Chinese government reportedly approves Chery purchase of Volvo
The current global economy is making it rather difficult for Ford to unload its premium Volvo brand, but it appears as though at least one suitor is interested in the Swedish automaker. If all goes well, Volvo could exchange hands by as early as next month.
According to China?s Oriental Morning Post, the Chinese government has given permission for Chery to purchase the Volvo brand from Ford. Neither side has confirmed the report, but Chery head Yin Tongyao has stated that a Volvo acquisition has not been ruled out.
In addition to Chery, China?s Dongfeng Motor Group and Chongqing Changan are also rumored to be interested in purchasing Volvo.
Although nothing is set in stone at this point, a Chinese purchase of Volvo seems to make sense. Volvo is best known for its safety, with most Chinese automakers known for the complete opposite. A Volvo purchase could go a long way in changing that reputation and would also provide a platform for U.S. sales.
Ford hasn?t publicly announced a price for Volvo, but is believed to be seeking about $6 billion.
Whoah.
OMFG
As I understand it, this doesn't mean Chery is buying Volvo. It just means the Chinese government won't stop it from trying.
Now, now why are you all so concerned? China did such a wonderful job with Rover.
Yeah but Volvo is good, whereas Rover was decidedly not.
If this jappen, I throw my car on in trashcan
Safe:
(http://carsguide.news.com.au/images/uploads/Volvo-Volvo-C70-(L)-and-XC90-crash-LR.jpg)
Chinese:
(http://www.motorauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/odds_and_ends/2007/6/3/brill_crash01.jpg)
Quote from: the Teuton on March 09, 2009, 03:44:40 PM
Safe:
(http://carsguide.news.com.au/images/uploads/Volvo-Volvo-C70-(L)-and-XC90-crash-LR.jpg)
Chinese:
(http://www.motorauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/odds_and_ends/2007/6/3/brill_crash01.jpg)
Bull.
The redesigned and western European BS6 got THREE stars in the same test. Not that great, but much better than no stars. The newer BS4 got four stars, IIRC.
Well...There goes any possibility of me buying a Volvo down the road...
Ford needs that cash desperately.
Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
:cry:
Madman of the People
Quote from: 2o6 on March 09, 2009, 06:30:25 PM
Bull.
The redesigned and western European BS6 got THREE stars in the same test. Not that great, but much better than no stars. The newer BS4 got four stars, IIRC.
They must be
Brilliant!
Quote from: 93JC on March 09, 2009, 02:47:36 PM
Yeah but Volvo is good, whereas Rover was decidedly not.
They should have built me a V8 Coupe:
(http://photo.netcarshow.com/Rover-75_Coupe_Concept_2004_photo_06.jpg)
Quote from: omicron on March 10, 2009, 11:37:56 AM
They should have built me a V8 Coupe:
(http://photo.netcarshow.com/Rover-75_Coupe_Concept_2004_photo_06.jpg)
All in all, even without the coup?, the Rover 75 was a decent late 90s mainstream car. The problem was it was their only decent car.
(http://p3.focus.de/img/gen/Q/Z/HBQZH_D6ah__Pxgen_r_400xA.jpg)
(http://p3.focus.de/img/gen/W/Z/HBWZH0t7X6C_Pxgen_r_311xA.jpg)
(http://p3.focus.de/img/gen/C/A/HBCAIgHKc8__Pxgen_r_400xA.jpg)
(http://p3.focus.de/img/gen/H/A/HBHAIM5.cd__Pxgen_r_400xA.jpg)
(http://p3.focus.de/img/gen/Z/H/HBZHI._c5f__Pxgen_r_400xA.jpg)
(http://p3.focus.de/img/gen/L/I/HBLIIS.o08__Pxgen_r_400xA.jpg)
In my opinion it did a better job as a entry lux car then the Jaguar X Type.
It wasn't bad; I hear the MG versions were actually quite decent cars to drive. On overcast days, I sometimes think of getting myself a 75 and scaring youthful brats with my Britishness.
