Geely looking for 1M units from Volvo, plans Chinese factory

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Filed under: China, Ford, Volvo, Geely



Should Geely succeed in its bid to purchase Volvo, the Chinese automaker does not plan to spend any time playing in its new Swedish sandbox. Ford moved about 380,000 Volvos around the world last year; Geely wants to sell 2.5 times that amount within five years. How so? By injecting "two or three bigger, more luxurious cars" into the lineup and working its home market of China, which Geely feels could be unlocked for 200,000 vehicles alone. Those units could be supplied by a Chinese factory capable of making 300,000 cars per year and would presumably be larger than the upcoming redesigned S60 (above).

Ford has designated Geely its preferred bidder for Volvo. However, in an echo of the tensions between General Motors and Magna's Russian bidding partner Sberbank, Geely will need to address Ford's intellectual property concerns among other issues to complete a sale. Volvo's technologies and reputation for safety are probably worth as much as the company's physical assets, so it's not surprising that Ford wants to negotiate the technology transfer. Assuming they can come to terms, closing the deal is expected to cost Geely $2 billion.


Gallery: 2010 Volvo S60



[Source: Automotive News, sub. req'd]Geely looking for 1M units from Volvo, plans Chinese factory originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 15 Nov 2009 16:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.



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