Hong Kong listed Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Company Limited, is about to be the owner of the iconic Volvo brand.
Ford, the American automobile manufacturer, confirms that all “substantive commercial terms relating to the potential sale of Volvo Car Corporation have been settled between Ford and Geely and they both anticipate that a definitive sale agreement will be signed in the first quarter of 2010”.
The final documentation, financing and government approvals are likely to be closed in the second quarter, subject to the appropriate regulatory approvals.
Zhejiang Geely is headquartered in Hangzhou, in mainland China. It has six manufacturing bases of complete vehicles and power assemblies respectively in Linhai, Ningbo and Luqiao in Zhejiang Province as well in Shanghai, Lanzhou and Xiangtan, with the manufacturing capacity of annually producing 300,000 complete vehicles and 300,000 engines and transmissions.
Ford says in a statement that the prospective sale will ensure Volvo has the resources, “including the capital investment, necessary to further strengthen the business and build its global franchise, while enabling Ford to continue to focus on and implement its core One Ford strategy”. While Ford will continue to cooperate with Volvo Cars in several areas after the possible sale, the company does not intend to retain a shareholding in the business.
Thanks for your comment, Daniel. I’d like to renospd first to your statement about railroads. Most people working on the issues related to truck productivity would agree that increasing intermodal freight transport (using trucks, railroads, planes and ships, with freight containers that fit easily from one to another) would solve many of our problems. Unfortunately very little infrastructure exists for intermodal transport, and trucks do haul more than 70 percent of our freight today. We can’t wait until this infrastructure is in place; we must act now.Heavier trucks and LCVs are two options that can be implemented without delay – as long as they’re limited to areas where they can operate safely. On this issue, the majority of the lobbyists are from the U.S., not other countries as you mention. One of the most vocal groups supporting heavier trucks is the Coalition for Transportation Productivity, which is made up of companies such as Kraft Foods and U.S. Xpress. This coalition also has the support of more than 70 U.S. trade associations – from the American Iron and Steel Institute to the Wisconsin Paper Council. The full membership list is available on the coalition’s Finally, profitability for Volvo is clearly not the driving force behind this initiative, because if we allow for more freight per load, we would ultimately have fewer trucks on our roadways. Our purpose is to help find solutions that will benefit our economy, our environment and our way of life.