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Chinese car maker Geely has reached a preliminary agreement with Ford to purchase Volvo, according to reports.

The reports suggest that Geely will produce a new Volvo model in China's Guangzhou Province as part of the deal.

The value or timeframe of the deal is not known but Volvo, which was bought by Ford for US$6.49 billion (£4 billion), is not expected to sell for less than $3 billion (£1.8 billion) according to analysts.

The Chinese media is reporting that representative...Read the full article

I don't like this... where does a company like Geely get the money from?

Oh well, I suppose they won't make Volvo's like they used to anymore...

Who else is going to be trading their V70 for a 9-5? :(

Swedish cars are certainly not on top of this economic climate

Could be wrong here but.....

If these reports are correct, then I would hope Ford would have had the decency to engineer in to the deal a clause that said production and R&D would have to stay in Sweden, and not be swept wholesale out to China.

Oh how short sighted we are in the west . Once the chinese have access to the level of tech and engineering Volvo have they will wipe the floor with european makers and maybe the Japanese . We should be more careful who we sell this almost priceless tech to

Where did Geely find the money to buy Volvo, you ask?

1. From selling huge numbers of cheap tin boxes to China's even huger car-buying public

2. Probably with very cheap loans from the Chinese government

I doubt that Geely would be foolish enough to close down the Volvo facilities in Sweden as that would wipe out the remaining image/value the Volvo brand possesses today.  However, since they will no longer be able to use the Ford Proving Grounds in Arizona, USA, they might have to build their own proving grounds somewhere deep in the Mongolian desert?

Why did the Swedish government do the dubious deal to keep SAAB swedish at all costs and just let the arguably much more valuable VOLVO name get swallowed up by the chinese....odd!

jonfortwo:

Why did the Swedish government do the dubious deal to keep SAAB swedish at all costs and just let the arguably much more valuable VOLVO name get swallowed up by the chinese....odd!

Because otherwise SAAB would have gone completely, whereas Volvo is in a stronger position to survive, no matter who owns it..?

March1:

Because otherwise SAAB would have gone completely, whereas Volvo is in a stronger position to survive, no matter who owns it..?

OK, so would you let your stronger national asset go to a foreign owner of dubious morals and keep hold of a much weaker manufacturer who will sadly need alot of help much of which a national government and a supercar maker cannot supply.