the sale of Volvo will allow us to sharpen our focus on the Ford brand around the world and continue to deliver on our One Ford plan serving our customers with the very best cars and trucks in the world." Ford will continue to cooperate with Volvo in several areas to ensure a smooth transition, but has not retained any ownership in the Volvo business. Ford will continue to supply Volvo with, for differing periods, powertrains, stampings and other vehicle components. Ford also has committed to provide engineering support, information technology, access to tooling for common components, and other selected services for a transition period." From News Service Outlet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FordBuyer Posted August 2, 2010 Share Posted August 2, 2010 That last paragraph in press release bothers me a bit. Ford is going to provide Geely with engineering and research info during transition period. Looks like China gains access to a lot of propietary info like Ford My Touch and other competitive, cutting edge technology. I don't get that at all. Volvo also has a lot of high tech, cutting edge safety technology that was useful to Ford, and Ford should keep it out of China's hands. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickF1011 Posted August 2, 2010 Share Posted August 2, 2010 Looks like China gains access to a lot of propietary info like Ford My Touch and other competitive, cutting edge technology. Ford will provide support for the technology that Volvo is already currently using in its vehicles. As there was no MyVolvo Touch or Volvo Sync, they shouldn't have access to any of that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twintornados Posted August 2, 2010 Share Posted August 2, 2010 And now Volvo is no longer on the Ford website...checked this morning at around 8AM (eastern standard time) and now at 10AM....it is gone.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edstock Posted August 2, 2010 Share Posted August 2, 2010 Bye-bye. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atvman Posted August 2, 2010 Share Posted August 2, 2010 Hopefully Ford dumps that 1.8B directly into Lincoln. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weiweishen Posted August 2, 2010 Share Posted August 2, 2010 Hopefully Ford dumps that 1.8B directly into Lincoln. Some medium said that Ford has to give some of these 1.8b back to Volvo to fund their retiree whatever? Is this true. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hawaiicarguy Posted August 2, 2010 Share Posted August 2, 2010 Ford will provide support for the technology that Volvo is already currently using in its vehicles. As there was no MyVolvo Touch or Volvo Sync, they shouldn't have access to any of that. Agreed, that was not in any Volvo. They can get aversion of Sync now, since Microsoft can sell it to anyone, like the UVO system in Kia's. But getting rid of Volvo was a great idea. Ford already got the best parts of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7Mary3 Posted August 3, 2010 Share Posted August 3, 2010 Good riddance! Best of luck to the Chinese. Volvo has not made a good car since the 240's. Trucks were another story, but Ford never got any part of that business. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpd80 Posted August 3, 2010 Share Posted August 3, 2010 (edited) That last paragraph in press release bothers me a bit. Ford is going to provide Geely with engineering and research info during transition period. Looks like China gains access to a lot of propietary info like Ford My Touch and other competitive, cutting edge technology. I don't get that at all. Volvo also has a lot of high tech, cutting edge safety technology that was useful to Ford, and Ford should keep it out of China's hands. Like the Jaguar Land Rover deal, Ford will now make more money by selling Volvo engines, transmissions and tech support. All dealings with former PAG companies now involve cash flowing into Ford, not out. Edited August 3, 2010 by jpd80 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TStag Posted August 3, 2010 Share Posted August 3, 2010 Volvo tanked another 33% this month in the USA so good on Ford for selling. Shame Ford spent over 6 billion buying the company in the first place mind..... I'm not surprised that ford is having to provide engineering support to Geely either. Whilst JLR could afford to support 3 R&D sites in the UK, Volvo's R&D dept was wound down to such a low base that now Geely need's Ford's support to go forward. The point here is that whilst Ford in now free of PAG, there was only ever 2 power brands in PAG that could ever make it in the premium sector, namely Jag and Land Rover. Ford should have made a decision to focus on these 2 earlier and just dumped Volvo much earlier whilst the brand had value. Right now JLR is enjoying fast rising sales all over the world. In fact Jag has actually had to send workers home to give component suppliers a chance to catch up! Volvo should have been despatched much quicker. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twintornados Posted August 3, 2010 Share Posted August 3, 2010 ..... there was only ever 2 power brands in PAG that could ever make it in the premium sector, namely Jag and Land Rover. :runaway: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickF1011 Posted August 4, 2010 Share Posted August 4, 2010 :runaway: "power brands" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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