Another icon of automotivedom has been sold to the lowest bidder, uh I mean cheesyest manufacturer. See...

Ford Favors China's Geely As Volvo Buyer

I am not much of a fan of Volvos but always felt they were pretty safe cars, and up to now they were "Fords".

Now They are almost sold to Geely in China. I wonder if Volvo's reputation for being a safe solid car will survive? The crash tests of other Chinese vehicles and the continuing plague of below par Chinese made products make me doubt it. With their penchant for cutting corners of every kind I wonder how long Volvos will even have seat belts.

Another sad day coming I think.

Jim Henderson

 

Sad indeed. Ford should have absorbed Volvo into Mercury and Lincoln to give them the luxury and performance they used to have. You do have to admit that Volvo is a long ways from the "bricks" of the 80s. I liked those cars.

 

Ford picked up Volvo somewhere around 1999. We've owned several of the "Volvo" Volvo's in the past. We kept them a long time and they were well deserving of their reputation for safety and reliability. The first "Ford" Volvo we bought was in 2003. It was a disappointment compared to the real Volvo's. Built on a Ford platform, it lacked the comfort and cavernous interior space Volvo built it's reputation with. It was totaled in an intersection accident soon after. Our son who was driving was unhurt. So thankfully it did maintain it's safety reputation. With our insurance money in hand, we did not even think about going back to the Volvo dealer.

IMO, Ford did not ad any value to Volvo. They just sucked it dry. Same as Diamler did to Chrystler.

 

The problem I see here is intellectual property. Volvo has evolved onto Ford/Mazda platforms with styling and I think engines from Sweden. How are they going to sell Volvo without selling the platform rights and engineering data?

Jim

 

Jim, if this is correct, it sounds like Ford will retain some interest which would, I think, get around the intellectual property issue. So it may be that Ford is outsourcing Volvo production to China and at the same time selling the Chinese a large stake of Volvo. This is probably a win/win. It gives the Chinese a modern automotive production line while giving Ford much needed cash to pay down debt and concentrate on their core business of domestic vehicles.

 

I also wonder if Volvo's heavy equipment line-up is part of that deal as well.

I hate the thought of anything being sold or outsourced to China. At least they didn't go bankrupt and beg the government for $$$ like the other two detroit losers did.

The world market broadens yet again.


Tim

 

Volvo AB was not sold to Ford and therefore is not being sold to China. Same name, different companies. Volvo AB also owns Nissan Diesel, Renault Trucks, Penta marine, Volvo Aero engines, and yes construction equipment. It also interesting that Renault/Nissan has sold its heavy truck and diesel engine divisions to Volvo.

Jim

 

I see a lot of new Volvo trucks on the road. It used to be White/Volvo. Now just Volvo. I don't think there is a White truck company anymore. Not too terribly long back, White used to own the Freightliner moniker. Now it is not.

 

Ford has certainly puked up almost all it ate.

 

Scott, my dad's first Volvo truck's fender emblem read "White-GMC-Volvo". And for what it's worth, Freightliner never belonged to White Motor Company. It was designed, manufactured and owned by Consolidated Freightways who had a twenty five or so year contract with White, who provided the dealership network for the Freightliner. Hince the nameplate "White-Freightliner" untill the early seventies. Tom

 

" Ford has certainly puked up almost all it ate."

Quite right, proving Ford should have stuck to its core business instead of playing about with different and lesser companies.

 

Not sure if I would consider Volvo to be a lesser company. Smaller in sales volume perhaps. I believe that Ford's ownership of Volvo was instrumental in Ford's new found quality and safety improvements.

Did Volvo suffer from Ford's ownership? Most likely, yes. I'm not up on current quality trends for Volvo but I'd bet that Volvo was a higher quality car before Ford bought them.

Tim

 

Volvo cars, SAAB, Audi, BMW and maybe others had to respond to shifts in the market just as Chrysler, Mercury, Pontiac, Oldsmobile and Buick (not very well) over here. The mid-price segment is dead.

BMW and Audi successfully went upmarket into Luxury territory. Volvo and SAAB were too small and sold out to Ford and GM. SAAB brand identity under GM was a disaster, with an odd mix of rebadged GM and Subaru (the "Saabaru") vehicles. Ford tried this Premium Automotive Group thing with Austin Martin, Land Rover, Jaguar, Volvo and Lincoln. It just didnt work. While I did like the Lincoln LS and S type Jaguar, different cars sharing the same platform, the Mondeo-based X type pulled Jag down-market.

Meanwhile, Volvo really didnt fit in with its British partners. All cars today are relatively safe and low-emissions, so Volvo lost its appeal to young families and college professors. Stuck in the muddled middle, Ford just shared platforms between Volvo and low-priced Ford and Mazda.

Jim

 

Volvo owns Mack trucks. White I believe is no more, but they were also making the big GM trucks as well back in the 80's (Brigadeer for one)

Volvo cars were basically turned into Ford cars. Ford wanted some of the safety tech that Volvo had when they bought them. I think it is a mistake to sell off the Volvo brand, but also when someone is willing to buy the company (and not have to beg to buy it like GM has been doing) I think it is smart to dump it now and help out the 3 core lines for Ford.

 

I had a 'real' Volvo...a '62 PV544s with the twin SU carb B18s engine.

Looked like a '40's Ford Tudor, although it first came into production in 1944..(444).went through till '65.

They were rugged cars, tough, handled well, that powerful 4 cylinder would blow the doors off a lot of cars. The 4 speed was a Borg Warner and the rear axle a Spicer...think these parts were also installed in Studebaker V8's...so with a 4 cylinder, even a high perf. job., they were bullet proof.

The PV544s was very competitve against sports cars of the day in rallies and road races...it was possibly the first sports sedan.

I surprised a few full size cars with small V8's and slushboxes in stoplight GP's and on a twisty road...the old PV would just walk away from them. The body rolled a lot, but the tires never gave up their tenacious grip.

Best shifting car I ever had or drove, clutch had a beautiful feel to it and those brakes , although drums didn't seem to fade.

My '62 had the first shoulder harness belts I ever used...it was a safe car, fast, handled well.

Wish I had a fully restored Volvo PV544s.