Volvo Sale: Crown To Out-Bid Geely This Week?
For weeks now, the only realistic bid for Volvo has has come from the Chinese automaker Geely. They’ve been Fords’ “preferred bidder” for about a month ago, and last week, Geely’s management were in meetings with Volvo’s unions, and with Volvo AB (commercial vehicle company) about the Volvo trademarks – which are owned 50/50 between Ford and Volvo AB. At the same time time, Ford seemes to be in no hurry to sell Volvo, leading many to speculate that Ford was dragging their feet waiting for new and improved offers. We’ve been posting about the two other possible bidders, Consortiums Jakob and Crown earlier, and reports in Swedish media today say that Crown are now ready to make an offer, to be presented this week.
Although no numbers have been confirmed, Geely’s offer are estimated to be between $ 2 and 2,5 billion, and sources within Crown have confirmed that they will exceed that offer. “There is no point in bidding low. You are not going to win anything that way,” the consortium told Dagens Industrie [via Reuters]. Crown, led by former Ford CEO Michel Dingman, and advised by former Volvo CEO Roger Holtback, are – according to their financial plan – 2/3 American and 1/3 Swedish owned.
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Isn't Volvo more or less Ford's Opel these days? What I mean by that is, isn't a lot of Ford's platform engineering based on Volvo, along with other important parts of the puzzle? Where will they be in regards to developing new products if Volvo gets sold? What does Ford currently produce that's been designed from the ground up by Ford alone?
Some additions/corrections to RNC's input: B (Fiesta, Mazda2): I think Mazda Hiroshima won the coin toss on the latest one. C (Focus-EU, Mazda3, Mazda5, Volvo s40/50/c70): Ford Cologne (C1 / C1MCA) Current NA Focus (C170): Ford Cologne. EuC/D (Mondeo): Ford Cologne. NAC/D (Fusion/Milan/MkZ/Edge/MkX): Ford Dearborn modifications to Mazda Hiro's J56 platform. newer (J61) MazdaC/D (Mazda6): Mazda Hiroshima. D (Taurus/Sable/MkS/some big Volvos): For Ford nameplates, rework of Volvo Goteborg's P1 platform (newer big Volvos are on the EuCD platform.) Mustang: Ford Dearborn. Falcon: Ford Australia. Escape/Tribute: Mazda Hiroshima. Non-NA Ranger/Mazda B: Mazda Hiro. Ranger replacement (T6): Ford Australia (not sure here, perhaps Mazda Hiro.) Transit Connect/Tourneo: Ford Cologne. VN-58 Econoline: Ford Dearborn (in 1991). (Econoline replacement) Transit: Ford Dunton. Rest of trucks: Ford Dearborn. Wrt Jag/Aston, most of the leading edge technology came out of Dearborn: Alu-riveting, V-6/V-8/V-12 (I think the Jag Diesel came from Volvo but am not sure), AWD, etc., and a goodly part of the components came out of the Ford supply base. So as you can see, Ford does what it can to platoon resources, but Dearborn is the pole around which the Ford world rotates...