Sill the component failure rate far exceeds any P2 car. We now get brake rotors that say on the box ‘Made in China’ but the plastic packaging says ‘Made in Sweden’ … go figure. Volvo already has a plant in China for the P1 platform although they says it’s only for the Chinese market I would tend to disagree after watching the product quality decline since mid ‘04 just before the launch of the P1 line (2004.5).

MasterTech

I heard Volvo is one of the rare cases that none of their parts are from China. Now if SAIC win the bid, the only cars you can get without Chinese components may reduced to … panthers ?

Nice short, otherwise.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Volvo_Cars_says_to_cut_2000_jobs/articleshow/3164194.cms

Sales in America tanked.
What about their sharing platforms with other models, can it be still sold?

Turn Acura into a sports / performance wing with a revised S2000 for small affordable sports performance car and add the CRX replacement. Then move up to rwd/awd version of the inline 4 turbo & v6 TL, the newly revised rwd/awd v6 & v8 RL, all the way to the flagship NSX.

Volvo takes over the luxury / near luxury end and merge into combined Acura Volvo Dealership – Swedish styling and safety mated with Japanese efficiency and quality.

Keep S80 / V70 / S60 / V50 / S40 / C30 / C70 (dump TSX / TL / CSX / XC 90 / XC 70). Keep MDX & RDX but have Volvo go over it – keep the engine / drivetrain though. Get rid of the Volvo R vehicles as they are the antithesis of Volvo’s true image.

The stuff is usually worthless junk, I would rather spend a little or a lot more and get something that last more than a year. And in most cases we are forced to buy that stuff because you can’t get the items from anywhere else even if you wanted to. That’s why I wont shop at Walmart anymore. Don’t get me wrong they do make some good Chinese goods you just rarely see them here because everyone wants the cheapest crap they can find. Some chinese guitars aren’t bad, just the tone woods aren’t of the same quality you can get here or in europe, but the build quality is comperable since it’s all CNC machined now a days.

My grandfather had a couple of French trucks in Puerto Rico, nice except when they constantly broke down. They were a bitch to work on and parts were impossible to get on the island, they sell the trucks but no parts for them. He often had to have my dad send him parts from the states just so his trucks wouldn’t be laid up for several weeks. Big parts too, I remember him sending some steering parts that look up half our garage.

It’s called snob-appeal.

The Sultan of Brunei said he would stop shopping Rolls-Royces if it was to be sold to Volkswagen. And the sultanate had a standing lease on 200 brand new rollers every year. Lucky for him that BMW made their little coup.

The point is, brand cachet and image are very important. Nike sneakers could be made in a sweatshop anywhere, but would you buy a swiss clock for one hundred grand if it wasn’t made in Switzerland?

Renault sells their truck business to Volvo Trucks. With that cash they can buy Volvo Cars from Ford. Win-win for all parts, everybody will be happy. Renault will get a premium/safety brand and a (bigger) foot in the US market. And they will finally make the deal that faded away into nothing fifteen years ago. Ford will get some cash, and Volvo Trucks will be the largest truck-company in the world.

However, Ford’s attachment to Volvo, operationally and financially, would require a lot of money to break. I’m not sure that SAIC or some random Russian investor would front the cash. I also doubt the Swedish government would let a Chinese organization own Volvo. I can see Ford selling off stakes in Volvo to raise money, but the two companies are too tightly coupled right now to just severe without a lot careful thought. Don’t get me wrong, I think it will happen, just not for at least another year or two.

Seeing how they stripped Rover’s Longbridge factory clean and took it all to China to make the Roewe and given the Chinese disregard for copyright and IP, I can see some cheap Fjord Mondoe and Fucos cars flooding the European markets in a couple of years.

And I’m sure there is some interest from within Sweden to keep Volvo as a Swedish company.

http://www.smotor.com/en/showroom/rodius/rodius_800_4.html