Geely Wants To Buy Current Chinese Volvo Ops, Eyes More Battered Brands

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

We’ve always wondered what would happen with Volvo’s current Chinese joint venture with ChangAn once someone like Geely buys Volvo. Our Best & Brightest openly did “ wonder how this’ll effect Changan which already makes Volvo’s in their JV.” Well, now we know why ChangAn is so sanguine. “ Geely said today that it is interested in buying Volvo’s China operations, if Geely is successful in buying Volvo from Ford, Gasgoo reports.



Geely is always on the lookout for potential acquisitions, said Lawrence Ang, an executive director of Geely Auto. He thinks, Geely might not edven be done with Volvo and hopes that more acquisition opportunities will arise in the battered U.S. and European auto markets next year.

Bertel Schmitt
Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

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  • Rod Panhard Rod Panhard on Dec 07, 2009
    Geely might not even be done with Volvo and hopes that more acquisition opportunities will arise in the battered U.S. and European auto markets I'm proud to state that here in the United States, not only do we batter our brands, but we fry them, too!
  • Robert Schwartz Robert Schwartz on Dec 07, 2009

    If Chvy comes out as Chery in Chinese, what will Volvo be rendered as?

  • Boombox1 Boombox1 on Dec 07, 2009

    Seems like we get bombarded daily with reports of a Chinese maker trying to buy a Western Maker, but the plans always fall apart or come to naught. Is this indicative of the chaotic situation going on in Chinese business, or is it the media trying to exploit anti-Chinese sentiment in an effort to drum up readership? Regardless, I'm kind of tired of these reports.

  • Tosh Tosh on Dec 07, 2009

    So I was thinking WTF does "Geely" mean, as it couldn't possibly try to sell anything but pudding in the US under that name? And on Wiki I run into this nugget: The Geely Mission Statement: "Safety is the fundamental guarantee of human life, Environment-friendly is the basic aspiration of human life, Efficient is the necessary condition for human existence. Today, as users pay more attention to safety, environment-friendly and efficient, whether cars which adequately protect life and caring for the environment will be created has become the consensus of auto industry in the world. Geely fellow take this as their own commitment and struggle for this. Most environment-friendly Most efficient Most safest" Highlights: "adequately protect life," "Geely fellow take this as their own commitment and struggle for this.", and "Most safest." If they won't even take the English language seriously (by hiring a single English speaking proofreader), how can we take them seriously?

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