Damn damn damn!
Volvo hasn't made an interesting car since the 80s.
Quote from: Secret Chimp on March 10, 2009, 08:08:56 PM
Volvo hasn't made an interesting car since the 80s.
89, actually
I hope Ford is keeping Volvo's engineers if they're selling the brand. I'm not sure what they'll do without them. Essentially the entire FordEU line has a heavy dose of Volvo in it. C1 had a healthy amount of Volvo input, and EUCD was based on C1 (with even more Volvo input). Plus you've got FordNA using the Volvo-designed D3.
I won't touch a Chinese owned Volvo. Call me xenophobic if you wish, but those fuckers are up to something.
Quote from: Raza on March 10, 2009, 09:05:16 PM
I won't touch a Chinese owned Volvo. Call me xenophobic if you wish, but those fuckers are up to something.
They're slowly starting to buy up Western companies?
Quote from: Colonel Cadillac on March 10, 2009, 09:19:50 PM
They're slowly starting to buy up Western companies?
This is all beginning to look like one of those seasons of 24 when you find out there's a mass Chinese conspiracy to cripple America and then nuke the fuck out of us from the inside.
I'm not going to say I don't sound crazy, but I won't buy a car from people who, in my opinion, don't seem to care about the value of human life.
I bet half the stuff you own was made in China, you turd.
Quote from: Tave on March 11, 2009, 09:00:26 AM
I bet half the stuff you own was made in China, you turd.
Don't call Raza a turd for something Obama did.
Quote from: Tave on March 11, 2009, 09:00:26 AM
I bet half the stuff you own was made in China, you turd.
Not a problem, since nothing my life depends on is made in China by a Chinese owned company.
Where did the safety angle come from?
I was talking about your moral indignation:
Quote from: Raza on March 10, 2009, 09:23:31 PM
I'm not going to say I don't sound crazy, but I won't buy a car from people who, in my opinion, don't seem to care about the value of human life.
So you won't buy a car from people who don't value human life, but you'll happily buy stereos, cell phones, jeans, etc...?
Quote from: Raza link=topic=17979.msg1017231#msg1017231 date=1236794567
Not a problem, since nothing my life depends on is made in China by a Chinese owned company.
Your iPhone is made in China. The Battery is made by BYD, a chinese company.
It's not just that the cars are made in China - it's that they are designed and "engineered" there.
I'd prefer not to buy ANYTHING from China. Unfortunately, many times it's impossible not to, since it seems damn near everything is made there.
Cheers,
Madman of the People
Quote from: Secret Chimp on March 10, 2009, 08:08:56 PM
Volvo hasn't made an interesting car since the 80s.
I wouldn't mind owning a S70/V70
I'd buy a C30 if it was priced more in line with a Rabbit or Astra.
I don't buy the hype that Volvo is somehow so much safer than the modern Japanese or other competition.
Sure maybe back in the day when they made absolute tanks, and their modern crash tests are good, but they aren't anything different from the stellar marks that a Toyota Camry or Honda Accord or similar mainstream midsizer gets.
Ford is smart to be unloading the brand. I never understood why Ford (and the other domestics) owned so many random auto companies and made mediocre cars in all of them. Getting rid of Jag, Aston, and now Volvo will help the car company make alot more sense.
The three need to adopt the formula that helped Toyota become so successful in the past decades. A single mainstream brand and a single luxury brand are all they need. GM should just have Chevy and Cadillac, Ford should just have Ford and Lincoln, Chrysler should just have Dodge and Chrysler. Instead of making a million and a half car models that are just slightly different and all rather middle or bottom of the pack, they should focus on making every model count.
Quote from: 565 on March 11, 2009, 05:26:24 PM
I don't buy the hype that Volvo is somehow so much safer than the modern Japanese or other competition.
Sure maybe back in the day when they made absolute tanks, and their modern crash tests are good, but they aren't anything different from the stellar marks that a Toyota Camry or Honda Accord or similar mainstream midsizer gets.
