Done Deal: Volvo Will Be Sold to Geely

Guess Li Shufu was just being over dramatic?

Ford announced at a press conference in Sweden today that that country’s biggest automaker will find itself with a new owner.  Chinese company Geely, had long been considered the front runner for the bid, and is now the official owner.

The deal sees Volvo going to the tune of $1.8 billion dollars as expected including other physical assets. Ford will also have no stakes left in the brand as Geely will take 100% ownership.

Any Ford technology that found itself into Volvo models will be licensed for use by Ford.

Shufu has promised to keep Volvo separate from Geely, so hopefully we won’t be seeing Volvos with any Geely technology in them.

The Chinese government has yet to approve the sale, however they are expected to do so shortly.

Volvo-Geely Deal Gets Rocky

For some reason, Ford is trying to get rid of Volvo right when they are starting to make interesting product. The new 2011 S60 has shown that it’s got some soul, their wagons and SUV’s are still doing quite well, and the C30 is expanding to get more people into the brand. Sounds quite promising, no?

Well the truth is, Volvo really hasn’t been too profitable for Ford even though they have benefited tremendously from Volvo platforms and safety technology.

Still, Volvo is leaving Ford with some bad indegestion like a Swedish meatball and as a result, the brand has been up for sale since 2008.

Chinese car company Geely, has been the front runner in the deal and it was though that the deal would become officially, uh, official back in February.

This obviously didn’t happen and now comes word that the deal has reached a bit of a snag.

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Volvo to be Sold to Geely for $1.8 billion?

Just as soon as reports came in of the sale of Saab,  reports came in just as quickly for a sale of Saab’s rival, Volvo.

Chinese brand Geely has been rumoured to be the preferred bidder of Volvo for quite some time now and it looks as though they are closer to acquiring the premium brand from Ford. And all it will cost them is $1.8 billion -a bargain!

You see, Ford purchased Volvo just over a decade ago to the tune of $6.25 billion. That’s over $4 billion lost in just eleven years. In all that time, it has been said that Volvo failed to be profitable to Ford, hence the reason of the sale.

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