London Times claims Ford is selling Volvo. Ford says "We never said that."
by Jonathon Ramsey on Jul 16th 2007 at 3:37AM 
There are so many people inside and outside of Ford saying so many different things about Volvo that it's entirely possible the Swedish brand will be sold and Ford won't realize it until weeks later. The London Times Online posted an article yesterday stating that Ford decided, "in principle," at a board meeting two weeks ago, to sell Volvo. That piece quoted unnamed "City sources." A bevy of press outlets got in on the story, including the New York Times, quoting "people with knowledge of the situation" -- but those people said the board meeting was last week, not two weeks ago. Not long after the London Times piece, though, the Detroit News posted a column saying that "Ford won't confirm a possible sale of Volvo." It quoted John Gardner, a Ford of Europe mouthpiece, as saying "We're not in discussions with any company in relation to selling Volvo Car Corp." It also quoted John Hoyt, an American Ford spokesman, as saying the board meeting was last week, but "he knew of no decision." Still, all of this has been followed up with an article on Monday morning, euro time, stating the same sale rumors again.
Everyone knows the situation that Ford is in. Everyone knows that Ford and Volvo are quite integrated, and that Ford wants to find the right buyer offering a sweet price. Nevertheless, everyone also knows that if the doorbell rings, and standing on the doorstep is the right buyer with the right offer and the willingness to continue sharing Volvo tech with FoMoCo, Ford will greet them with "When can we expect your check?" Volvo is going to be sold unless no one makes a compelling offer, or Ford emerges from its financial darkness in time to keep the PAG's jewel. Which makes the excitement over Ford's supposed declaration to sell Volvo more than a little intriguing.
In the mean time, Ford claims nothing more than to be assessing its business options. No bank has been assigned to the sale, but according to the articles, Ford is looking for $8 billion to let Volvo go. On an ironic side note, in the same London Times article, there was this comment about the sale of Jaguar and Land Rover: "Those involved with the discussions say Ford has imposed strict conditions of secrecy on would-be bidders, even to the point of vetting potential advisers. 'They are completely paranoid about leaks,' said one person close to the talks." A paranoia well-founded, it appears.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Mike Botros 5:03AM (7/16/2007)
It was on the news tonight here in Detroit that in a board meeting last week Ford decided it would consider offers. They are weighing every option. Said nothing about deciding to sell for sure.
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omar 7:39AM (7/16/2007)
Ford may not be outright saying that they are selling Volvo, but they have that option wide open for the right buyer. Ford doesn't want Volvo to go to another car company as the ties to the technologies will be lost.
Everybody has best believe this that the Swedish family that owns Investor AB will be the next owners of Volvo. That is because they are a private group with no current ties to another car company. Ford will be able to retain a small share in Volvo Car Corp, just as Mercedes did in the sale of Chrysler to Cerebus.
I'm liking the turn out for this situation, Ford finally realie the entire empire is crumbling. They had betters make that sales agreement up for Volvo to Investor AB in the next few weeks.
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Mr. Oak 11:07AM (7/16/2007)
Hysterical phsyco-babble.
Peter 7:53AM (7/16/2007)
Somehow? Paris is the reason this made it on the news in the first place. Ford and Volvo are nothing without her. God she's powerful.
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Jruhi4 10:36AM (7/16/2007)
My gut feeling is that Ford sees less interest and lower $ offers for Jaguar and Land Rover than it anticipated, and has no choice but to put a Volvo cars sell-off on the table. I agree that, were it to happen, Ford would regain some sort of stake, just like Mercedes did in the Chrysler sale to Cerberus.
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MH 10:39AM (7/16/2007)
Don't also forget that there are complicated trademark issues here.
I haven't seen this reported anywhere but if we think back to 1999 when AB Volvo sold Volvo Car Corp. to Ford I can remember there was quite a lot of talk about the rigid regulations AB Volvo inposed on Ford about how the trademark was to be used.
AB Volvo does indeed permit Ford to use the "Volvo" trademark exclusivly when it comes to personal cars, Ford may not make any alterations or manipulations to the trademark without the express prior concent of AB Volvo.
As a biproduct of this deal Ford cannot sell Volvo Cars to just anyone without AB Volvos blessing.
I have a hard time seeing that they (Volvo) would like the car division going to BMW for example. If it would come to this anyway this could go the way of when VW bought Rolls-Royce, BMW could get the factories but not the trademark.
There are more complications here than meets the eye. It's gonna be exiting to see how it all pans out.
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Proscriptus 11:13AM (7/16/2007)
Front page of the Wall Street Journal today, too.
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iQuack 2:34PM (7/16/2007)
Volvo is a strong brand and would be best separated from Ford IMO. Selling is a good idea because Ford needs the cash and Volvo would be freed from a troubled parent.
When will Ford offer more competitive CARS?--it has more than enough trucks and SUVs now. The only compelling Ford car offered today (no, it's not the ugly 500 renamed "Taurus") is the Fusion which is good, but little more than a Mazda 6 in drag.
Seems to me that it's better to just buy the Mazda 6 if that's what you want. Ford's product line is shockingly weak.
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Greg 5:27AM (7/19/2007)
Ford had better keep Volvo and dump Jag and Land Rover and then think about making what they have left better or the Japs are going to eat them alive.
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