Ford is smart to be unloading the brand. I never understood why Ford (and the other domestics) owned so many random auto companies and made mediocre cars in all of them. Getting rid of Jag, Aston, and now Volvo will help the car company make alot more sense.
The three need to adopt the formula that helped Toyota become so successful in the past decades. A single mainstream brand and a single luxury brand are all they need. GM should just have Chevy and Cadillac, Ford should just have Ford and Lincoln, Chrysler should just have Dodge and Chrysler. Instead of making a million and a half car models that are just slightly different and all rather middle or bottom of the pack, they should focus on making every model count.
Well, Toyota only had one brand for the longest time globally until Honda came up with the Acura idea. And I guess Toyota has 3 brands now in the US althought Scion is more of a rebadged Toyota since kids don't want Toyotas.
Quote from: NomisR on March 11, 2009, 05:42:42 PM
And I guess Toyota has 3 brands now in the US althought Scion is more of a rebadged Toyota since kids don't want Toyotas.
They don't want Scions either.
Quote from: hotrodalex on March 11, 2009, 06:09:05 PM
They don't want Scions either.
I see a lot more young people in Scions than Toyotas. Scion has a pretty high average age of buyers, but I suspect in many cases they are bought by a parent for their teenager, which kind of skews the owner base. The buyer is older, but the primary user is typically pretty young.
Quote from: hotrodalex on March 11, 2009, 06:09:05 PM
They don't want Scions either.
Apparently Scion has the lowest median buyer age.
http://www.theautochannel.com/news/2008/06/25/091151.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scion_(car)
Also here is an interesting comparision of Volvo and Scion.
http://www.gminsidenews.com/forums/f37/scion-already-bigger-than-volvo-suzuki-lowest-median-buyer-age-industry-49168/
"In retrospect, it should surprise no one that such a well-conceived and thoroughly executed plan worked as well as it has. In 2006, though just three years old and boasting a lineup of only three models, Scion sold 173,034 vehicles. That's 50,000 more than Volvo and 70,000 more than Suzuki over the same period. More important to Toyota is the average age of the people who are buying: At 30, Scion tC buyers have the lowest median age in the industry, and the Scion brand isn't far behind."
So even when Toyota brings over fugly ass boxes and sells them to the hardest to market to segment, they still manage to make the domestics look foolish.
I'd be curious to see how Scion's median age compares to those of other economy cars. Young people tend to favor the types of vehicles Scion sells, and it's the brand with only that type of product.
Perhaps the Pontiac G5, for example, has the same median age as the Scion cars. That's diluted by all the older customers buying other Pontiac models. If the Pontiac G5 were its own brand, it would be right there with the Scions.
I don't think Scion would have done any worse if its models were sold as Toyotas. But they wouldn't make a measurable impact on the Toyota brand's median age even with the same number of youth sales.
Quote from: Tave on March 11, 2009, 12:22:55 PM
Where did the safety angle come from?
I was talking about your moral indignation:
So you won't buy a car from people who don't value human life, but you'll happily buy stereos, cell phones, jeans, etc...?
Oh, you mistook my self-preservation for moral indignation. There is where you're confused.
Quote from: 2o6 on March 11, 2009, 12:48:56 PM
Your iPhone is made in China. The Battery is made by BYD, a chinese company.
Yes, but my gun is made in Austria, so I'm okay in the long run.
Quote from: ifcar on March 11, 2009, 11:12:02 PM
I'd be curious to see how Scion's median age compares to those of other economy cars. Young people tend to favor the types of vehicles Scion sells, and it's the brand with only that type of product.
Perhaps the Pontiac G5, for example, has the same median age as the Scion cars. That's diluted by all the older customers buying other Pontiac models. If the Pontiac G5 were its own brand, it would be right there with the Scions.
I don't think Scion would have done any worse if its models were sold as Toyotas. But they wouldn't make a measurable impact on the Toyota brand's median age even with the same number of youth sales.
:hesaid: