Ford prepares to sell Volvo

Monday, 16 July 2007

Ford may be preparing to sell Volvo to raise $8bn (£4bn) following record losses of $12.7bn last year, according to media reports.

There is speculation the decision was taken a couple of weeks ago to offload the Swedish brand as part of a dismemberment of the Premier Automotive Group, following the sale of Aston Martin and the decision to consider bids for Jaguar and Land Rover.

Ford denial

Ford has denied that any talks about the sale of Volvo were taking place. "To my knowledge, we are not in negotiations with anyone about the future of Volvo," said a Ford spokeman. It is thought that along with private equity groups, Renault could be interested in purchasing the brand.

Renault bid?

The French carmaker had plans for a merger just before Ford bought Volvo eight years ago. Other manufacturer's thought to be in the running include BMW, Hyundai or even a Chinese carmaker. However, some analysts have suggested Ford may be reconsidering its disposals policy following strong Land Rover sales projected to make $1bn profits this year while Jaguar is said to be improving as well.

11 Jul 2007 - Ford denies setting Jaguar and Land Rover bid dead…
13 Mar 2007 - Aston Martin is sold

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Fat Boy said:

	Never let the truth ... Never let the truth stand in the way of a good rumour! Volvo is the only profitable company Ford have. BMW, Renualt, perhaps Mazda (part owned by Ford!). how about Toyota, looks a good bet for them. Perhaps Honda for Penta? (I know, I know!) Self fulfilling, or what?
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July 23, 2007
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Brian McLean said:

In order to survive ...
In order to survive Ford seems to be unravelling the brand consolidation strategy Ford CEO Jac.Na*ser embarked on some years ago. As with other manufacturers that followed, ie.BMW,General Motors, Daimler etc. consolidation has generally been at the expense of profit and in some cases survival. Only BMW has got away relatively lightly ; 500m now seems peanuts to off load Rover and keeping Mini was a master stroke.