China’s Chery to acquire Volvo?
July 8, 2008 by Alborz Fallah
Chinese car maker Chery automotive is rumoured to be in talks with Ford and private equity firms about financial backing to acquire Swedish-based Volvo from Ford Motor Co. a Chinese business magazine reported yesterday.
The article states that Chery is still in the early stages and has not asked for permission from the government of Anhui, the company’s home province, a legal requirement for such an acquisition to take place.
Both Chery and Ford have declined to comment on the issue. Ford states the companyis more focused on building Volvo rather than selling it. Meanwhile analysts indicate that Volvo could cost Chery more than 30 billion yuan ($4.6 billion), it said.
Chery cars will soon be well known in Australia, following Ateco’s announcement that Chinese cars are only months away from our shores. Chery is a state-owned firm set up by the government of Wuhu city in Anhui province in the 1990s.
Recently it was reported that Renault is also in talks to acquire Volvo.
How will Chinese ownership affect the Swedish brand?
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Poor Volvo
Oh my gawd!!!
WHAT THE RRRRR !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Chinese/Volvo what is going on here, I will now vomit..
Oh No !!!! Whats the first model gonna be called ?? A Yum Cha
Oh bugger. End of a Swedish legend one would imagine.
You guys are all so naive. Reminds me of all the fear mongering about the fate of Hong Kong post British handover a few years back.
The Chinese have more runs on the board as innovators than probably any country throughout history. They are also some of the most skilled entrepreneurial/business people you will ever meet. They are not stupid.
They are probably going to be first to market with a mass produced plug-in hybrid.
A deal like this can give the chinese the brand credibility to make a good impression in skeptical markets.
Great news for Volvo I reckon.
Sounds like Dingo and Marketmaker likes Chinese cars 2, I wonder if he will give us race results, standby everyone this company will be highly successful eventually when tightarse people keep buying and support such cheap very low quality products ..
amen
I secretly hope you’re right Marketmaker. But I seem to recall that they’re also the world leaders in raping the planet, atmospheric and waterway pollution, trademark and patent violation, workforce exploitation, child labour, abuse of human rights and bribery and corruption in business.
This may well be at odds with the conservative, ethical image that traditional Volvo customers tend to personify, but I may be wrong.
Can it be any worse than Venture Capitalists owning Aston Martin etc. ? – well, I guess maybe…
Tata owning Jaguar…
As a current owner of a Volvo, I am not really impressed but we will have to see what happens…
the history of Chery revolves around cars copied from other respected makes.
i cant see them changing their ways overnight.
remember al of the knock off models chery has that resemble respected cars?
hardly automotive leadership if you ask me.
any one who has been to china will know they are excellent copy cats.
they develop bugger all.
whether it be watches, sunglasses or automobiles, they copy them all
One good thing, Chery will go from building a 1-star-rated car to a full 5-star-rating, see some good out of this.
Frankly, VOLVO could not make any money out of Volvo, neither could Ford, let the Chinese have a good, will most likely get it to work!
Cheers
F-0
PS SAAB will be next on the block
Whether you like it or not, the Chinese are getting richer and China is becoming more and more powerful. The above posts are clearly showing the fear and desperation of those typical China-haters in the western world. Those China-haters simply cannot accept the fact that China is growing fast and is expanding its participation in the global business. They can do nothing to stop the trend but making useless accusations and vituperation. What a psychological loser!
Tata have brought Jag and LR, but have no involvement in the development process, I’m guessing it will be the same with Volvo and Chery, development will stay in Sweden and not in China.
Myke
I think you are right. Maybe some reskinned models on same platform made in China for half the price?
Cherry……Why bother buying Volvo or any other company? Just keep copying them like up till now!!! That seems to be the Chinese way of doing things!
AC COBRA, then next Chery go to aquire Ford! hahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) :)
Your worst nightmare ever!!!!!!!! :) :D :) :D :) :D :)
Duck, I think GM might go to china they sell many cars there, also is in more trouble than Ford do u watch any news, Ford is probably doing the right thing selling Volvo one less burden and creat more profits, GM could file for bankrupcy at any time and that would be a devastating blow, anaylists on the other hand say Ford will gain by making large steps like selling Volvo Jag Landrover etc..
:-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-)
What company should GM sell? mmmmmmmmmmmmmm………..not Chevy, not Vauxhall, not Opel, maybe Pontiac, definately not Holden……….ahhhhhhhhhhhhh I know they should sell Daewoo!!!!!!
:D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D
^That would be good. No more korean crap with the General’s badge on it!
They should sell Daewoo 4sure they have made a mockery of GM, at the end of the day cheap manufacturing will not keep or gain respect from anyone purchasing thier second biggest investment, SAAB should be sold as well, never had that inspiring design, just the same 20 year old shape and emotion.
Don’t you guys know that MG is already owned by China and IBM PC department is now part of China’s Lenovo?