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February 13, 2012
'Volvo production to remain in Sweden': Geely
Published: 1 Feb 10 10:35 CET | Double click on a word to get a translation
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/24716/20100201/
Chinese car maker Geely has declared its intention to keep Volvo production in Sweden after completing the purchase of the company from US auto giant Ford, the Financial Times reported on Monday.
- Geely to make 300,000 Volvos a year in China (26 Jan 10)
- Geely seeks to allay Volvo tech theft fears (20 Jan 10)
- Volvo's future with Geely 'bright': Ford head (13 Jan 10)
"We don't want the image of a luxury car made in a third world country. We want the image of a European luxury car, albeit owned by a Chinese owner."
The Local reported last week on Geely's plans to make Volvo profitable by 2011 by producing large numbers of cars at a factory in Beijing.
But the firm also stressed that it still wants to keep Volvo Cars’ production facilities, head office, and development division in Sweden.
Unions have previously expressed their concerns about Geely as Volvo’s new owner, both due to fears about jobs moving to China and because of the risk that suppliers may restrict Volvo’s access to the latest technology due to fears that it will be copied.
Ford, which bought Volvo in 1999, put the company up for sale in 2008.
The deal with Geely is set to be signed before China's lunar new year holiday begins on February 14th, the Financial Times reported.
Volvo Cars has 22,000 employees worldwide, including 16,000 in Sweden. The deal with Geely has raised fears among trade union leaders of cuts at the firm.
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The road to hell is paved with good intentions. That's also assuming this is not a bold faced lie. Geely will do what's best for Geely, not Volvo or Sweden. The union leaders fears are not groundless.
The global market and Volvo's current product range does however give Geely the scope to develop a Volvo that will compete against cars like the Mini, Fiat 500 or even the Smart car. I expect Geely to develop the car in Sweden and then build it in China, initially as an Asia only model and then eventually a world model once the build quality is up to scratch.
I still hope that somebody at FORD will realize all this and stop the negociations with Geely. After all GM turned around and kept OPEL, and managed to sell SAAB to a European company. Why is it that FORD cannot do the same thing ?
Volvo is a quintessentially Swedish brand and no matter what Geely say Chinese ownership will deteriorate this. Once the supply of Ford technology ends it will be game over, I can't believe that Swedish people aren't more active over this, your two great motor brands might be history within 10 years. Volvo Trucks should have take it's car arm back into Swedish hands.
The only hope now is the US / China disagreements over Google censorship and arms sales to Taiwan might bring pressure on Ford to pull out of the deal.
Unfortunately Geely doesn't have the same experience as Ford and the culture is much more authoritarian than American, or even German culture -- China is the opposite of the egalitarian Swedish culture. These two items spell some tough times at Volvo in the next few years. My guess that the Volvo's only hope is to comply with Geely, and that is one thing the Swedish leadership at Volvo will not do. The eventual result will be that Geely will move work out of the hands of the Swedish management & Unions (labor & engineering) and keep only a skeleton crew in Sweden (will it take 20 years?).
Give China a break for a change maybe they are telling the truth or have we been blinded so much by our own media
Also their is precident for beign skeptical of China's intentions you only have to look at what happen to the Production at MG Rover. Unless its in writing in an iron clad document that won't let them out of producing in Sweden. I dare say I'll believe it when I see it.
The chinese do not garner trust, and its mostly foreign investment that is heading to China. I do hope their economy blows up in their face so it doesn't continue.
zhqwang its called propaganda no doubt its in your news too. Lets face it people see investment and manufacturing going to china which leads them to wonder when their jobs will dissappear. Doesn't help that China artificially limits it's currency and the dirty deals its companies do dirty as hell.
I propose massive Tariffs on Chinese Imports untill they trade their currency fairly.